NEWSOUL Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why.
NOSOUL
Even Ana’s own mother thinks she’s a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she’ll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are suspicious and afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame?
HEART
Sam believes Ana’s new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana’s enemies—human and creature alike—let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else’s life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all?
This book has been publicised as a dystopian, but I don't think it is. the tone of this book is very light. I wouldn't call it a utopian either, the world is not perfect. It's that place in the middle where it's set in the future, but has fantasy elements. I couldn't work out if it was based in the future on Earth or completely different planet because it references humans and a past civilization much like our current one, but there are also sylphs and dragons and souls.
Anyway, onto the review. I really enjoyed this book. It was so different to anything that I have read and not what I was expecting at all. I loved the idea of souls being reborn again and again, it was original and clever but did kind of creep me out with the romance (i'll get to that later), I also liked the world that was created, the city was high tech, but also had these fantasy elements, with the religion and the dragons and the heartbeat of the city. The world building was fantastic, which I put down to Meadows' beautiful writing which was vaguely poetic but not to the point of purple prose.
I think that if I had any issues with this book it was the romance. Sam is like 5000 years old (well, his soul and memories are, this time around he's still only 17) and Ana is 17, it was a little off putting and difficult to get past. I suppose because Sam is reborn and here he is a teenager it can be put down to hormones and the romance was sweet so it wasn't totally creepy, but I still did struggle to get around that little point. This coupled with the way that he may be a guy this time around but he was a girl before made it a little weird, though this is a very subtle pr-homosexuality message that I approved of.
Then again, I loved Sam anyway so it was fine, he was sweet and caring and very supportive of Ana, I loved how he treated Ana from the first time that they meet. Ana was also absolutely adorable, I loved her naivete but also her strength of mind. Despite being a few hundred lifetimes younger than everyone else she stands up to them, but she is also very believably young and unsure. Li was a typical fairytale evil stepmother, though she is actually Ana's mother and I loved the simplicity of her character, she is purely evil.
The pacing is amazing, and the action at the end had me on the end of my seat. I loved the ending and I honestly cannot wait to read more of Ana and Sam.
Overall, a romantic futuristic fantasy. I was a little confused by the world and struggled with the romance for the while, but was completely absorbed. The characters are fantastic and I cannot wait for the next book.
Overall Rating: B-
Book to be released through HarperCollins on January 31st 2012.
Book received as an ebook though NetGalley.
Anyway, onto the review. I really enjoyed this book. It was so different to anything that I have read and not what I was expecting at all. I loved the idea of souls being reborn again and again, it was original and clever but did kind of creep me out with the romance (i'll get to that later), I also liked the world that was created, the city was high tech, but also had these fantasy elements, with the religion and the dragons and the heartbeat of the city. The world building was fantastic, which I put down to Meadows' beautiful writing which was vaguely poetic but not to the point of purple prose.
I think that if I had any issues with this book it was the romance. Sam is like 5000 years old (well, his soul and memories are, this time around he's still only 17) and Ana is 17, it was a little off putting and difficult to get past. I suppose because Sam is reborn and here he is a teenager it can be put down to hormones and the romance was sweet so it wasn't totally creepy, but I still did struggle to get around that little point. This coupled with the way that he may be a guy this time around but he was a girl before made it a little weird, though this is a very subtle pr-homosexuality message that I approved of.
Then again, I loved Sam anyway so it was fine, he was sweet and caring and very supportive of Ana, I loved how he treated Ana from the first time that they meet. Ana was also absolutely adorable, I loved her naivete but also her strength of mind. Despite being a few hundred lifetimes younger than everyone else she stands up to them, but she is also very believably young and unsure. Li was a typical fairytale evil stepmother, though she is actually Ana's mother and I loved the simplicity of her character, she is purely evil.
The pacing is amazing, and the action at the end had me on the end of my seat. I loved the ending and I honestly cannot wait to read more of Ana and Sam.
Overall, a romantic futuristic fantasy. I was a little confused by the world and struggled with the romance for the while, but was completely absorbed. The characters are fantastic and I cannot wait for the next book.
Overall Rating: B-
Book to be released through HarperCollins on January 31st 2012.
Book received as an ebook though NetGalley.
Great review, Id say that the cover is really gorgeous though Im not sure if I would like another story with soul reincarnation. And I get your point with the romance thingo.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year
✿FICBOOKREVIEWS✿
This sounds great- I like the look of it more the more I read about it. Must definitely grab a copy of this when it's published!
ReplyDeleteI'm really excited for this one! Lovely review!
ReplyDelete- Asher (Paranormal Indulgence)