Review Detail

This was a book that I just could not focus on.

Imagine. God, I had to skip the first ten or so pages until I chanced upon a remotely exciting character, Sam. Yet, here comes another boring male lead who heroically saves a girl, falls in love, performs kind deeds out of no reason, lies then does some hasty actions to cover up. Oh, and it turns out that he never really lied and everything ends up as a happily-ever-after.

No mind-blowing plot, no in-depth characters, no wondrous world-building. It's all the more sad as Incarnate was one that I saw with lots of potential.

What a new and brilliant concept of a city of reincarnated souls!

The first two pages illustrated to me a resplendent setting full of possibilities. And it went downhill.

Jodi Meadows should have focused more on the world-building. Because, she had me confused as to what world it was.

Vehicles with dragons. Heat detectors with centaurs. Machines with cottages.

It could have come off as a fantastic piece if well-executed, but it was not.

I had to skip chunks in between to arrive at the scene when Li (the mother of Ana) takes her away from Sam, and then jump to a dragon war, then go all the way to the end when Sam talks about playing the piano with Ana.

I wanted to crack my head open. What's this thing about love nowadays?

We read YA fiction because they open up a horizon of prose that can be painfully alluring, beautifully inspiring, meticulously crafted and light and free and brimming with youth at the same time. We can accept love wild and uncontrolled, we can accept love shallow and instant, we can accept love beyond all sensibility and reason, but we cannot accept love that has no meaning and essence.

Give me a book that has more than just a simple-minded romance, give me a book with a setting and a tale that challenges our imagination and brims our capacity to love.

I would still give Incarnate a chance. It might just turn out into something more.