Asunder (Newsoul #2)

The whole concept and plot of this series is so very original. The premise of souls being reincarnated and then a new soul being born, which throws their whole society off, especially as those in the society have each lived hundreds of lives is very different from anything I've read before. I was thinking that Asunder would be a little less stressful than Incarnate, and it was in some ways, but not in others.

Ana only has a handful of friends, but each of them have their own secrets and ways of interacting with Sam and Ana. This added a lot of different challenges for Ana, helped her come into her own (she is only 19, I believe), and exposed her to different situations that continued to drive her and the society towards certain choices.

I really liked Ana and Sam. They love each other, but they have such different backgrounds and are in such different positions. This makes their relationship very challenging in places. Meadows did a great job with her characters! I could understand where both Sam and Ana were coming from and the frustrations they had at different points. I did get pretty frustrated with some sub-characters who I thought should have been much wiser and less prejudiced regarding Ana, especially with how old their souls were.

There was more descriptive and emotional violence in this one. I understood why it was included, but it still bothered me a little. There are definitely some evil characters that want Ana out of the way.

I don't know what is going to happen in the next book. I just know that it will be huge. I just know that Ana will play in part in it, hopefully in preventing disaster. I'm looking forward to finding out!

Content: Some innuendo, suggestive content (some homosexual in nature), and violence
Original review posted here: http://tressaswishfulendings.blogspot.com/2013/05/review-asunder.html

Asunder is an amazing follow-up to the wonderful Incarnate! The world is easily my favorite thing about this series, as I’m sure I made very clear in my review of the first book. This time the plot demands more world building, so I was hooked from the very beginning! Ana and Sam are working together to understand Menehem’s research regarding the sylph, Janan, and the reincarnation process. I found all of this incredibly fascinating!

Just like the first book, Asunder starts with a sylph attack. Well, kind of. Instead of attacking, they actually start to dance. Dancing sylph? Yeah, totally bizarre, but that’s just one of the strange things that we learn about these dangerous creatures. They’re much more than just shadow and fire. In addition to the sylph, we also return to Janan’s temple and find out what sinister things took place there 5,000 long years ago, as well as plans for the near future. I loved all of the history we got about Heart in this book. It just makes everything feel much more real!

Ana is also on a mission for newsoul rights. After the battle Templedark, many souls won’t be returning and this has the citizens of Heart on edge. Then when newsouls start being born the tensions and violence escalate, and Ana again becomes the target. People seriously suck! While I enjoyed this plot and wanted to see Ana succeed, it started to feel a little preachy towards the end. Of course, I agree that people shouldn’t be tormented for being different, but I also didn’t need to be reminded of that fact throughout the entire book.

As for the romance, Ana and Sam are sickeningly adorable. Their relationship is so sweet and innocent. I just want to scoop them both into a big hug! They haven’t reached steamy levels yet, but there is talks of going further, even if Ana doesn’t fully understand what that entails. She also continues to struggle with whether or not she’s able or allowed to love, since she’s a “nosoul.” Her feelings for Sam are obvious to everyone, so it was sad seeing her question it in that way.

The ending leaves us with a cliffhanger! I was shocked at what Sam reveals, since I wasn’t expecting that. It’s going to have major consequences in the last book and I can’t wait to see how he and Ana deal with it. The people of Heart are definitely going to need her help, whether they want it or not.