Finally the time has come for me to read Asunder, sequel to Incarnate by Jodi Meadows. Never mind my looming pile of obligation, I had this overwhelming urge to read Asunder and you guys as someone with little impulse control, I gave into that urge, that mood, and totally reaped the rewards. You see, reading this book when the mood struck instead of reading it out of some sense of misplaced obligation really allowed for me to LOVE what I just read. That’s right, I fricken LOVED Asunder and am all psyched now to read Infinite. For real, with about a year or so between reading this book and Incarnate, I found myself easily able to jump back into Heart and also Ana’s life as the only Newsoul and man, this book was intense and awesome and good.
After Templedark, many souls have gone dark, meaning that as darksouls they will not be reincarnated, instead a newsoul will take their place. In Asunder, Ana has a bit of an existential crisis as she realizes she won’t be the only newsoul anymore, also as she understands more of the gist of Dossam’s previous lovers in past lives. Heh. Anyways, as there are a few newsouls on the way, Ana finds herself fighting for the rights of newsouls and for fair and equal treatment. Of course, not everyone is amenable to this. There are some people who are like yo, newsouls suck and we need to make them as unhappy and unwelcome as possible. OH OH and there’s also a Janin, who is like their god, appearance. Seriously, there’s a lot of shit going down in Heart. A lot of slyphs show up too, as does a totally new to me character who is all concerned with roses, because he is awesome. You will see when you read.
I actually really enjoyed Ana’s character. Like, she’s not some crazed revolutionary, she’s not like the type of person I would be BFF with, but I don’t know, somehow she just feels more endearing to me. I think it’s her crusading for help for the arriving newsouls. She kind of reminds me of Hermoine and her whole ELF crusade. I felt like Ana came across as kind of gentle in Asunder, maybe more vulnerable? Even though she’s out of her terrible living situation and shacking up with Sam, she’s just, hmmm, I don’t know how to describe it. Just know that I really liked the way she came across in this sequel, definitely more than I liked her in Asunder, maybe because she’s finding a more solid footing.
You know how Asunder and these books are described as being deeply romantic? Well, I am not 100% behind the romance in this book. Like, okay, I think that Sam and Ana are good for each other, but he has a few douche moments and it’s like oh come on. Well, I perceived them as douche moments and I know not everyone will. I will tell you guys that their relationship is really tested in this book. Also, a very very heartbreaking scene happens so prepare yourselves, it is SAD EXPRESS you guys, the sadness express, that’s how heartbreaking it is. We will see how the relationship and romance goes in Infinite before I make any judgments.
I think Meadows was fricken awesome at pacing Asunder, I never was like ughhhh I am so bored, here let me wander off and eat bon bons instead of reading. Instead, I was very INTO this book, like all caps into it. It really just drew me in, maybe because it has been so long since I read the first book, but it was like I was learning the whole world of Heart again and there was just a bit of struggle and this whole privileging of oldsouls that had me interested in the sociological aspects of Meadows’s sophomore novel. Straight up you guys I am now just EYEING my copy of Infinite and actually am super crazy excited for it.
Disclosure: Review Copy Provided By Publisher
Other reviews of Asunder by Jodi Meadows:
Starlight Book Reviews – “a very good follow-up to Incarnate”
Alexa Loves Books – “had me feeling every single thing“
Book Revels – “my heart grew like the Grinch’s for Ana”
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Yeah, I will agree that Sam has some douche moments, but I think I appreciate (?) them a little more after reading Infinite. Like it only made sense for him to be like that. Anyway… I DEVOURED this series hardcore. I haven’t done that with a series in a very long time. Can’t wait to see what you think of Infinite!
I never felt drawn to Incarnate, even though I adore the cover and it got rave reviews, but the fact that the sequel is awesome now makes me want to try this series.
And I love that lately you’ve been reading what you WANT and not what you feel you SHOULD. I need to do more of this, instead I keep reading books that I don’t feel like and wondering why I’m not enjoying them :/
It seriously made me do a happy dance that you read and loved Asunder! This series is just so good, and Jodi’s second novel is really wonderful. She adds to the story (including a newish character I loved in Cris), and also still carries the main plot thread of Ana as a Newsoul and what that means all throughout. And then there’s Sam, who is WONDERFUL. Hope you get to read Infinite soon!