You wouldn’t think from the cover of this book that it has dragons. Lots of awesome dragons. But it does, my friends, it does. Oh yes. What else do you need?
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?
So, basically, I loved this book beyond the telling of it. Ana suffered so much in her early life I couldn’t help but cheer for her and need good things to happen to her. Good things, preferably carried out by Sam.
I do not know how to describe the love that I have for these two characters. Their bonding over music, the way their relationship builds and is quiet and loud at the same time. That scene through the window of the jail cell. I just loved these two.
But, I will say, the REAL star of this book is the world building. Not just the setting, or the idea, or the mythical beasts, but all of these things smooshed together into this fantastic, detailed world. There were just so many little things that I never would have thought of when imagining a world of people who get reincarnated over and over again.
Two things of particular note stood out to me. The first was when Ana was born not being able to read and her mother thought she was stupid. This just touched a place inside me. This race of people being born over and over again with all their memories intact. So, they’re basically adults born in the helpless body of a baby, forced to be dependent on people who may have been friends or lovers in past lives. It’s so very strange. And the fact that Ana’s stupid b****face of a mother (I really, REALLY hate her) couldn’t even take the time to care for her daughter, or to teach her daughter, well, it was just disgusting.
The second thing was when Ana is at Sam’s house and she sees his cemetery. All these graves that belong to him. All these past lives buried in the ground beside your house and you with the responsibility of taking care of them. There is something so very morbid and disturbing about this. And the fact that there is no escape in their world. The problems and pain of your past lives will always be with you, just piling on top of one another.
Mostly due to the way Ana was treated by her awful mother (I’m doing my best to not call her some truly despicable names) I cried through the first half of the book. But, I’m a crier, so, that isn’t necessarily a bar you want to set for this book. I’m simply saying there was some big emotions at the beginning of the book, and because of this, despite their being a properly climatic ending (WITH DRAGONS!) it felt like it was missing something. Or something. I don’t know. I felt much more strongly about the beginning of the book than I did about the end of the book. Which has it’s pros and cons, I guess.
Anything else I can think to talk about is spoiler-y. Lets just say I want Ana and Sam all happy and together and happy. With a pet dragon. Pet dragons are the best.
Also, look at that gorgeous cover! I want it all hardcover and sparkly on my shelves!