Asunder

Pros: interesting plot, fun characters

Cons: relationship waffling

This is book two of the Incarnate series, and as such this review contains spoilers for book one.

Some time has passed since Templedark consigned dozens of souls to a permanent death. Sam and Ana rest away from Heart for a time. A new gift and Menehem's notebooks indicate that Sylphs may be more intelligent than previously believed. Meanwhile, back in Heart, fears of more newsoul births and an inability to punish Menehem for his actions turns popular anger towards Ana.

I really enjoyed the plot in this book and the fact that things went in directions I did not predict. You learn answers to some of Ana's questions, which was great.

The ‘will they won't they' aspect of their relationship got frustrating, as after a year of being together Ana seemed to still get defensive a lot and misconstrue things easily, regardless of how open and loving Sam was. While I appreciated the question of whether it's appropriate for a 5000 year old soul to have a relationship with an 18 year old soul, that's a question that should have been addressed by Sam much, much earlier.

Despite their relationship woes, I love Sam and Ana. Ana remains passionate about helping other newsouls and discovering more about how she came to be.

As with the first book, it was a very quick and enjoyable read.