snark (reading) lady

I enjoyed the book, but I think I enjoyed it in spite of itself. Jodi Meadows creates a world where a finite number of souls are reincarnated every time they die. Except, when Ciana dies, she doesn't come back and in her place comes Ana, a "newsoul." Ana is born to Li, who is embarrassed by Ana and raises her away from the city of Heart. On her 18th birthday, Ana leaves Li on a quest to find answers about her birth and her purpose. At the end, I tried to compile of list of things I liked about the book, but found that everything had caveats or that I was on the fence about every aspect. I liked the world. Mostly. See, I had questions about what existed outside of Heart and Range. I was expecting the author to go beyond her own scope and explain more to me, but in the end, it didn't seem fair to expect that. The concept of this city of people being reborn time and time again, living with each other and their actions and consequences for lifetimes, is a good one Meadows built it reasonably well. I liked Ana. Mostly. She was a little whiny and self-deprecating, but it fit with her history of being physically and mentally abused for 18 years. She had moments of bravery but there were also moments when I wondered if every YA heroine had to have her life depend on a boy. I liked the romance. At times. It was done in a more natural way than in most YA books. Sam and Ana spent lots of time together, they shared a passion for music and Ana had felt a connection to Sam, even before she knew it was that. They took care of each other and got to know each other. It grew as we read. That was nice. I think, though, that in the action vs. romance scheme of things, this book erred on the side of romance. WE GET IT. YOU WANT TO KISS EACH OTHER. Can we get back to these dragons that want to kill everyone and the fact that you are the first new person to ever be born in like five thousand years, please? There were times when Meadows' writing straight out annoyed me, and that was usually when it came to dialogue. She apparently doesn't believe in any dialogue tags at all, and her writing wasn't clear enough to always get away with it. If I have to go back to try and figure out who is saying what, you've failed at that point in your prose because I am now out of the story and working way too hard.I liked the ending because it was an ending, despite the fact that there is a sequel planned. It resolved enough and left enough open to continue so I appreciate that. The very end, however, was a little rushed. I mean there was absolute chaos, dragons and sylph and people dying, and then there was a line or two that just ended all the choas and BAM, we were at our resolution. Uh, seriously? That's all? You fell asleep? Even with it's shortcomings, I was entertained enough to finish it rather quickly and I will read the next one. If you are generally a fan of dystopian/utopian YA, chances are you'll find something to like here.