Soulless
(The Immortal Gene #1)
By: Jacinta Maree
Publisher: Inked Rabbit Publishing
Publication Date: Oct. 1, 2015
Genre: Dystopia, New Adult
Rating:
Welcome to Soulless.
We are the generation that laughs at death.Reincarnation; what was once considered a gift of immortality has become an eternity of nightmares.
Nadia Richards lives in a world plagued by reincarnation, a system of recycling souls where all past memories, personalities and traumatic events are relived daily in disjointed sequences. Trapped within their own warped realities, not even the richest and most powerful are saved from their own minds unraveling. Madness is the new human nature, and civilizations are crumpling beneath themselves trying to outrun it.
Within a society that ignores death, Nadia appears to be the one exception to the reincarnation trap. Born without any reincarnated memories and with printless eyes, the hot tempered 19 year old quickly becomes the ultimate prize to all those wishing to end the vicious cycle, or for some, to ensure they could evade death forever.
Readers discretion: Adult language, violence and some adult scenes. For mature audiences only.
My thoughts…
Nadia lives in the very distant future. Throughout the years things have change and everyone is now reincarnated over and over again. Robots scan the retinas of the people to see who is a criminal in previous lives, and who’s not. However, what happens when you don’t have any memories of your previous life? What about if you don’t have a soulprint in your eyes for the scanners to read. Unfortunately for Nadia, she has no soulprint of memories of previous lives to draw from. While that keeps her from going crazy like so many others, it also makes her a mutant, hunted by her own people in order to figure out why she’s so different.
Soulless is definitely a dark read. I wasn’t sure what I was getting into when I picked up this book. In all honestly, the covers are what drew me in. They are just so awesome that I had to know what was inside. What I was not expecting was so much death, gore, and violence. Sure, the synopsis lets you know it’s in there but I thought it would just be in passing, I had no idea how ruthless Nadia’s world is. So, when the author says there’s some violence she’s not lying. There were a few times where I contemplated skipping past a scene because I could just picture it too vividly for my liking.
One thing that I like about this story is that the characters are not just one-sided. I mean, sure you have Diesel which is this ruthless inmate that Nadia meets while imprisoned who is clearly only interested in himself. However, as the book progresses, you start to see some of his other previous personas make an appearance. It kind of made you question who the real Diesel was. Was he the ruthless killer who wouldn’t hesitate to kill Nadia or anyone who challenged him? Or is he the easygoing calm guy who shows affection here and there? I mean, he clearly states that he’s currently looking through the eyes or “windows” of a different person at the time but it still makes you wonder how much of his previous lives impact who he is today without him realizing it. Also, why was he blacklisted and rotting away in a cell? What heinous crimes has he committed. He lets on throughout the book all the tortures and horrible deaths he’s endured, so we know he hasn’t seem to live any sort of peaceful life before, but why is he blacklisted?
Because of Nadia’s lack of soulprint, her “parents” sell her off to become a lab rat. I say parents loosely because they view themselves as the incubators for a reincarnated stranger, they don’t view their kids as their own. So, when they are presented the opportunity to get food and medicine, which is something lacking to anyone who’s not rich, they take it and don’t look back. Which is how Nadia finds herself being strapped and tortured in a prison for the blacklisted. However, when one of the other inmates helps her escape her first instinct is to go back home. Nadia has to wade through a lot of stuff in order to become the girl she is by the end of the book. I mean, she never had a cushy life but it was hers and soon she finds herself lost and unsure who she can trust. Things get even more complicated for her as she start to hear whispers about a prophecy about someone who is soulless, who will stop the cycle of reincarnations.
I thought Soulless was a really interesting dystopian novel. It definitely ends in a cliffhanger but thankfully I already have the second book waiting for me on my eReader. 😉
Favorite quote…
“Many would mistake mercy for weakness, but they don’t understand what true strength is.”
I like the sound of this, reincarnation and intrigue on why she doesn’t have it. I also like the cover lol 🙂
Such a pretty cover! It sounds intriguing and like it has an original plot/ world, but I think this might be a bit too dark for me. The characters sound interesting. Glad you enjoyed this one and I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts on book two.
The cover reminds me me of my favorite, Manga. And the idea of reincarnation sounds quite intriguing, I’ll be looking forward to your review on the second book.
Seems like an interesting read. Love the cover and blurb. I don’t mind some vivid descriptions, even though it can be frightening it helps bring the story alive and make me believe it more. I definitely want to pick this up. I’m curious about Nadia after reading your great review. Glad you liked it for the most part.
Great review. That cover is very alluring.
Sacrificing your kids for your own well-being – that always guts me!
Ahh a fun time to be alive! Ergs! This is the second one I’ve seen lately with a what if you couldn’t remember your past/had no past type thing. They are interesting.
This sounds super interesting! Thanks for the review!
Ooh this looks wonderful! I’m a fan of the darker reads so I’m going to jump into this with both feet: I’ve already purchased the ebook.
Wonderful review, and I’m very glad I found this book! What a fascinating concept – reincarnation and soul-readers… Love it!