Oh, we're really building up to something good here, aren't we? Honestly, Meadows does foreshadowing a lot better than most YA authors do, and I appreciate that. You can totally see there everything is coming from, but you can't exactly see it coming from the first sentence of the book. A nice change for me after having read a whole bunch of predictable books (not that I didn't enjoy those too).

The romance ... well, at one point I was kinda rolling my eyes and thinking that I was so done with it and oh my gods, why can't two characters in love having an argument just fucking TALK to each other??? And what happens in the chapter after that? They fucking talk to each other and reach an agreement. Didn't see that one coming, but I'm so happy it did.

Didn't like how the word "asunder" kept popping up. If you're gonna use that as your title, you draw too much attention to it to over-use it like that. Mentioning it more than once or twice is just gonna seem a bit ... I don't even know, just that I don't like it.

But I'm excited for the third book. Ana doesn't have an easy task in front of her, but obviously she's gonna do it because no one else will. I'm hoping we'll get a good solution and explanation: so many YA mysteries/dystopians doesn't really deliver when trying to explain things by the end, but I'm actually hopeful on this one. The fantasy element kinda helps, to be honest. And maybe some more dragons in the next one? That'd be awesome. ( )

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful book. Still. Even if it dropped a star from the first one to the second.

I definitely got caught up in Ana & Sam's story. I definitely loved seeing all my old friends and making new ones. The prose is endlessly gorgeous. The love story, and the focus on letting someone know you love them, figuring out what it is to be loved, and then what it is to love another all as completely different subjects was beyond amazingly well done, in a way I want to recommend to teenagers like, now. This second.

My heart broke in two or three different places throughout it, and was reborn in several places. I predicted the mystery before the book unveiled, by a long leap of distance from it. But I did not predict what was going on with the temple, or Jaran, or come of the most moving pieces where it came to Cris.


But it definitely loses a star, because I had some small issues with this one, namely. There was more telling than showing than I like in a novel (something I'm insanely more aware of since the Gatlin four, because it irked me there, too). Also, because there's something I can't put my finger on that I feel like I'm missing from this book I never felt missing in the other one. Also, because I feel like the big climax was too neatly swept under the rug gone during the all too little time the protagonist wasn't there.


Very much still favorite series though. Want. My. Conclusion. Already. How will I ever make it waiting to know what happens? ( )

Loved this sequel. It answers questions, and asks even more. This is one I paid full price for on kindle and it was worth it. ( )

I can't decide if this book was better or worse than the first one. The plot was better, and it was more engaging. However, the people in the book irritate me. I get that Ana has had a hard life, but she needs to accept it and get past it before she hurts those that care about her. Sam has been incredibly patient with her, more patient than most guys would be. However, he does need to realize that while there is a 5,000 year age gap between them....they are the same age in this life. But having 5,000 years of memories and experiences that someone else does not have would make a relationship challenging to say the least.

Now that more newsouls are being born, the people are even more up in arms about it. That was a very nice plot twist at the end of the book about the reincarnation. I did enjoy that surprise.

This is definitely not a series that I will buy or even reread most likely. I will be reading the third book simply because I do not like leaving off in the middle of a series.

Hopes for the third book:
Ana stops feeling sorry for herself and cuts Sam some slack
The newsouls are freed
Janan is overthrown
Sam realizes the 5,000 year age difference doesn't matter
Less storyline portraying who likes whom

Another 3/5 stars for me ( )

So. This book. It was very serious, and yet I just closed it and I’m thinking about it and finding it hard not to laugh.

This book—this series—is just so weird.

I LIKE the fantasy aspect. I am a HUGE fan of fantasy, so yeah, this series is cool.

But, I mean, book 1 was serious with the whole “Omigod, how the hell is she Newsoul?” conspiracy going on, and also with the (people dying at the) end, and the whole thing about her mom, who, by the way, I still hold to be a serious bitch.
But… there was also the bit about how sometimes people were born as girls and boys and it’s all very confusing and funny, and how sometimes you had the toddlers yelling at you ‘My name isn’t X, it’s Z!” which was also very funny.
So there’s the mix of funny in with the serious.

So, the funny part of this book might not be funny too everyone, but I found it extremely amusing.
Throughout a large chunk of this book, there was one thing repeating in my head. I said it out loud a couple times, and occasionally sang to the tune of ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’
That one thing was: “Ana Just Wanna Have Sex’. With Sam. Ana just wanna have sex with Sam.
Unfortunately, Sam is like five thousand years old and Ana’s only—what is she—18, 19? And Sam is pretty chivalrous to boot, so that didn’t fly.
Because, the sex thing was not only amusing, but also serious.
Moreover, it seems that EVERY. SINGLE. OTHER. CHARACTER. THAT. WE. HAVE. MET. is in love with Sam as well, because they’ve all had sex with him at one point and apparently he is just that good.

Which actually brings to me one of the MOST ANNOYING THINGS to happen this book. Stef is suddenly VERY uncool. Because she wants some more Sam sex, but he’s too dang busy being in love with Ana.

Since I just finished reading it and the end is fresh in my mind, Stef brings me to Cris.

Cris was mentioned in book one. We met him pretty quickly in this book. And I don’t completely understand why there was so much emphasis there. I mean, okay, so remember what I said about everyone being in love with Sam? Guess who everyone includes.
So there was a little bit of weirdness between Cris and Sam.
But the weirdness wasn’t as weird as the EMPHASIS put on the weirdness.
It was like, every time Sam and Cris were in the same room, Ana had to think about how weird they acted around each other.
Basically a neon sign from the author; THIS IS IMPORTANT. PAY ATTENTION TO THIS.
And I get that it was there and it was thing. But it wasn’t really that important.
And then, of course, there was end wherein, having met Cris just this book, he promptly died. Like, for good died.. I don’t really know to make of this exactly. Hopefully there will be some significance added to this in book three.

And taking about Cris at the end compels to me to talk about the actual end. So, here are my thoughts:

Hold up! What the hell? So, about halfway through this book, Ana took her second trip to the temple, which was very confusing, and I recall there being someone other than Janan in the walls in there. So, when the Cris thing happened, I was like: wait. What? Are there now three people in there? What the hell is going on?!?

While I’m thinking of Janan, I better mention that, YES, he does have master plan. *sigh* Thank god.

You know, there was just a lot of stuff going on in this book, and it’s not all lined up quite the way it’s supposed to be in my head. So I will reread this book, and he first, when the third one comes out.

Because it wasn’t bad. Understand this: I ENJOYED this book. I just don’t quite get everything.

So, 4 out of 5 stars.

But if Stef is still uncool in book three, then book three is probably gonna have a lower rating.

( )