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ameserole's review
3.0
Inkarna was another book that was never really on my radar until a certain challenge. After reading the synopsis, I was pretty intrigued to see what this book was going to be all about. I honestly couldn't remember the last book I read that involved a reincarnation. So, yeah, I was pretty excited for this one.
In this, you will meet Nefretkheperi. He definitely has a hard name to pronounce and I most definitely butchered it in my head after reading it. But long story short, he was reincarnated as Ashton Kennedy. While in this new body, he tries to put together what happened in the past. Which wasn't an easy thing to do in the first place and I wanted to see how it was all going to play out.
Eh, it was an okay book with okay characters. I didn't really connect with anyone and I just kept thinking back to the movie, The Mummy. It also didn't help that the pace just about killed my interest as well. At time, I wanted to skim through the pages and chapters that bored me. I didn't.. but I did think about it all the time.
In the end, the twists and turns were okay but didn't hold my interest. It was an okay book that I guess I'm sort of happy that I dove into. Sort of. Maybe. Not sure.
In this, you will meet Nefretkheperi. He definitely has a hard name to pronounce and I most definitely butchered it in my head after reading it. But long story short, he was reincarnated as Ashton Kennedy. While in this new body, he tries to put together what happened in the past. Which wasn't an easy thing to do in the first place and I wanted to see how it was all going to play out.
Eh, it was an okay book with okay characters. I didn't really connect with anyone and I just kept thinking back to the movie, The Mummy. It also didn't help that the pace just about killed my interest as well. At time, I wanted to skim through the pages and chapters that bored me. I didn't.. but I did think about it all the time.
In the end, the twists and turns were okay but didn't hold my interest. It was an okay book that I guess I'm sort of happy that I dove into. Sort of. Maybe. Not sure.
friedatweehuysen's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Well now. Reincarnation is not going the way everyone, including me, expected. Very good story, I was hooked. although that very last thing, oh boy.
schez's review against another edition
5.0
Wow.
This was a total shot in the dark; take a risk read. I have just joined NetGalley and was looking through the catalogue. Inkarna had an interesting looking cover and said “read now” ... So I did!
The opening line reads:
“ Tomorrow will be the first time that I die...“
Result? Hooked.
I started reading this with no background knowledge of book or author. I didn’t read the blurb and I didn’t allow myself to read any other reviews. This was just me and how the book made me feel whilst reading it.
There are many strands to the story. The obvious journey to discover why Lizzie hasn’t woken up in the body of the girl that was originally planned, the angry ghost of Ash (wouldn’t you be slightly ticked if someone was in your body?) The romance between Ash (Lizzy) and Marlise and add to that the background of Egyptian mythology and an inscription that could see souls severed and lost forever, well, then you have a wonderful concoction for a story that sits with you long after you have finished the last page!
Initially, it took me a little while to find my footing within the story. The language and style of voice made me feel that I might not be able to find my pace etc, but as I slowly started to understand what was going on the voice became easier to accept. Thanks to Nerine Dorman’s clear and informative writing, this only took a couple of pages and it turns out that the voice was very well suited to the character.
The ideas/concepts behind the story were very intriguing, and not something that I have come across. I am very interested in the idea of reincarnation but this story takes this concept a stage further with an 80 year old woman (Lizzy) being reincarnated in the body of a 21 year old man (Ash) ...By accident.
It turns out that Ash (who had inhabited the body before) was a bit of an unpleasant character to say the least and Lizzy has to face all that comes with her new body, including those who are not so happy to see the bloke walking around again. (Yikes)
The story was set in Africa, and I was unsure as how I was going to take this in as someone who has never been, but the author was excellent at setting up a scene, so I could visualise places; or at least have a sense of the terrain the characters were travelling in.
I very much enjoyed how Dorman develops Lizzy and her voice within Ash. She combines these characters slowly, and as a reader we observe how Lizzy takes on more of Ash’s behaviours and lingo.
I also found the relationship between Ash (Lizzy) and his girlfriend fascinating. Obviously, being a woman before and remembering this, Lizzy has to disentangle thought and emotion and follow her heart.
I thought the author moved very well between characters – with a balanced use of speech and description. If I was to be at all critical of this, it would be to say there were a few moments where I was wishing the story along a little quicker, but I genuinely feel this was probably more down to my impatience and the need to find out what happened next.
And I can honestly say that the ending felt very satisfying; it left me wondering if the author will consider a sequel to the story.
If you like mythology, the supernatural and something that offers something different, then Inkarna will blow you away with its cast of fleshed out characters and a rollercoaster of story.
This was a total shot in the dark; take a risk read. I have just joined NetGalley and was looking through the catalogue. Inkarna had an interesting looking cover and said “read now” ... So I did!
The opening line reads:
“ Tomorrow will be the first time that I die...“
Result? Hooked.
I started reading this with no background knowledge of book or author. I didn’t read the blurb and I didn’t allow myself to read any other reviews. This was just me and how the book made me feel whilst reading it.
There are many strands to the story. The obvious journey to discover why Lizzie hasn’t woken up in the body of the girl that was originally planned, the angry ghost of Ash (wouldn’t you be slightly ticked if someone was in your body?) The romance between Ash (Lizzy) and Marlise and add to that the background of Egyptian mythology and an inscription that could see souls severed and lost forever, well, then you have a wonderful concoction for a story that sits with you long after you have finished the last page!
Initially, it took me a little while to find my footing within the story. The language and style of voice made me feel that I might not be able to find my pace etc, but as I slowly started to understand what was going on the voice became easier to accept. Thanks to Nerine Dorman’s clear and informative writing, this only took a couple of pages and it turns out that the voice was very well suited to the character.
The ideas/concepts behind the story were very intriguing, and not something that I have come across. I am very interested in the idea of reincarnation but this story takes this concept a stage further with an 80 year old woman (Lizzy) being reincarnated in the body of a 21 year old man (Ash) ...By accident.
It turns out that Ash (who had inhabited the body before) was a bit of an unpleasant character to say the least and Lizzy has to face all that comes with her new body, including those who are not so happy to see the bloke walking around again. (Yikes)
The story was set in Africa, and I was unsure as how I was going to take this in as someone who has never been, but the author was excellent at setting up a scene, so I could visualise places; or at least have a sense of the terrain the characters were travelling in.
I very much enjoyed how Dorman develops Lizzy and her voice within Ash. She combines these characters slowly, and as a reader we observe how Lizzy takes on more of Ash’s behaviours and lingo.
I also found the relationship between Ash (Lizzy) and his girlfriend fascinating. Obviously, being a woman before and remembering this, Lizzy has to disentangle thought and emotion and follow her heart.
I thought the author moved very well between characters – with a balanced use of speech and description. If I was to be at all critical of this, it would be to say there were a few moments where I was wishing the story along a little quicker, but I genuinely feel this was probably more down to my impatience and the need to find out what happened next.
And I can honestly say that the ending felt very satisfying; it left me wondering if the author will consider a sequel to the story.
If you like mythology, the supernatural and something that offers something different, then Inkarna will blow you away with its cast of fleshed out characters and a rollercoaster of story.
suzjustsuz's review
4.0
Review at http://paperbackdolls.com/?p=11586
This one is kind of hard to label. There aren’t any of the current tropes of the urban fantasy genre in here, that’s for sure. There are no werewolves or vampires or demons or angels. Steeped in ancient Egyptian lore that is brought to a contemporary South African urban setting, the story was original and engaging, providing just enough “realism” to leave me thinking “can you imagine if that really happened?” Seriously, imagine dying as one gender expecting to eventually be reincarnated as an infant of the same gender only to wake up as an adult of the opposite gender. In fact an adult jackass with lots of enemies, no resources, and no friends – and all that’s on top of your own situation being completely hosed, too.
Perhaps what was most interesting about the story was the lore itself. Nerine Dorman creates a very believable and seamless melding of the living world with the ancient Egyptian afterworld (one that’s nearly pronounceable to the average Western reader), making it very easy to believe that the notion of “as above, so below” applies in more ways than one.
The characters were all pretty broken, even the heroes. So I found myself both rooting for and disappointed in them in equal measure. Just about the time I thought I’d developed a nice comfortable box to put one of the characters in Dorman would prove they are human and mix it all up again in a frustratingly human way. Ash is a bit of an anti-hero, but we’re never sure if we’re rooting for the Ash who is the previous resident of the body who was the jackass who happened to be a rock and roll god wanna-be, or the new resident of the body who is a bit of a supernatural bad ass but perhaps a bit more narcissistic than she’s willing to own up to while she fools herself with her delusions of altruistic grandeur. Or are we rooting for them both?
It’s a stand alone book and I don’t know if there are any plans to make a series of it, but after I’d finished the book I found my mind wandering back to the characters and wondering about their continued stories and what might have happened to them, so I guess that speaks to my investment in the story and the believability of the characters.
I don’t have a lot of experience with writers who are based in South Africa but there were regional nuances in the dialog and location descriptions that made the location sing to me, and had me at Google and Youtube in curiosity.
If I had any negative feedback it would be that the book needed a bit more copy-editing but I was reading an ARC so it’s possible that the version I was reading was not the version that went to final publication. Even with that there was nothing so jarring that made it a significantly less pleasurable read.
If you’re looking for something that’s still “supernatural” but somehow different this might be just the ticket. I gave it four of five stars and would enjoy reading a second installment to the storyline if she decided to continue the story, but don’t feel at all cheated if she doesn’t, and that’s really a wonderful and talented way to end a book.
This one is kind of hard to label. There aren’t any of the current tropes of the urban fantasy genre in here, that’s for sure. There are no werewolves or vampires or demons or angels. Steeped in ancient Egyptian lore that is brought to a contemporary South African urban setting, the story was original and engaging, providing just enough “realism” to leave me thinking “can you imagine if that really happened?” Seriously, imagine dying as one gender expecting to eventually be reincarnated as an infant of the same gender only to wake up as an adult of the opposite gender. In fact an adult jackass with lots of enemies, no resources, and no friends – and all that’s on top of your own situation being completely hosed, too.
Perhaps what was most interesting about the story was the lore itself. Nerine Dorman creates a very believable and seamless melding of the living world with the ancient Egyptian afterworld (one that’s nearly pronounceable to the average Western reader), making it very easy to believe that the notion of “as above, so below” applies in more ways than one.
The characters were all pretty broken, even the heroes. So I found myself both rooting for and disappointed in them in equal measure. Just about the time I thought I’d developed a nice comfortable box to put one of the characters in Dorman would prove they are human and mix it all up again in a frustratingly human way. Ash is a bit of an anti-hero, but we’re never sure if we’re rooting for the Ash who is the previous resident of the body who was the jackass who happened to be a rock and roll god wanna-be, or the new resident of the body who is a bit of a supernatural bad ass but perhaps a bit more narcissistic than she’s willing to own up to while she fools herself with her delusions of altruistic grandeur. Or are we rooting for them both?
It’s a stand alone book and I don’t know if there are any plans to make a series of it, but after I’d finished the book I found my mind wandering back to the characters and wondering about their continued stories and what might have happened to them, so I guess that speaks to my investment in the story and the believability of the characters.
I don’t have a lot of experience with writers who are based in South Africa but there were regional nuances in the dialog and location descriptions that made the location sing to me, and had me at Google and Youtube in curiosity.
If I had any negative feedback it would be that the book needed a bit more copy-editing but I was reading an ARC so it’s possible that the version I was reading was not the version that went to final publication. Even with that there was nothing so jarring that made it a significantly less pleasurable read.
If you’re looking for something that’s still “supernatural” but somehow different this might be just the ticket. I gave it four of five stars and would enjoy reading a second installment to the storyline if she decided to continue the story, but don’t feel at all cheated if she doesn’t, and that’s really a wonderful and talented way to end a book.
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