Megan Miranda
Young Adult/Sci-Fi/Mystery
368 pages
Bloomsbury
Available February 3rd
Source: ARC from publisher for review
THE STORY (from Amazon)
Seventeen-year-old Alina Chase has spent her entire life imprisoned on a secluded island—not for a crime she committed in this lifetime, but one done by her past self. Her very soul is like a fingerprint, carried from one life to the next—and Alina is sick of being guilty.
Aided by three teens with their own ulterior motives, Alina manages to escape. Although she’s not sure she can trust any of them, she soon finds herself drawn to Cameron, the most enigmatic and alluring of the trio. But when she uncovers clues from her past life, secrets begin to unravel and Alina must figure out whether she’s more than the soul she inherited, or if she’s fated to repeat history.
This stunning “new world” romance from acclaimed author Megan Miranda will leave readers wondering how far they would go to escape the past.
MY THOUGHTS
Soulprint has a horrifyingly fascinating premise, the idea that a current incarnation of our soul could be punished for the sins of a prior life the type of thing that keeps the gears in our minds turning from beginning to end. We thankfully learn early on what crime June–the soul our protagonist Alina now carries–committed that was serious enough to warrant the imprisonment (or “containment” as those watching Alina call it) of her future self despite that self having never stepped a single toe out of line, thereby satisfying enough of our curiosity to fully ground us in Alina's story. Once we have solid footing and a basic understanding of the level of fear surrounding June's actions, Ms. Miranda kicks the tension and mystery up a notch and we find ourselves as desperate to uncover the secrets June left behind as Alina is.
Alina is a young woman it's nearly impossibly not to feel for, her entire life defined by the actions of someone else as she pays for the mistakes of the girl who came before her. It would certainly be understandable if she were to let her circumstances get the better of her, existing in a melancholic state of "why me"type questions, but instead the Alina we first meet is someone who uses her time wisely. She teaches herself how to build things that might come in useful in any type of escape attempt and, once on the run, approaching her rescuers with an appropriate level of wariness. She makes smart decisions despite her limited dealings with people other than the guards tasked with watching her, observing the interactions between Cameron, Casey and Dominic and quickly deducing what she needs to do to gain and keep her freedom.
The synopsis puts emphasis on the romance between Cameron and Alina, but that aspect is relatively subtle, taking a definite back seat to the mystery surrounding June's crime and subsequent death seventeen years prior. It's present enough so as to not feel like an afterthought, the build-up of trust between them both beautiful and believable, but not so prominent as to overshadow the dozens of questions we have about the concept of tracking a soul from one lifetime to the next. When we reach the last page we are nothing short of blissfully satisfied, June's motivations all those years ago made clear and majority of our nagging questions answered, allowing us to revel in what the future might hold for Cameron and Alina.
Rating: 4/5
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This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a
review.
I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.
