Review: Soulprint by Megan Miranda

Soulprint by Megan Miranda
Expected publication: February 3rd 2015 by Bloomsbury USA Childrens

From the author of FRACTURE, a riveting new thriller which draws on cutting-edge science.

Alina Chase has been contained on an island for the last 17 years—whether that’s for the crimes of her past life, or for her own protection, well, that depends on whom you ask. With soul-fingerprinting a reality, science can now screen for the soul, and everyone knows that Alina’s soul had once belonged to notorious criminal, June Calahan, though that information is supposed to be private. June had accomplished the impossible: hacking into the soul-database, ruining countless lives in the process.

Now, there are whispers that June has left something behind for her next life—something that would allow Alina to access the information in the soul-database again. A way to finish the crimes she started.

Aided by three people with their own secret motivations, Alina escapes, only to discover that she may have just traded one prison for another. And there are clues. Clues only Alina can see and decipher, clues that make it apparent that June is leading her to something. While everyone believes Alina is trying to continue in June’s footsteps, Alina believes June is trying to show her something more. Something bigger. Something that gets at the heart of who they all are—about the past and the present. Something about the nature of their souls.

Alina doesn’t know who to trust, or what June intends for her to know, and the closer she gets to the answers, the more she wonders who June was, who she is, whether she’s destined to repeat the past, whether there are truths best kept hidden—and what one life is really worth.

I was a bit leery of this book at first glance. I had thought of it as science fiction and those are truly hit or miss with me. I read the blurb and realized it had to do with the human soul and was immediately intrigued. There is just so much that can be done with that topic since there is so many different beliefs. Megan Miranda really took it to new level by infusing her story with bits of genetics/science that were easy to follow and helped to enhance the plot. She also didn't try to over explain things that would had sounded unbelievable. The approach was refreshing to say the least! The basic set up didn't try to explain away why the souls moved on the way they did, Miranda just hit on the fact that they could figure out who they belonged to prior with something called a soul-fingerprinting. The sci-fi kind of took a back seat to a brilliant character driven plot. The main thing I took from this is could or should a past life effect the present one?

This book hit the ground running with Aline's prison break. She has the reincarnated soul of a dangerous criminal named June. Alina is a strong and clever character even though she has suffered through prejudice her entire life. Somehow her spirit remains intact. This makes rooting for her almost inevitable. I don't know if I would have the capacity to trust human relationships at all if I was locked away for someone my soul had been in a past life. The pacing wanes a bit after this but it did't bother me since the "intentions guessing game" kept me rapt. Things really took off the latter half of the book when truths finally came to light. I always can appreciate a story line that doesn't need a romance to carry it, just enhance it and that is exactly what Alina & Cameron's relationship did. just really cute together and I'm so glad Cameron wasn't the typical jerk-off hot guy. He was really genuine and wanted to help Aline since he empathized with her. They were I LOVED the way it ended, just enough to wrap it up nicely without leaving any major plot hangovers. The whole really gave me a ton to think about in regards to how are own soul affects us and how someone's reincarnated soul would as well. If you like books that really give you something to think about then this will definitely soothe your soul. *See how I did that?*

4 Snowflakes