The Reincarnationist

Ahoy the good ship Spoiler!

Of the three in the series, The Reincarnationist spends more time on that exact subject; reincarnation, its history in various religious cultures, its ridicule in Western culture and how the Phoenix Foundation was formed and became devoted to proving it. At the center of the story is Josh Ryder, a photographer who had his past life memories jarred loose by an explosion while in Rome. Unfortunately we spend a lot of time in the past with his former selves. Others get into the act and we have those past lives to deal with as well. It got a bit much and the story bogged down quite a bit whenever one of the folks in the present “lurched” into the past. And the stories didn’t have a satisfactory enough payoff show more since all along we’re told that there are no coincidences; instead the universe or god or someone was orchestrating these souls to come together over and over and over. For what purpose, who can tell? The memories themselves are harmful and coming to grips with them doesn’t relieve any suffering or help anything. It’s kind of stupid, and like I said, if I’d read this one first I wouldn’t have read any others.

The writing is ok, and I think the later novels suffered less from some imprecise language, concepts, and anachronisms. For example she writes that a gun went off. Guns don’t just go off. Someone has to squeeze the trigger. It’s this kind of imprecision that drives me nuts. Another was a person observing a big swath of trees and thinking it seemed to be a forest. Seemed to be? What else would it have been, a circus tent? Also, I don’t think that the concepts of running early or running late would have been around in 391 AD since timekeeping clocks didn’t exist yet. Then there was Josh’s former self Julius remarking that he was looking at the barrel of a gun. What? Maybe he’d have perceived a gun as a weapon, but there’s no way he’d have called the business end a barrel.

At about the ¾ mark I started skimming in earnest. Details were unimportant and uninteresting and I just wanted to get it over. The end is a mere whimper when before there had been a bit of shouting. There are also some loose ends that having read the other books I know don’t get knotted up and so that was frustrating. show less

After a suicide bombing, Josh Ryder walks away with strange visions that catch him unexpectedly, when he returns to Rome this time his flashbacks to another himself is vivid and an excavation is catching his attention, an excavation that may be part of his past. When the archaeologist in charge of the dig is injured, and some mysterious stones get stolen, Josh gets caught up in a race to find out the truth and what his past has to do with it.

Interesting but it just didn't quite catch me. Reminded me a little of the Da Vinci Code but for me a better read.

What can I say about The Reincarnationist besides FABULOUS?

After an accident in Rome, photojournalist Josh Ryder begins experiencing flashes of past memories―from another life, another era. As these flashes intensify, he’s drawn back to the time of ancient Rome, Vestal Virgins and the mysterious Memory Stones. Through the eyes of Julius, he is reunited with a powerful love for Sabina, the Vestal Virgin he has sworn to protect and would willingly die for, a woman whom would be buried alive if their secret love were ever discovered.

In present day Rome, Josh assists at the Phoenix Foundation, an organization that explores and researches claims of reincarnation or incidences of memory flashes, especially in children. Led by impulse, he show more finds himself at the edge of a freshly unearthed tomb and witnesses a murder.

His search for answers, for the Memory Stones stolen from the tomb of the Vestal Virgin Sabina, for the truth about what happened in ancient Rome, leads him to two women―Professor Gabriella Chase and Rachel Palmer, a young woman who is haunted by her own past life memories.

Is either of these women the Sabina he once knew? And will Josh ever reconcile his past with his present? These are just some of the questions I found myself asking along the way. I found the premise of this novel intriguing. I couldn’t put the book down once I started it.

Author M.J. Rose tells a compelling story that weaves history and religion into a fateful adventure filled with intrigue, romance, murder and deception. Her writing is detailed but not overloaded, just the right mix of fact and fiction to make me a believer and her characters are ones I’ll remember for a long time. The flashes of past and present are so seamlessly woven yet clearly defined, that I was never jolted from the story, but swept along and taken on a ride that left me breathless by the end.

I highly recommend this novel to anyone interested in the theory of reincarnation or anyone who enjoys a suspenseful, thrilling journey to the past. It would also make an exceptional read for a book club.

The Reincarnationist is the inspiration for a new television series that will be airing soon. I can’t wait to watch Past Life. If it is anything like M.J. Rose’s novel, it is going to be an adventure of a lifetime.

You can buy The Reincarnationist from your favorite bookstore or order it online at Amazon, Chapters and more.

~Cheryl Kaye Tardif,
author of The River
http://www.cherylktardif.com show less

Summary: Josh Ryder is a photojournalist on assignment in Rome, when a suicide bomb knocks him unconscious. He recovers, but the incident triggers flashes of hallucinatory clarity, visions of himself in ancient Rome, memories of dire events that Josh never lived through... or did he? He finds his way to the Phoenix Foundation, an institute that specializes in past-life experiences. When his involvement with the foundation lead him to an archeological dig outside of Rome - the possible tomb of one of the last Vestal Virgins - Josh becomes increasingly convinced that this site - and the woman buried alive inside of it - are of special significance to him personally. On his first visit to the tomb, however, Josh witnesses the murder of the show more site's lead archaeologist, and the theft of an ancient treasure of great power. It then becomes a race against time, for Josh must not only recover the treasure, but also deal with the increasing sense of urgency generated by his flashes: to somehow find and save the woman that he failed so desperately in a previous life.

Review: Color me underwhelmed. I'd heard so many good things about this book, and I was really looking forward to reading it, so I'm disappointed to say that it didn't live up to expectations. The premise as well seemed incredibly promising, and the fact that it featured one of my favorite story devices - interweaving past and present timelines - was in its favor. And, in truth, as I read I did find the plot interesting and involving, but I was underwhelmed by the pacing, the writing, and the characterization.

My main problem was that things just seemed to happen arbitrarily, with scenes often coming completely out of left field, and key explanations of what was going on either severely abbreviated or missing altogether. (For example, about 3/4 of the way through the book, the as-yet-unnamed bad guy is revealed to not only be a master of disguise and a criminal mastermind, but also a skilled hacker as well? What?) Most of the various pieces come together satisfactorily in the end, but for the bulk of the book, things just seem to be cobbled together in no particular order, and the rhythm and flow of the storytelling just felt off. There was also too much going on for any one piece of it to be fully developed. Too many characters for even the leads to have more than one dimension, too many past lives and plotlines for any one story or relationship to be particularly involving (the Percy/Esme flashbacks in particular I found to be overkill). In general, I was spending so much energy trying to make sense of the haphazard arrangement of the plot that I didn't have much left with which to care about the characters.

I'm giving this book the benefit of my good mood, though, because I really did find the story to be fascinating, even if I wasn't particularly enamored of the structure in which it was told. 3 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: Eh. Some people seem to love it, so it may just be an idiosyncratic case of me not getting along with Rose's prose style. But as novels about reincarnation go, I enjoyed Daniel Quinn's After Dachau much more. show less

Interesting, better than i was expecting, although the style did take some getting used to. Early on it seemed as just as the chapters were starting to take off they ended, but I lost that feeling as I read on. The one thing I did hate was the ending, I hate when books are left open ended, in as much. They are your characters, don’t leave it to me to infer what happened to them, tell me.

After a near death experience, Josh Ryder begins having flashes where he seems to be remembering being a pagan priest in ancient Rome, trying to save the woman he loves and the sacred treasures that they both revere from the onslaught of Christianity. Seeking answers brings Josh to the Phoenix Foundation, a group that helps children who experience past life memories. The Phoenix Foundation doesn't work with adults, but Josh takes a job with them in exchange for the opportunity to learn more about reincarnation.

In modern day Rome, while visiting an archaeological dig that he thinks may have answers about his past lives, Josh witnesses a murder. Now, Josh's life is in danger as he races to solve a mystery whose answers may lie in the show more past.

The Reincarnationist is an exciting and suspenseful story that spans across time. Although Josh meets people from his past in the present time, author M.J. Rose manages to avoid the expected cliches and provide some unexpected and entertaining twists. It's a book that holds your interest from beginning to end! show less

Photographer Josh Ryder nearly dies when a bomb explodes nearby. He is in fact, taking photographs when it happens. After waking in a hospital, he finds himself experiencing what he calls lurches back in time. Most of these lurches take him back to ancient Rome, his life as a priest, and the his love for the Vestal Virgin whom he loves.

Once he is recovered from the bomb blast, the lurches continue. He finds his way to The Phoenix Foundation, a renowned place of research into the past lives of children. Because of certain memories from a more recent lifetime, and due to the intense interest of the owners of the foundation, they make something of an exception for Josh. They do not take him on as a client, but he finds himself working show more with the foundation to prove the existence of past lives, including those that haunt him.

A trip to Rome triggers more and very intense lurches. He finds himself involved in murder and intrigue, just when it seems that the answers to his own questions lay in front of him. What follows is an intriguing look into the connections past lives have to current lifetimes, and people who have reincarnated within the same families to perhaps right karmic wrongs?

I liked this one a lot. Recommended. show less