What do you think?
Rate this book
Incarnate
For an innocent man, she’ll go to her grave. Again.
Cia is serving her sentence in the Canadian Arctic, guarding one of the many portals that seals off Earth from Heaven and Hell. She doesn’t mind the cold. What she does mind? Someone’s bumping off other Incarnates, the dual-souled beings who hold the Apocalypse at bay. And she’s next on the list.
Worse, she learns the prime suspect is Arthur, her ex. Arthur is many things, but despite their history, he’s no murderer. Cia has only thirty days to find him and prove it before the Wrath is unleashed to mete out justice.
It’s no relief when he shows up in her truck’s headlights on the side of the ice road. He stirs turmoil between her volatile old soul and the younger one that keeps it in line. Worse, he shows all the signs of turning into a demon.
The closer they get to Yellowknife, the more rogue demons pour out of Hell, dragging with them a past she thought would never haunt her again. Another murder, and the elders prepare to summon the Wrath ahead of schedule. A move that will, literally, let all Hell break loose. Unless Cia makes a soul-tearing choice.
Warning: Ice, frigid temperatures, lots of Poutine consuming and a mention of blubber. Many demons were harmed in the writing of this book, but the polar bear really is okay.
Cia is serving her sentence in the Canadian Arctic, guarding one of the many portals that seals off Earth from Heaven and Hell. She doesn’t mind the cold. What she does mind? Someone’s bumping off other Incarnates, the dual-souled beings who hold the Apocalypse at bay. And she’s next on the list.
Worse, she learns the prime suspect is Arthur, her ex. Arthur is many things, but despite their history, he’s no murderer. Cia has only thirty days to find him and prove it before the Wrath is unleashed to mete out justice.
It’s no relief when he shows up in her truck’s headlights on the side of the ice road. He stirs turmoil between her volatile old soul and the younger one that keeps it in line. Worse, he shows all the signs of turning into a demon.
The closer they get to Yellowknife, the more rogue demons pour out of Hell, dragging with them a past she thought would never haunt her again. Another murder, and the elders prepare to summon the Wrath ahead of schedule. A move that will, literally, let all Hell break loose. Unless Cia makes a soul-tearing choice.
Warning: Ice, frigid temperatures, lots of Poutine consuming and a mention of blubber. Many demons were harmed in the writing of this book, but the polar bear really is okay.
- GenresUrban Fantasy
284 pages, Paperback
First published July 5, 2011
47 people want to read
About the author
A.C. Ruttan
9 books4 followersA.C Ruttan started writing at a very young age. Life and responsibility got in the way and writing was put on hold. It wasn't until the birth of her second child and spending countless hours in a NICU she realized that life is precious and it shouldn't be wasted.
Now years later --and a healthy baby later--A.C. has realized her dreams. She was first published in 2007 under her alter ego Amy Ruttan, and she hasn't looked back.
Now years later --and a healthy baby later--A.C. has realized her dreams. She was first published in 2007 under her alter ego Amy Ruttan, and she hasn't looked back.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 19, 2011
Review from www.FreshFiction.com
Life is difficult with one voice in your head. Imagine if you had two! Cia is an incarnate. She was born with a new and old soul. Her new soul is level headed, realistic, and thinks before she acts. Her old soul tends to let her emotions lead her actions. That's not hard to understand when her old soul, Boudicca, died protecting her people in ancient Britain from the invading Romans. Life can be difficult for Cia though when the two voices in her mind cannot agree on their next course of action.
Cia lives to protect humanity from the evils of heaven and hell. Her life force is connected to a portal that leads straight to hell. If a demon escapes from her portal, her life ends on the spot. Things have been quite for the past ten years and she likes it that way, but when she gets a phone call from her boss, Michael, her world is flipped upside down. The love of her life and estranged husband, Arthur, is being accused of murdering other incarnates. She has been charged with finding him before the council’s hit man, the wrath, does or Arthur will be killed in the worse way imaginable. She will have to make the choice of the man she loves or to uphold her duty to mankind.
I was immediately drawn into the world that A.C. Ruttan developed within this story. The warriors she has developed intrigued me from the get go. There is so much conflict within Cia and what she must do that I immediately felt sorry for her and was hoping everything would work out in the end. The history that was introduced by the older souls hit a note with my love for history. The fact that many of the souls in the story were members of the historical Tudor family was a bonus. I have never read characters based on Henry, Arthur, Mary and Anne setup in such a manor. It was refreshing and enjoyable. I have been enthralled by the world of the Portal Keepers and I hope that we will see book two in the very near future.
Life is difficult with one voice in your head. Imagine if you had two! Cia is an incarnate. She was born with a new and old soul. Her new soul is level headed, realistic, and thinks before she acts. Her old soul tends to let her emotions lead her actions. That's not hard to understand when her old soul, Boudicca, died protecting her people in ancient Britain from the invading Romans. Life can be difficult for Cia though when the two voices in her mind cannot agree on their next course of action.
Cia lives to protect humanity from the evils of heaven and hell. Her life force is connected to a portal that leads straight to hell. If a demon escapes from her portal, her life ends on the spot. Things have been quite for the past ten years and she likes it that way, but when she gets a phone call from her boss, Michael, her world is flipped upside down. The love of her life and estranged husband, Arthur, is being accused of murdering other incarnates. She has been charged with finding him before the council’s hit man, the wrath, does or Arthur will be killed in the worse way imaginable. She will have to make the choice of the man she loves or to uphold her duty to mankind.
I was immediately drawn into the world that A.C. Ruttan developed within this story. The warriors she has developed intrigued me from the get go. There is so much conflict within Cia and what she must do that I immediately felt sorry for her and was hoping everything would work out in the end. The history that was introduced by the older souls hit a note with my love for history. The fact that many of the souls in the story were members of the historical Tudor family was a bonus. I have never read characters based on Henry, Arthur, Mary and Anne setup in such a manor. It was refreshing and enjoyable. I have been enthralled by the world of the Portal Keepers and I hope that we will see book two in the very near future.
March 7, 2012
A heavy urban fantasy, this story incorporates a sticky puree of Tudor history, Celtic Druidism, and end-times biblical references. But sadly, this makes for befuddling lore that never truly comes together. Just when I thought I was grasping the rules of this particular world-within-a-world, more were either added or conveniently broken. Tedious info-blitzing only added to the problem. Instead of feeling immersed in the story, I felt more like an eavesdropper—trying desperately to make sense of a convoluted conversational puzzle. (I suspect the book would have benefited, clarity-wise, from another POV outside of Cia's first-person telling.)
And while I loved the idea of ancient warrior queen Boudicca as the second 'soul' of the main character, I found it difficult to establish a sense of empathy for either of her personalities. Characterization became a closely-related hurdle -- and the heroine's estranged husband, Arthur, a gnawing source of aggravation. His personality had all of the vibrancy and depth of a cardboard box. With him as a bland counterpart to an immeasurably willful woman, I had trouble seeing any justification for their supposed chemistry.
I can at least say that the depictions of ice trucking were robust and thoroughly convincing. Action sequences were plentiful, and I could appreciate the consistent olfactory detailing. But on the whole, it simply wasn't enough to save the story.
And while I loved the idea of ancient warrior queen Boudicca as the second 'soul' of the main character, I found it difficult to establish a sense of empathy for either of her personalities. Characterization became a closely-related hurdle -- and the heroine's estranged husband, Arthur, a gnawing source of aggravation. His personality had all of the vibrancy and depth of a cardboard box. With him as a bland counterpart to an immeasurably willful woman, I had trouble seeing any justification for their supposed chemistry.
I can at least say that the depictions of ice trucking were robust and thoroughly convincing. Action sequences were plentiful, and I could appreciate the consistent olfactory detailing. But on the whole, it simply wasn't enough to save the story.
June 27, 2011
3.5 stars
Cia is an Incarnate, who according to their beliefs were gifts from God to protect humanity from Judgement Day. She has two souls. The one she was born with is levelheaded but her other soul, Boudicca, Queen of the Britons, was a warrior queen when she lived and is anything but. Cia guards a portal in Yellowknife Canada, a portal between Heaven and Hell. She is also a trucker who travels the dangerous ice roads in the Canadian Arctic to make deliveries. When her estranged husband Arthur is accused of murder Cia is determined to prove his innocence and save him from the murder sentence that was hanging over his head.
This is a book with lots of action and demon killing. AC Ruttan put wonderful details in the book about how the different demons looked, smelled and acted. The idea about demons smelling like things other then smoke was fantastic. The fight scenes were great. I loved how she described them. Also, you can tell that she put a lot of research into the book. My boyfriend watches the shows about the truckers that work on the ice roads in the Arctic and as far as I can tell she was spot on with her portrayal of the profession.
Though there were some great parts in the book there was some things that I didn't like. I understand the need for details as far as Cia's journey through the Arctic but I think that some of them were a bit excessive. There was a wonderful rekindling between Cia and Arthur and I would've loved to have seen more bedroom scenes. There was such promise in the beginning of the book of some hot sex but it just kinda petered out in my opinion. The other thing that I didn't like was all the English history references. Some people are really into that type of thing but I'm not one of them so it brought the book down for me.
This was AC Ruttan's debut novel. Though Incarnate didn't score high on my meter I'm not averse to reading more in this series and more from her. She has great potential!
See this review and more on http://riverinaromantics.blogspot.com/
Cia is an Incarnate, who according to their beliefs were gifts from God to protect humanity from Judgement Day. She has two souls. The one she was born with is levelheaded but her other soul, Boudicca, Queen of the Britons, was a warrior queen when she lived and is anything but. Cia guards a portal in Yellowknife Canada, a portal between Heaven and Hell. She is also a trucker who travels the dangerous ice roads in the Canadian Arctic to make deliveries. When her estranged husband Arthur is accused of murder Cia is determined to prove his innocence and save him from the murder sentence that was hanging over his head.
This is a book with lots of action and demon killing. AC Ruttan put wonderful details in the book about how the different demons looked, smelled and acted. The idea about demons smelling like things other then smoke was fantastic. The fight scenes were great. I loved how she described them. Also, you can tell that she put a lot of research into the book. My boyfriend watches the shows about the truckers that work on the ice roads in the Arctic and as far as I can tell she was spot on with her portrayal of the profession.
Though there were some great parts in the book there was some things that I didn't like. I understand the need for details as far as Cia's journey through the Arctic but I think that some of them were a bit excessive. There was a wonderful rekindling between Cia and Arthur and I would've loved to have seen more bedroom scenes. There was such promise in the beginning of the book of some hot sex but it just kinda petered out in my opinion. The other thing that I didn't like was all the English history references. Some people are really into that type of thing but I'm not one of them so it brought the book down for me.
This was AC Ruttan's debut novel. Though Incarnate didn't score high on my meter I'm not averse to reading more in this series and more from her. She has great potential!
See this review and more on http://riverinaromantics.blogspot.com/
October 27, 2011
This was a densely constructed urban fantasy, playing with religious themes like angels, Heaven and Hell, and demons, that try to blend/merge with a plethora of historical references. The end result was a confusing mishmash that could’ve been so much more.
So I’m not going to even try summarizing this. There are twists and turns galore, so what I would say would get trumped within a few chapters anyway because I’m reluctant to give spoilers. But therein lies its greatest flaws. In its attempt to convey this complex world, it gets mired in too many flashbacks and too many information dumps to get the point across. The best parts were the action sequences because the story actually moves along at those points. Luckily, there were enough of those to keep me reading rather than giving up after the first third. (The fact that there are editorial inconsistencies don’t help, i.e. Arthur’s eyes changing color while he’s human when he doesn’t have souls anymore.)
Characterizations get lost in the world-building, too. Cia fares the best, but even hers is lacking. Incarnates have two souls, and frankly, her older soul is far more developed than she ever was. I couldn’t tell you much about who Cia really was, but I could write reams on Boudicca. Arthur is more interesting in demon form, mostly because when he’s human, he comes across as a block of wood. These two are supposed to be in love, but I didn’t feel it until close to the end. A whole host of supporting characters flit through the pages, but because their various roles are so muddy for most of the story, it’s hard to really care about any of them, either. The one thing that got me through to the end was simply the need to discover how it all turned out, but even then, I’m pretty sure I don’t have it straight.
I do know, however, I won’t be bothering with the second book. None of the characters were interesting enough to follow, the author’s reliance on flashbacks as a narrative device was tedious, and the lack of clarity as the story attempts to construct its world was too frustrating to overcome.
So I’m not going to even try summarizing this. There are twists and turns galore, so what I would say would get trumped within a few chapters anyway because I’m reluctant to give spoilers. But therein lies its greatest flaws. In its attempt to convey this complex world, it gets mired in too many flashbacks and too many information dumps to get the point across. The best parts were the action sequences because the story actually moves along at those points. Luckily, there were enough of those to keep me reading rather than giving up after the first third. (The fact that there are editorial inconsistencies don’t help, i.e. Arthur’s eyes changing color while he’s human when he doesn’t have souls anymore.)
Characterizations get lost in the world-building, too. Cia fares the best, but even hers is lacking. Incarnates have two souls, and frankly, her older soul is far more developed than she ever was. I couldn’t tell you much about who Cia really was, but I could write reams on Boudicca. Arthur is more interesting in demon form, mostly because when he’s human, he comes across as a block of wood. These two are supposed to be in love, but I didn’t feel it until close to the end. A whole host of supporting characters flit through the pages, but because their various roles are so muddy for most of the story, it’s hard to really care about any of them, either. The one thing that got me through to the end was simply the need to discover how it all turned out, but even then, I’m pretty sure I don’t have it straight.
I do know, however, I won’t be bothering with the second book. None of the characters were interesting enough to follow, the author’s reliance on flashbacks as a narrative device was tedious, and the lack of clarity as the story attempts to construct its world was too frustrating to overcome.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews