(This review appears in Mythprint, the newsletter of the Mythopoeic Society.) 
 Asunder is the second book in Jodi Meadows' Newsoul trilogy, following Incarnate, which sets up a society in which the million or so residents of Heart are reincarnated repeatedly, and have been for about five thousand years. That is, until one of them doesn't return, and Ana is born instead. Because she is new, and because people feel that she "stole" the life that ought to belong to their lost friend, she is mistrusted, abused, and shunned by all but a few close friends. At the close of Incarnate, Ana discovers the truth about why the old soul didn't return, and a manufactured catastrophe causes Heart to lose nearly a hundred more old souls. When the first new baby born in Heart after "Templedark" is a newsoul, chaos erupts in the city and it is up to Ana to fight for newsoul rights and try to discover why the old souls reincarnate, and what Janan, the entity who lives in the Temple, has to do with any of it. 
 Asunder suffers from the affliction that hinders so many middle books in trilogies in that the worldbuilding is already primarily set up, and the ultimate ending to the story is another book away, so there's a slump in pacing and plotting that occurs. Sometimes serious character development makes up for the slow pace, but this unfortunately is not the case in Asunder. While Ana finds her courage, self-worth, and ability to assert herself, those around her seem stagnant. This could be explained away by the fact that they are all nearly five thousand years old and thus don't change very much, but Sam, Ana's boyfriend, in particular seems flat and immature, defined almost completely by his relationship with Ana and without the depth of character that one would expect from someone so old, who has died and been reborn so many times. The last few chapters pick up tremendously, giving the plot a major shove toward the final book, Infinite, as Ana discovers the horrible truth about Janan, the reincarnations, and sylphs, the threatening spirit-creatures that roam the wilds outside Heart. 
 Despite these drawbacks, some interesting parallels to Tolkien can be found in Asunder. Janan is an incorporeal being who possesses the tower known as the Temple; like Sauron in Barad-dur, he has little direct influence over the world except through his devoted lackeys. Like Sauron, Janan gained his power through deception and by binding others to his will; the reincarnations are his side of the bargain that gave him immense power, and he continues to thrive by consuming newsouls before they can be born. While few of the residents of Heart remember making this bargain--Janan makes them forget almost anything having to do with him, the Temple, or their bargain--they continue to benefit from it. While only a hint of the true nature of the sylphs is revealed at the end of Asunder, they seem to have some similarities to the Ring-Wraiths; at least one of them is proven to be the soul of one of Ana's friends who died in the Temple. 
 Likewise, some subtle social commentary can be read in the text. The conflict between old- and new-souls reads very much like the contemporary generational conflict between Boomers and Millennials; the old souls see nineteen-year-old Ana as a baby, too young and inexperienced to add anything to society. Although Templedark left them without several important people (including the person who monitors the seismic activity in the caldera near Heart), none of the remaining citizens trust Ana--or any newsoul--to replace them. Ana is frequently frustrated by the old souls' refusal to see her as a whole person or accept her as a citizen. Despite teaching herself to read and figuring out many major life skills without any help, she is continually made to feel inadequate because all the old souls have known how to read or play music or navigate using a compass for thousands of years. The old souls' greatest fears are of being replaced and of death itself, as they have never experienced permanent death and do not know what to expect. 
 The entire Newsoul trilogy raises interesting philosophical questions about the nature of society, life, death, and growing up. After all, what is the value of life if the soul will return in a few years--with all of its memories intact? How much would or should someone care about the well-being of another person if bodies are renewable resources? Also, how much does biological sex matter if two souls love each other, and that love carries over several incarnations? For that matter, how much does physical age matter when the souls are five thousand years old? On the other hand, does the age of the soul or the body matter more in Sam and Ana's relationship--both physically nineteen years old, but Sam being an old soul while Ana's is new. Like many YA novels with immortal/mortal romantic pairings, the reader is left to decide whether the pairing is inappropriate and creepy or whether age is less important than love.