Firelight by Sophie Jordan


Firelight, Book 1

Synopsis : A hidden truth. Mortal enemies. Doomed love.
Marked as special at an early age, Jacinda knows her every move is watched. But she longs for freedom to make her own choices. When she breaks the most sacred tenet among her kind, she nearly pays with her life. Until a beautiful stranger saves her. A stranger who was sent to hunt those like her. For Jacinda is a draki—a descendant of dragons whose greatest defense is her secret ability to shift into human form.
Forced to flee into the mortal world with her family, Jacinda struggles to adapt to her new surroundings. The only bright light is Will. Gorgeous, elusive Will who stirs her inner draki to life. Although she is irresistibly drawn to him, Jacinda knows Will’s dark secret: He and his family are hunters. She should avoid him at all costs. But her inner draki is slowly slipping away—if it dies she will be left as a human forever. She’ll do anything to prevent that. Even if it means getting closer to her most dangerous enemy.
Mythical powers and breathtaking romance ignite in this story of a girl who defies all expectations and whose love crosses an ancient divide.


Review :
I couldn’t wait to read this novel but unfortunately, once finished, I was mixed about it.

Jacinda and Azure are both drakis. Their clan has forbidden them to fly during the day. But one day the two girls decide to break the rules and so leave the protected area in order to shift into the draki form. Soon, they are stalked by their enemies : the hunters. Azure manages to escape but Jacinda is injured. Surrounded on all sides, with no way out, she ends up taking refuge in a cave but she is soon found by Will, a young hunter. Curiously, he doesn’t deliver her to the other hunters and thus saves her life…

The beginning was promising : the author takes us into the action from the very first pages. But later, the story becomes slower, we return to more traditional things, found in all Young Adult novels, which is a pity because there are enough to make something more original. We wanted to learn more about the world of the Drakis which seems very interesting: How did they emerge? How many categories of Drakis are there in total? What are their talents? How exactly the drakis evolve in dailylife? Etc. In addition we don’t learn much more about the enkros who are with the hunters the worst enemies of the Drakis. I think all these issues should have been more exploited. But instead of that the author choses to focus on the love story of our two main characters! So we end up with a girl who arrives in a new school where she tries to integrate herself and there she meets a handsome and mysterious boy who will occupy all her thoughts! In short, nothing extraordinary and I confess I expected more.

Regarding the characters I have to say I was very disappointed by Jacinda. I didn’t find her touching at all. In a sense, she acts just like her twin sister. Indeed, Tamra acts like a kid, she’s a selfish person but at least she has an excuse, she has always been unhappy among the others drakis. Jacinda on the contrary was always the favorite because of her talent as a fire-breathing. If things are not going so well for her in the clan it’s mostly her fault because she disobeyes the rules all the time!

I also think that Jacinda is very ungrateful towards her mother. Her mother has done everything possible to protect her and avoid the sad fate that awaited her and instead of thanks, she blames her. The situation is difficult, they don’t have money to live, her mother is forced to work hard to support themselves. And instead of taking everything on it and try to fix things, Jacinda only makes them worse, all under the pretext that she is primarily a Draki and she wants to stay a draki! So rather than staying hidden and keeping a low profile, Jacinda prefers to be very imprudent. She just wants one thing : to shift into the draki form to keep her draki’s side alive even if it means to put her family in danger! She is a selfish and immature teenager. Moreover, she doesn’t know what she wants: on one hand she is in love with Will, but on the other hand she wants to run away from him and her family to return to the protection of her pride!

Moreover, her relationship with Will isn’t convincing. They don’t have the behavior of young lovers, I have the impression that they yield to an impulsion more than anything else! The other characters however seem to me a little bit more interesting. I like Catherine, she’s very friendly. Xander is the archetype of evil and cruel character. But the character which touched me the most is undoubtedly Cassian! He tries to get closer to Jacinda but she despises and rejects him systematically. I hope he will be more present in the next books because yes, I intend to read the sequel although I didn’t like the first one! I know I’m crazy but it must be said that this book isn’t all bad: the style is fluid and it’s still very readable, like any Young Adult book. And although I didn’t appreciate some things I read this novel in less than two days and the end… the end is horrible and terribly frustrating! Sophie Jordan managed to revive my interest in this series and finally, despite my very mixed review, I still really want to know what will happen next.

 

15 thoughts on “Firelight by Sophie Jordan

  1. MELLIANE! 🙂 I’m really glad you got around to reading this book, even if you didn’t enjoy it as much as you hoped you would! I felt basically the same way — I LOVED the whole draki-dragons idea, but I felt like the plot besides that was the same as every other YA novel out there. Still, for some reason, I just couldn’t put it down!

    Awesome review, Melliane! I just finished Vanish and it elaborated more on the draki, so I hope you like it better when you get to it! 🙂

  2. Hi Mimi, and yes, it’s not Melliane but Inessa!

    Yes, I found the plot of this book wasn’t very original! I’ve got Vanish too, I’ll read it soon. I’m glad to hear that the Drakis are more present in Vanish but I also heard that Jacinda’s behavior was the same! So I’am not very optimistic!

  3. Oh, I’m so so so so so so so sorry, Inessa!! Me and my blonde moments — that was really thoughtless of me!

    But you did write an amazing review! 🙂 And yes LOL Jacinda stays basically the same character in Vanish which bothered me a little too. Still, I hope she’ll grow more in book three, and I can’t wait to read your review on Vanish! I promise there will be no more name mix-ups — pinky swear! 🙂

  4. @Mimi : Hi Mimi!! It’s ok, no worries, these things could happen! In fact I’ve made ​​the same mistake in other blogs too! (^_^)

    It doesn’t reassure me much what you’ve just said about Vanish! I hope I’ll enjoy it anyway!

    @Kelly : Hi Kelly! I was disappointed too!

    But you’re right! Now that I know we don’t have to expect much about this series, the other books shouldn’t be worse! 🙂

  5. Aw… sorry you didn’t enjoy this one. I really liked it, but mostly because the paranormal was different. I didn’t like the mother. I don’t like it when the story has the parents lie to the kids and then expect them to follow in line in blind trust. However, I can see your point as well!

  6. Hey,
    Did you change your background? It’s gorgeous! And I’m sorry you didn’t love Firelight as much as you thought you would :/ I enjoyed it, but it didn’t make me feel like I HAD to go out and get the next one. I did like it, though. I think what drew me was the whole dragon concept. I liked that it was a new creature/paranormal take. Hope you’re doing well!
    Ninja Girl

  7. @Melissa : I understand your point of view too! I hope the sequel will be better! 🙂

    @Julie : Yes, it’s true! This book is far from being my favorite novel, but I still want to know how all this will end! It’s the problem with this kind of books: most of YA books are addictive even if we haven’t enjoyed it! Lol 😉

    @ Ninja Girl : Hi Ninja girl! Thank you so much! Yes my friend Melliane and I have devoted an evening to change the design of the blog! It was fun!

    Like you, I’ve found this novel wasn’t the best but it’s readable! And I’m foolish enough to want to read Vanish anyway, hoping it will be better of course! lol!

    Have a great day/night 😉

  8. The series is pretty good. I think its annoying how her characters never seem to know their own minds, constantly changing, it gives the books a haphazard feel. Not the most amazing read but enjoyable enough!

Laisser un commentaire

Votre adresse e-mail ne sera pas publiée. Les champs obligatoires sont indiqués avec *