Jan 11, 2012

Firelight (Firelight, #1), by Sophie Jordan

Release Date: September 7th, 2010
Publisher: HarperTeen
Age Group: Young Adult
Overall: 4 Stars 
Categories: Fantasy, Paranormal, Dragons, Romance
Goodreads Page
Other books in the series: Vanish (Firelight, #2) 
Read in January 2012

Summary:
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.

My Opinion:

Firelight drew me in and didn't let go until I was done! What a good read! It took me a while to read this, but that was because I waited until it was published in Arg, instead of buying it through the internet. But now, I don't know if I'll be able to wait until Vanish is published here, I want to read it now!

Although I really enjoyed this book, I was a little annoyed at the plot: girl's family has to move for whatever reason (in Firelight it was to save Jacinda from a terrible fate), girl starts new school, doesn't make many friends, and the cutest guy -the one all the girls drool about- notices her among the throng.

But I get it: sometimes these things -writing about new kids in school and falling for the boy/girl you've dreamed about/seen in your mind/are destined to meet/etc.- are inevitable if we want to make the story work. I know this from experience, I'm writing a book where my female character dreams about a boy whom she later meets, and oh, what a surprise, she meets him because he's new in school. But I've learnt it doesn't matter what others write, it's what you make of your story. Honestly, I don't see any other way for neither mine nor Sophie's story to work: Jacinda's in danger and they have to move. She's the new kid in school -along with her sister, Tamra- and it's there where she meets Will, the hunter who refused to kill her.

And it's because of that that she wants to be around him (why did he spare her, when he kills her kind for a living?), and also, because without him, her draki (her dragon spirit) will certainly die in the hot desert where her mother took her.

I love dragons, and this story did not disappoint. Their history was explained very well through Jacinda's voice, which I thought was unique. I loved that the draki have all different abilities, like Jacinda being a fire draki, the last of her kind, and that they live in closed communities. And I also can't wait to learn more about the enkros and the hunters, and Will's story.

I only wish the love triangle wasn't so strong and present in the book. Sophie created wonderful characters, and while I can tolerate the new girl syndrome, I really dislike a bad love triangle.

I'd recommend this to Inheritance's fans: while this is nothing like Paolini's series, a) it's got dragons, and b) we've got no more Inheritance books, so we might as well move on to the next series.
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