Book Review: Firelight by Sophie Jordan

Firelight by Sophie Jordan
Release Date: September 7, 2010
Publisher: HarperTeen 
Pages: 323
Received: Library
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars 
Goodreads Page

Summary

From Goodreads:

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

Don’t judge a book by its cover

Who actually listens to that advice? Well, probably people who are less superficial than me. I can’t help it, and can you blame me with that gorgeous cover? I first saw the cover months before the book was released. It was insta-love. Angels sang, light shone on the cover, and the whole world disappeared. I couldn’t wait for inter-library loan to send me a copy and so I begged my fiancé to drive me forty five minutes to pick it up directly.

Unfortunately, a pretty package wasn’t enough to keep our relationship going (me and Firelight. The fiancé was cool with things).

We had a good thing

There are two things I loved about this book: the draki mythology and Cassian. Sophie Jordan created a thoroughly engrossing mythology surrounding the draki. Their history, culture, and biology are all explored in fascinating detail. I loved her world building in this regard and desperately wanted more. She really only scratches the surface in this book, though I suspect book two will delve into the draki mythology more.

Cassian was my other favorite thing about this book. Jacinda doesn’t like him very much, but I think there’s a lot more to him than she gives him credit for. He’s definitely the alpha male (both literally in their draki community and characterization-wise) and I can rarely resist an alpha male. I can’t wait to watch her swoon along with me when we (hopefully!) get to see more than a few glimpses of his romantically attentive side. If that doesn’t happen in the sequel then I’m so done with this series.

We’ve been through this before

Romance was the primary focus of this book, and I wasn’t feeling this romance at all. There was nothing wrong with Will, but he didn’t really stand out to me beyond the stock paranormal romance guy (insta-love, dangerous for her to love, sensitive, etc). Even some of the scenes, especially the scenes in school, were so reminiscent of a handful of other YA paranormal romance books that I felt like I had already read this book.


Readers who love Twilight and Edward and Bella’s romance in the first book will probably be overjoyed with this reenactment. I didn’t hate that relationship, but it kind of bored me. So take two in Firelight bored me too.

It’s not you, it’s me

I couldn’t decide if I wanted to reach into the book to smack Jacinda or if I was just too bored to bother. She spends most of the book grappling with her resentment toward her mother and her love for a draki hunter. The premise is sound, but Jacinda’s indecision was dragged on for so long that I lost all sympathy I had for the character and instead just wanted her to make a decision—any decision.

  

The excitement is gone

Not much actually happens in this book. Most of the time is taken up by excessive stage setting, primarily in the form of Jacinda's repetitive inner monologues. It felt like the book was unnecessarily stretched to take up enough space to justify a trilogy, even if there isn’t enough substance here to justify a complete book. The whole thing just felt very unbalanced to me.

THAT’S how you’re leaving me?!

Once I got to the final quarter, things started to get a lot better. Tension increased building steadily until the exciting climax…which is a complete cliffhanger. Right in the middle of everything THE BOOK JUST ENDS! I just slogged through all that whining and all that boredom FOR THIS?? Just as things were finally getting good and I was finally into it the.book.just.stopped.

Rarely has a book pissed me off so much. I’m not just annoyed or frustrated, I’m actually honest to goodness pissed. This wasn’t a Delirium cliffhanger or an Unearthly cliffhanger. Those are normal cliffhangers. They’re frustrating, but, whatever, they come at a logical point in the storytelling. This didn’t feel like a cliffhanger, it felt like a printing error.

Now I'll definitely read the next book, though I'm completely resentful at what feels like manipulation to stir interest in the next book. A sequel should be read based on the strength of the first book, not because the author left you hanging right in the middle of everything with zero resolution.

I’ll give the next book a chance through the library, but if I’m not hooked early on then I’m DNF-ing it.

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