Review: Firelight

Author: Sophie Jordan
Published by: HarperCollins Children
Pages: 288
Source: Library
Synopsis (from Amazon): Marked as special at an early age, Jacinda knows her every move is watched. She longs for the freedom to make her own choices, but when she breaks the 'no flying' rule, 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 defence is her secret ability to shift into human form. And her rare ability to breathe fire makes her desirable, and important, to the survival of the draki. Forced to flee into the mortal world with her family, Jacinda struggles to adapt to her new surroundings. There she meets 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 slipping away, and 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.

Firelight was a cute story. It wasn't something I loved because I had some issues with it, but there were some really nice parts too.

Jacinda didn't cut it as a memorable main character for me. I was usually irritated with her. I mean, she said she broke the rules, but only minor ones. When her mother moved to a desert, she didn't do anything but sulk a bit, even though the move was literally KILLING a part of her. She let her mother make that choice, and as much as she resented it, she didn't do much about it.

Jacinda's sister, Tamra, also made me annoyed. Tamra was a character readers will (or are at least supposed to) sympathize with. Tamra was always overshadowed by Jacinda since Jacinda had the rare ability to breathe fire while Tamra couldn't even manifest into a dragon. Okay, that must suck being normal while everyone else was special and having the boy you like chase your sister just for her powers. But the way she treated Jacinda, constantly reminding her of how hard it was for herself and Jacinda should try harder to fit in and be happy bugged me. When you love someone, you love them for who they are. You don't try or ever force them to change. That part of the story just made me upset.

That being said, there are many good points too. Dragons are so cool! The mythology with the Earth, gems, flight, was really interesting. The fact that dragon blood might be able to heal was cool too. It gave a reasonable motive for the reason hunters, well, hunted.

There were some really interesting characters. Cassian for one sounds super cool, though a bit of a jerk. I'm really excited to learn more about him in the next book. Will was also pretty cool, but a bit average. There wasn't anything that made me love him, but maybe that will change again in the second book?

This story has real potential, so while I didn't love it, I will be reading sequels. I think for a good book, it gets 3 stars,

***