\ Firelight by Sophie Jordan

coming september 11, 2012
Series rating so far 

Firelight (firelight #1)
by Sophie Jordan
326 pages


Summary
Jacinda is not an ordinary human girl, see she's a dragon! (draki) and lives in a small village in the middle of the mountains with others of her kind. They can morph into human shape and for the most part keep this form for protection in case hunters come across their clan. Every draki has a special ability different from the others and she is a very rare fire breather, making her very special among her peers. The elders want to have her marry Cassian, the kings son, so they can have strong awesome fire breathing babies.
Jacinda doesn't really like this plan and is a little bit of a rebel. One day she is in her draki form flying without permission and she comes across hunters! oh no! But there is something different about one of them. He had the chance to capture her but he let her go! She thinks that she is safe but this little escapade puts her in danger with the elders and so her mother takes her and her twin sister and flee to the mortal world. Jacinda doesnt' want to go because if she can't morph into her draki self then it will die and she will eventually become a full human. But then while at school she sees a boy named Will, one who looks very familiar: it's the hunter who let her go.  (dun dun dun)

My review
Writing/Plot
Oh my goodness where to start? Ok, so first of all this, like so many others, seemed to have a lot of potential. It was a different idea from the popular wizards and vampires and I had read a lot of good things about it. But aside from being a little different with the whole dragon thing it seemed to use a recycled plot. Let me elaborate:
1. Girl moves to new town/new school and is different from everyone.
2. Girl meets super sexy boy who doesn't like any girls in school until she shows up.
3. Girl and Boy have an instant connection and can't stay away from eachother.
4. Boy is dangerous to Girl, but Girl doesn't care because he's hot.
see where I'm going....
Now I don't mind this story line to an extent. But it's kind of getting over used and annoying and it just wasn't done right, mostly because of the characterization, which reminds me...
Characterization
Uggg! K, so I think that in order for the above formula to work I have to love the characters. But I just didn't with this book. Jacinda was kind of mean and not so likable, Will was a flat flat flat pancake (or maybe he just didn't have a huge personality?) and had no depth, and everyone else seemed to just be there. So I wasn't rooting for anyone to win, wasn't rooting for anyone to be together, I was just rooting for something good and unpredictable to happen.
Romance
This was SUUUUUUper insta-love. Like probably the worst one I've seen. The thing with it happening so fast is there's no suspence, no chemestry and so when they are together I find myself saying "really?" and feeling kind of embarrassed for them. It's like they meet, they have a conversation in some class that they have together and then they make out and now are in love and would die for and betray their families for each other. Nice.
Overall
I still read this pretty fast and it was ok-ish. Probably if I were a 15 year old girl I would have eaten it up but since I'm so much older and wiser now I wasn't a huge fan. I think the main thing that bugged me were how the relationships wern't developed very well at all, between Will and Jacinda and also her family. Like she has a twin sister, but I never really felt like they were close at all, even though they were supposed to be. things like that. Although it is pretty much a requirement for there to be a good love story in books I read it's not all about the romance people! If the rest of the story elements are missing then it doesn't matter how many kissing scenes you throw in, it will be lacking if I don't care about the characters.


Vanish (firelight #2)
294 pages


Summary
Jacinda and her family have moved back home because of events in the end of Firelight and Jacinda is greeted with hostility and anger because she fled. She now has to regain the trust and friendship of her fellow draki's. Cassian (the kings son who they want to marry Jacinda off to) plays a bigger role in this one and starts to let his guard down a bit and we see his true feelings for Jacinda. All the while Jacinda is still in love with Will, but after the fled the mortal world they shaded (erased) all memories of them from the mortals around them and Jacinda is worried that Will won't know what happened to her. Will they ever be together again?

My Review
Writing/Plot
Yay for this series that I already had the sequel to this in my possession when I finished firelight because if not I would have NEVER picked this one up. I don't know if it is because we got past the whole "high school scene, 'have I read this before?'" phase of the series but I enjoyed this one much MUCH better. I loved getting to know the other draki and especially Jacinda's twin. The plot still bugged me a little because it centered around Will and Jacinda trying to be together and I just was never liking them together...but that's another section that I'll get to later.
Characterization
Much much better Sophie! Jacinda's character grew and wasn't as rude and selfish as she was in the first one and can I say Cassian? What a great character! They all seemed to have a little more depth (except Will. Maybe I'm biased and still just don't like him so...I just don't like him. wow that was an amazing sentence) and I was interested in what they were going to do.
Romance
Oh Cassian! If Jacinda doesn't pick you she is sooooo trapped in a YA paranormal romance novel. (which unfortunately that is what she's in so you're probably out of luck) I loved their relationship because it had time to grow! And I think I kind of like when the two love interests don't really like each other in the beginning and slowly get to know each other and discover they do! Which is the case for these two. But then stupid Will has to come back and Jacinda's like "oh let me betray my family and this guy I've known my whole life for you, who I've known for a few months, but boy can you kiss!"
I honestly can see the "team Jacob" twilight fans now.
No I'm not 13 year old giggling girl who has teams but to explain my thought this seems the easiest way:
So if I were to say I was on a twilight team I would be Team Edward and thought Jacob was just a nice guy but not for Bella. I had no clue how people could hate Edward well I totally get you guys now! Because I hate Will! The end.
Overall
This was much improved from firelight, so if you can get through that one this is worth the read. But I will say that if you didn't like Twilight, and books like it, then you probably want to avoid this on like the plague. Just sayin. I'm still on the fence though about whether I'll read the next installment coming out in September. we'll have to see...