Tuesday, March 17, 2015

“A Book with Non-human Characters” 2015 Challenge; FIRELIGHT by Sophie Jordan

I just now realized how many Young Adult books that I read.  I didn’t realize how many until I actually started to keep track.  I actually had planned on reading a Lora Leigh book for this series.  She is well known for her Breed series.   All of those book have a darker side of romance to them.  Are they hot?  Yes, extremely, but when it came down to it, all I wanted this time was a light, uncomplicated read.  I think I got that with this one. 
 

FIRELIGHT by Sophie Jordan
Book 1 in the Firelight Series
 
 


BOOK DESCRIPTION

 
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 REVIEW
3.5 out of 5 *Stars*

 

Let me start off by saying that I had never read a story based on dragons before.  Werewolves… yes.  Cougars… yes.  Along with many other shifter books, but never dragons.  The way that Jordan describes the texture of the skin or the way she wrote about their different colors, it’s as if I was running my hand over one and seeing it through her eyes.  When she talks about them flying, it’s the same thing.  It’s like I’m right there in the air with them.  The way she wrote the story and vividly described all aspects, made it a thoroughly enjoyable book to read.  It was the story itself that I had a few issues with. 
 
Here’s the biggest… 
 
I don’t think I have ever been as mad at a mother in a story as I was with Jacinda’s mom in this one.  Yes, there are others that were mean and I didn’t like, but that was who they were.  This one was a selfish bitch under the pretense of looking after her daughter.  Every draki can transform into human.  If you stay human too long without morphing, your draki dies; not just goes dormant, but DIES!  That is the equivalent of killing off part of your soul.  Well, here is a woman (the mother) that chose to let hers die when one of her daughters never manifested into a dragon.  She decides to break away from the pack, taking both her daughters along with her. (For a good reason.  I will give her that.) Instead of moving someplace where her one daughter’s draki can flourish, she moves somewhere in the hopes that it will die off.  Basically, she wants a part of her daughters SOUL to die, and shows not a bit of remorse.  I wanted to reach into that book and smack her mother around a bit.  Maybe it would knock some sense into her. 
 
If that wasn’t bad enough, the only other person that Jacinda had was her sister, a twin no less, the one that never had a draki.  I understand the sister had it rough when she lived with the pack, always being an outsider.  It almost made me feel sorry for her, but the moment she opened her mouth, my sympathy for her flew right out the window.  Her sister was suffering, emotionally and physically.  When she saw this, she would say, “I’ll never forgive you if you ruin this for me.”  When Jacinda had an issue at school that was entire NOT her fault, her sister chose to berate her for it rather than be supportive.  It was infuriating!! You’re a twin.  Aren’t you supposed to be there for each other, no matter what?  Jacinda’s mom and sister were two peas in a freakin’ pod. 
 
With the unbelievable amount of support she received, it was not surprising that Jacinda thought she was the one being selfish and had an extremely negative opinion of her self-worth. 
She had an opinion on what her mom thought about her.  That she was…
 
“Someone she had to love, but wouldn’t have chosen.”
 
I know that all of it is probably contributing to the grand plot corresponding between all the books, but it’s still hard to read and not get irritated.  See, I said that Jordan was a good writer.  She would rather me get some emotion from her story rather than feel nothing at all.    
 
Overall… It was a wonderfully written story.  The love story kind of fell second nature to what was going on with her, but I’m not disappointed that I read it.  Do I recommend it though?  Not sure on that one.  I guess it goes like this.  Is it a good book to have under your belt?  Yes.  Is it absolutely imperative that you do?  No.  Now, I have the dilemma of my own.  Do I continue on with the series?  Do I want to read Jacinda getting belittled by the very people that are supposed to love her unconditionally for another whole book? I ordered the next book from the library, but I’m still not sure if I’m going to read it.  Stay tuned to find out…

 

16 books down, 36 to go!!

Happy Reading, Everyone!     

 

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