Book Review: Firelight by Sophie Jordan

With her rare ability to breathe fire, Jacinda is special even among the draki—the descendants of dragons who can shift between human and dragon forms. But when Jacinda’s rebelliousness leads her family to flee into the human world, she struggles to adapt, even as her draki spirit fades. The one thing that revives it is Will, whose family hunts her kind. Jacinda can’t resist getting closer to him, even though she knows she’s risking not only her life but the draki’s most closely guarded secret. (From Goodreads)

I'm a huge paranormal YA fan. I think that's fairly obvious, based on the majority of books that I read/review on this blog. Still, lately I've had to take breaks from the genre because nothing has felt unique (that may be why I gravitated back toward regular fiction for a while). After reading some rave reviews, however, I decided I needed to buy a copy. I was pleasantly surprised with how fresh the book seemed. They are the descendants of dragons...it doesn't get much cooler than that.

I thought that the pacing of this book was perfect. I've had some issues with that in the last couple of books that I've read, and this one kept me captivated. I was so invested in these characters that I almost had an anxiety attack when Jacinda walked into the wrong room in Will's house. Without giving too much away, I'll say that a draki might not want to wander in there. I thought that the draki hunters were interesting, and I can't wait to learn more about them in book 2. I think that the fluidity of the writing was the reason why I couldn't set this one down. Considering all the work I have with school, reading it in two days was a feat in itself.

One of the few issues that I had was actually with Jacinda. I empathized with her sister, Tamra, and that's where my Jacinda issues arose. I really wanted Jacinda to imagine what it had been like for her sister to be stuck in the pride, and to understand her sister's motives for wanting to stay in their new home. After all, Tamra was the outsider when the family was still living with the pride, and Jacinda becomes the outsider after they move. I'm not saying that I agreed with their mom them to a place that would slowly kill Jacinda's draki, but I wanted Jacinda to mature and understand why her mom had made that decision.

Overall, I really enjoyed Firelight. I can't wait to read more about the draki hunters, and I'm hoping that we'll get to see more of the pride in the sequel. I'm particularly interested to know exactly what happened to Will when he was sick. Now, I just have to wait until the sequel is released.

Firelight
By Sophie Jordan
Published by HarperTeen
323 Pages
Rating: B