FIRELIGHT BY SOPHIE JORDAN BOOK REVIEW

Firelight by Sophie Jordan

Publisher: Harper Teen

Publication Date: September 7, 2010

Pages: 326

Series: Firelight book 1

Age Bracket: Young Adult

Synopsis: 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.

I’ve known Sophie Jordan for her adult romance and historical romance novels and I was surprised to see her recent Young Adult debut novel gathers a lot of hype and buzz around the blogosphere and book forums and websites. And add to that I was quite intrigued with her concept of using a mythical creature – Draki, a shape shifter and descendant of dragon. Actually I’m not a fan of literatures with dragons on it until I set my eyes on this book.

In the beginning of the book my adrenaline starts to kick in as it started with an action scene of predators hunting their prey. And that’s when I was totally engulfed and I can’t stop from reading it. I was so curious about Jacinda’s kind and to learn more about Will whose family had been hunting Jacinda’s kind for decades. That curiosity drives me to flip through the pages until I’m not aware that I have reached the end of the book and I realized that I also want to read the sequel.

The romance part is very mesmerizing and captivating. It’s a forbidden romance in a way that involves life and death, since they’re playing the role of prey and predator. Since Sophie is known for her previous romance novels, it doesn’t stop her from igniting the romance scenes in this book that leaves the pages scalding. Especially when Jacinda and Will first set eyes on each other and they feel the connection between them that later rouse. And even though how hard they denied it, in the end they still find themselves stuck with each other.

As for the characters, this book is narrated from Jacinda’s point of view, so it’s easier to have access to her emotions. I empathize with her when she trusted so much and being lied to in the end. And I admire her for trying to fit in the world she doesn’t belong to just to make her family happy. Best of all there’s Will, the one who satisfies her needs to keep her normal life. I loved how he was described and I can’t help to swoon over him and afterwards I fan myself.

The ending was climatic and unexpected without a cliff hanger but something to crave to read for the next installment. Overall it’s a great book, worth the time to spend reading it. 

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