Review: Firelight

Title: Firelight (Firelight #1)

Author: Sophie Jordan

Pages: 323

Publisher: HarperTeen

Published: September 7th, 2010

Rating: 3.5/5

Summary From Goodreads:

"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."

Firelight was an enjoyable, easy read, with a fun concept. The writing, while simple, was superb! The idea of a draki is fascinating and is a great spin on dragons which aren't often seen. I absolutely LOVE the draki world that Jordan created. It was so unique! I wish that more of the story had taken place in Jacinda's home town (village?).

While the idea of draki was unique, the plot really wasn't. First off, there was the whole hunter/hunted relationship. Second, Jacinda was special even among the draki and they wanted her to be queen or whatever. It was just very typical and predictable from the second that Will saved Jacinda's life even though he's a draki hunter because he thought she was too pretty to kill.

For the most part, the characters were enjoyable. With the exception of the main character that is. Jacinda was very whinny and weak. She never really went after what she wanted, all she did was sit around and whine about everything. She let her mother make all the decisions even when she completely disagreed. She never even tried to really talk to her mother about what was happening, which was just frustrating. I did like the struggle for Jacinda to save her draki abilities while her life would probably be easier to let it go. I respect her for that, for continuing that fight. I pretty much liked Will, I don't have much to say about him one way or the other. I thought it was neat that how what they were not only brought them together but is what was sort of keeping them apart. I would have liked to see more of the other draki characters just because they seemed as if they would be interesting.

Over all, Firelight was a light, enjoyable read. Not the best book ever but definitely not bad either. If you're looking for a fun, fast read this book is definitely for you!