Jacinda is a Draki, a descendant of dragons and the first Fire-Breather her Pride has seen in years. She is special, and beloved in her home in the misty mountains, but she is also restrained. When she and her family flee from their home, Jacinda resists a world where she is ordinary and exposing her Draki is forbidden. In the desert, Jacinda can feel a piece of her soul dying away, her wings remain dormant, until she meets Will. Will’s family are hunters who make their living off of killing her kind. Will is the one person who can keep Jacinda’s draki alive, and the one person who should want her dead.
My review:
WHOOP-WHOOP! Firelight is now the favorite paranormal novel on my Mod Podge Bookshelf.
This novel sucked me in; I stayed up late to finish it and snuck breaks from writing just to read a chapter or five. The best way I can think to describe it may have some of you rolling your eyes, but please, hear me out.
Do you remember when Twilight first came out, and a collective breath was held as readers began their journey in Forks? I’m talking about the first days, when Twilight was the book with the apple on the cover. No movie, no fandom, no RPattz or KStew, just a book, an adventure and a love story? There now, isn’t that a pretty picture? Don’t you want to experience that all over again, the tranquility of holding a secret in your hands, the magic at your fingertips to envelope yourself into a new world and fall in love and fight for something you want to believe in? I really encourage Firelight to be the book to do that.
In every book there is a plot and a sub-plot, usually the sub-plot is good, but not as good as what you opened the book to read about in the first place. In Firelight, the sub-plot is on par with the Draki/Hunter love story, it’s the relationship between Jacinda and Tamra, the star sister, who manifested as the savior of her pride, something rare and wonderful, and the other, who never manifested, who was forced to fade into nothingness. When you put these twins into the real world, the tide’s change and the truth comes out in full force.
The love story is almost cliche sounding, isn’t it? Hunter falls in love with the hunted, haven’t I read that one before? I was so afraid of that, but as the Queen of I-Hate-Cliche’s let me assure you that there is not an ounce of cliche in this entire story. Every aspect is clear, original and passionate. Jacinda really does resist falling in love with a Hunter, she has a sense of self-preservation and attempts to act on it. Too bad Will doesn’t let her, this boy pursues her at every turn, it’s amazing, it makes this love story seem true, and right. A love story not easily broken.
This is a debut author book, and Sophie Jordan was kind enough to autograph my copy, my friend Miranda was kind enough to get it autographed and I am so glad! Not only is Firelight a new favorite book of mine, but the author has also won a place in my heart. Jordan’s writing style is her own, I know I could pick out her writing in a line up. At times you can tell that Jordan use to write romance novels, not because of the content, but because of the language and sentence structure. It works for me, it doesn’t take away from the plot, it adds to the ethereal tones of the story.
Notes on the Names: Jordan proves my theory true! Authors who write great novels care to give their characters amazing names. The Draki are called- Jacinda, Tamra, Cassian and Azure. The humans are- Catherine, Brooklyn, Angus and Xander. The only name I was shocked to see belonged to the lover-boy, Will. I don’t think Will is a boring choice, but next to these others, it fell flat. I can see why Jordan would choose this name, Will means Helmet of Protection and he really serves as that to Jacinda.
Thoughts on the Cover: Even people who hate model covers need to give it up for this one. I am so intrigued, I wonder if the “scale” affect is mostly make-up, or photo-editing?
I also cast these characters, because they felt so real to me.
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