Book Review: Firelight by Sophie Jordan

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.

I got an ARC copy of this through (ARC) TOURS.

This book did not work for me. I wanted to like it, I really did, but it didn't happen. Our main character, Jacinda, is a draki, and she's a fire-breather, which makes her special among her pride. One day, when she's out with her friend in riot-girl mode, they run into hunters, and the one who finds her, Will, doesn't turn her in. She cannot stop thinking about him, and when her mother moves her and her non-draki sister away from the pride, she starts school only to find Will there.

I really liked the promise of the story, if not the story itself. The whole idea of draki, descendant from dragons, was very, very exciting. Jacinda is special because fire-breathers are thought to be extinct. There are also different kinds of draki, which I would have loved to explore more, but they were only mentioned between the lines. Anyway... Even though she's special and everyone values her for what she is, Jacinda is a weak character. She was trying to be free and independent, but most of the time I thought she was way too scared to actually go ahead and do it. Considering her age, her confusion about everything make sense, like the way she changes her mind about Will like a thousand times... But I wasn't a fan of it going on for more than 200-something pages. Maybe it's just me, but I seriously thought the story moved very slow with not much happening.

Her mother and sister were a different story. Her mother let her draki die a long time ago, and her sister never descended. So what the mother does is run away from the pride and force Jacinda to let her draki die. Yes, we know the pride only wants her for being a fire-breather and pretty much wants to use her for a baby-making machine, but forcing your daughter to deny what she is didn't sit well with me. Then again, Jacinda isn't sure either whether it would be good to hold onto what she is or sacrifice that side of her for her mother and sister.

The other thing I didn't get is... Is she a draki, or is draki a part of her? She keeps referring to her state as "my draki," but then sometimes she'll say "I'm draki." I thought she was a draki able to appear on human form, but sometimes I felt like she felt more like a human than a draki. She's never really sure whether she wants to let her draki die like her mother wants her to, but then when she meets Will, that side of her becomes hard to control. She knows he's a hunter, but he also didn't turn her in, so even if she wanted to, she couldn't stop herself from being around him. At one point, we even find out that Will really does remember her from the first time he saw her. He mentions something like there's something that drives him to the draki, and that makes him a good hunter. Of course, though, we never find out what that really is, which was disappointing.

I can't end this by complaining about the the references to Jacinda's skin. I understand her skin is a big part of the draki, but after the first few descriptions of her skin getting dry or hot or gold-colored, I kinda got tired of hearing about it. I wish this book was more draki and less human drama. The good thing about is though that I finished it one night. So if you're looking for a somewhat different, quick read, I'd say don't mind me too much and give it a shot.

EDIT: The lovely Leanna at Daisy Chain Book Reviews told me that we DO after all find out why Will's drawn to draki. For some reason, I totally missed out on that.