Sophie Jordan, a published adult author, enters the world of YA with the soon to be released Fjrelight. I was able to get an ARC of Firelight from my friend Michelle at windowpane memoirs.
I'm not really sure how to review this book. Some moments of it were very good, but there were often many pages between those moments. To be fair, I will state most of the reviews I've seen have been positive. I think I'm going to start with what I liked and then list what I didn't like.
What I like: Most of the characters were very well developed with attributes and flaws. I always knew why they were doing what they were doing. The premise of a dragon girl was interesting. The romance developed very well and was very strong. I think that's what I liked the most.
What Ididn't like: First of all, this book is written in first person present, which seems to be a developing trend, but I've seen it really work in very few instances. This is my personal preference though, so it may not bother you. Aside from that, there are many many fragmented sentences. I'm aware that that is the author's choice, but I think in this case, there are too many of them.
The girl is capable of shape shifting into a Draki, or dragon descendant. It was weird for me because she becomes the draki but it's constantly referred to as something she owns rather than something she is. Also, while there were some really intense moments where I just couldn't put the book down, there were many times when I wondered when something was going to happen. *SPOILER ALERT* And finally, the hunter falling in love with his prey just rung a little too close to Twilight for me. But that again, could just be me as there are no vampires and Jacinda is a much stronger protagonist than Bella.
I saw a lot of potential in this book, but there were sparks missing for me. I think I would give it a two star rating. However, there was enough there that if Sophie Jordan wrote an unrelated book, I'd be glad to check it out.
Thanks for the review, Beth. I skipped the end part, the spoiler in case I read it. I'm glad to hear the characters were developed well.
ReplyDeleteI found you Beth! Thanks for coming back to my blog! I know I follow you I just couldn't remember your blog name, it wasn't memorable enough to google! I'm glad I now have another link to catch! I don't know why blogger is so finnicky!!!
ReplyDeleteI loved Sophie Jordan's Firelight. I didn't have the problem that you had with sparks, in fact for me this was one that had me swept off the page the moment I picked it up! I loved the moments where they could feel one another but couldn't do anything about it. I can't wait to see what she does with Firelight #2!
Personal opinions are the best, I'm glad that you are still open-minded about Sophie Jordan, in fact if that is the case, I'm sure you'd like to know that she is actually an Adult author, several romances out there, in fact she's a New York Time Best Seller, just google her and you'll find more out!
I get to meet her on Saturday and I'm over the moon!
It's always a bummer when an author doesn't meet your expectations...I think the cross over from adult to ya/mg is not as easy as THEY think it is... (wink)
ReplyDeleteVisiting from SA Larsen blogfest...
ReplyDeleteGreat review. Wonder if she had cuts that would have made the story better, but they didn't fit into YA? I'm leaning toward skipping this read unless I pick it up from the library.