FIRELIGHT Trilogy by Sophie Jordan – a review

With the upcoming release of the third storyline in Sophie Jordan’s Firelight Trilogy-HIDDEN- we would like to showcase each book in the series including a review of her latest.

The YA Firelight series by Sophie Jordan consists of three books that seamlessly run together to tell the story of Jacinda and Tamra, twin Draki.  A Draki is a descendant of dragons that can shift into human form.  This series is fast paced and suspenseful!! 

FIRELIGHT starts off telling us about Jacinda and the special and rare gift that she possesses.  She is one of only a few fire-breathers in existence!  She is valued in her Pride and given many things, but she knows that she will be forever controlled by the Alpha due to her gift and she longs for her freedom.  After she breaks a tenet of Pride law,  her family goes on the run.  Her mother takes her and her twin sister Tamra to the hot desert of Arizona where they can hide among humans.  Let me tell you about Tamra and Jacinda’s relationship!  They are rivals, they bicker, they fight, they compete against each other, but if push comes to shove they have each other’s backs.  They are true twins!!  Trust me on this topic, I am the mother of twin daughters.  Tamra has never been able to manifest and she was an outcast in the Pride.  She loves her new life in Arizona and she fits right into human teenage life!  Jacinda who ruled the Pride feels left out and hates her new life.  Trust me, Jacinda can throw a mean whine party!!  I appreciate how Sophie Jordan made these girls complex.  She created characters who have normal teenage emotions and feelings, but they are draki!!   Jacinda meets a boy at school and recognizes him as an Enkros, a human hunter of the Draki.  Will is the handsome boy who saved her life back at home.  He is a boy she should stay far away from, but they are drawn to each other.  Jacinda meets with Will in secret and once again she breaks a tenet of draki law to save the boy of her dreams……. How is that for a teaser!!  This book is a fast read and ends at a terrific cliffhanger!! 

VANISH picks up exactly where Firelight left off.  The twins are in danger, Will has almost died protecting Jacinda and the handsome son of the Alpha has come to save them and bring them back to the Pride!  When things look their worst, it is wonderful Tamra who saves the day!!  Finally, she is able to manifest and she has a wonderful and priceless gift too.  She is a shader.  She can erase the memories of the human hunters and shade their movement with mist and fog.  Let me tell you, it’s an awkward drive home!!  Cassian (the Alpha’s son), Jacinda, Tamra and their mom return to the Pride.  Tamra has always loved Cassian but he had eyes only for Jacinda!! The Pride used to look at Tamra as useless and she was an outcast, but now she is embraced by the Pride.  Jacinda is viewed as a traitor due to her breaking of the law.  Jacinda is shunned and she feels friendless.  Cassian is now spending a lot of time with Tamra and Jacinda feels jealousy!  What happened to the wonderful human boy?  Well, the wonderful Will shows up at the Pride.  His memory doesn’t seem to be erased, but that’s another secret!  He was sick as a boy and infused with Draki blood to survive.  He now has powers like the Draki and he uses his powers to protect Jacinda.  They meet in secret and they are planning on running away together.  Before this happens, Jacinda and another Draki are caught by  vile human hunters.  Will helps Jacinda escape, but the other girl is headed for experiments and death.  The Alpha is furious, because the other girl is his daughter and he forces Jacinda to do something horrible or her wings will be clipped.  Everything is very messy at the end, their mom is banished, Jacinda is forced into a situation that she doesn’t want and Tamra is heartbroken.  Another great cliffhanger!  Which leads us to Hidden, the conclusion of Firelight!

HIDDEN is the conclusion of this action packed trilogy.  Jacinda knows that she needs to do everything in her power to rescue Miriam, the girl who was captured by Hunters.  She and Tamra escape again!  Is seems to be very easy for teenagers to escape from the Pride!  Will meets them and Cassian comes along for the ride!  Jacinda volunteers to be captured to infiltrate the Enkros center.  The boys try to talk her out of this idea, but she is determined to rescue the other draki!  Her plan succeeds, but at what cost?  She finds herself treated like an animal, cruelly used and she is scared.  She finds out that many draki have been captured over time, many losing their minds.  Her first test has her pitted against a large gray draki.  He has been in bondage for so long, he has forgotten his human side.  Will and Cassian break her and the others out just in time, but the gray draki is released too!  Now, they have a homicidal draki after them!  Well, the gray draki sees Tamra and becomes obsessed with her.  Jacinda doesn’t want him near her sister, but they all need each other to escape the hunters.  They must guard the secret that they are also human at any cost!  We get to see all of the draki use their amazing gifts and it’s a good thing that the gray draki tagged along.  He knows the secret behind their father’s disappearance!  A fellow Pride member betrayed their father and now, Jacinda is out for revenge.  Will doubts her committment to him, because the Pride keeps yanking her back!  There is a mild love triangle in this story, because Jacinda is devoted to Will, but she still has feelings for Cassian.  Once they return to the Pride, we find out who betrayed their father and the Pride will never be the same! Tamra decides to stay in the Pride and help it heal, but it could be because of a certain hunky draki too!  No spoilers here!!  There is a happy ever after for all parties!  To wrap things up, this was a fast paced YA series, for the teenager inside of all of us!  The Pride is like any community, they have their problems, but they work to fix them! This was a fresh take on dragon shapeshifters!  

Copy of HIdden supplied by publisher.

Happy reading!  Jules