Sophie Jordan
Publisher: Harper Teen
Release Date: September 11, 2012
Source: Purchased
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Jacinda was supposed to bond with Cassian, the "prince" of their pride. But she resisted long before she fell in love with Will—a human and, worse, a hunter. When she ran away with Will, it ended in disaster, with Cassian's sister, Miram, captured. Weighed down by guilt, Jacinda knows she must rescue her to set things right. Yet to do so she will have to venture deep into the heart of enemy territory.
The only way Jacinda can reach Miram is by posing as a prisoner herself, though once she assumes that disguise, things quickly spiral out of her control. As she learns more about her captors, she realizes that even if Will and Cassian can carry out their part of the plan, there's no guarantee they'll all make it out alive. But what Jacinda never could have foreseen is that escaping would be only the beginning....
Loyalties are tested and sacrifices made in the explosive conclusion to Sophie Jordan's Firelight trilogy.
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CATCHALL
Firelight had some problems, but it was new and different and despite its unlikeable cast of characters was a fun and awesome read. I enjoyed Vanish much, much more. I gave it five stars. Although honestly, looking back at it, at this point in my blogging career I probably would've given it less. Hidden, sadly, just didn't impress me at all. I really wanted it to, but I just wasn't feeling it. It was an extremely lackluster book for me and an overall disappointment. This isn't a nice review at all. It's harsh. Very. I mean, I ended up giving this book one star in the end, so, you know.
THE HEROINE
JACINDA
I've always felt Jacinda was on the whiny side, and in this book I felt it intensely. She was constantly second-guessing herself to the point where I wanted to slap her and ask her why she has to be so freaking stubborn in the first place. She constantly feels the need to rehash her feelings to the reader, as if we didn't get everything the first time she ranted. Also, she seems almost obsessed with Will, which is creepy on so many levels that I'm not even going to go there.
THE LOVE INTERESTS
CASSIAN
Cassian is the only character than I actually like in these books. He's actually very interesting, and he really does seem to care about Jacinda (though honestly I don't know what is so desirable about her). He's a born leader, but he also is vulnerable. And he's just so…I don't know, hot. I mean, he is, and I really love him for it. He'll also sacrifice a lot for Jacinda. He's actually very selfless and clearly has a good heart.
WILL
I hate Will. I don't believe in mincing words, so I do. I hate Will. He's horrible and creepy and I just hate him. He constantly feels the need to assert authority and is constantly trying to tell Jacinda what to do, which is not cool at all. I feel like he's that kid who thinks he's a hotshot but is really (and pardon my language here) nothing but shit. He's gross.
THE SISTER
TAMRA
I kind of feel like Tamra is such a random character. Honestly, she never really does anything. She whines a lot. Then complains. Then finds some sort of happiness, but of course at some point she'll just descend into whining again. Frankly, I couldn't stand her.
THE PLOT
Ah, the plot.
Well, it starts off pretty interesting, actually. There's this whole thing with the enkros facility, and what's going on there, and what will happen in the future and whatnot. I mean, it was actually pretty interesting, and I was looking forward to seeing where it was gonna go. I was even willing to ignore the gigantic plot holes that were big enough to hide a dinosaur in.
Then it turned ugly real fast.
It was clear by the halfway point that Sophie had no intention of answering pretty much all of the questions she raised in this novel. And she didn't, so I was right. I don't mind some open endings, but if you're going to open a thousand can of worms, you've got to give something. Leaving readers with a million questions generally pisses them off.
It just felt so unnecessary. Why bother to do something like that? Just to be mean? Like, seriously. It just doesn't make any sense.
I just…it made me so angry. It actually started off well, and then it all went downhill. It really did have legitimate potential. And then…ruined. In a moment.
If I talk about this anymore I have the strangest feeling my fist will fly through my laptop, so I am going to top here. Now. And move on to something that will probably also make me angry, but hopefully in a different way.
THE ROMANCE
Sophie's brand of romance is just gross. At least, it's inappropriate for YA in my opinion. She also writes historical romance for adults and, um, it shows. There's one particularly awkward scene near the beginning that is basically completely pointless and not sexy or romantic at all, though I'm sure it was intended to be. I'm putting it in really tiny font, although it won't really spoil anything. Better safe than sorry. Jacinda is about to go into her draki form as part of their plan, and so she gets undressed but then decides that she just has to kiss Will, so she spins him around and kisses him. And then apparently he kind of just kisses her. It's weird and pointless and just disgusting. It was weird and not hot. It was totally unnecessary. And throughout the book, there's just no spark. All they do is act like idiots for each other, and not in a cute way at all. Frankly, I have this romance. I like Jacinda and Cassian together, but, well, you know.
THE WRITING
I don't really care for Jacinda's voice, so it was hard for me to appreciate Sophie's writing. Jacinda's voice just doesn't sit well with me and the phrasing is so awkward. Not only that. But the sentences. Are like. Really choppy. And drawn out. Also, the word choice is just weird. Jacinda doesn't talk or think like a normal person. She sounds very unnatural when she speaks and it's hard to reconcile her and her thoughts because of the way she thinks them.
THE ENDING
I actually did cry a little bit at the ending, but only for the character I love. By the time I got to the end of this book, I honestly could've cared less what happened to Jacinda and Will and just wanted to finish already. I do like that at least at the very very end of the novel she didn't focus on the romance and focused at least briefly on something other than Jacinda and Will sucking face.
WRAPUP
So, I will probably not be reading any more Sophie Jordan books. I don't like her version of a male hero. He just wasn't attractive to me at all. And I think it's fairly obvious that I hated the romance in these books beyond belief. So while this series started off pretty well for me, it fell short in the end. I honestly unfortunately cannot give you my personal recommendation.
FINE.
Firelight had some problems, but it was new and different and despite its unlikeable cast of characters was a fun and awesome read. I enjoyed Vanish much, much more. I gave it five stars. Although honestly, looking back at it, at this point in my blogging career I probably would've given it less. Hidden, sadly, just didn't impress me at all. I really wanted it to, but I just wasn't feeling it. It was an extremely lackluster book for me and an overall disappointment. This isn't a nice review at all. It's harsh. Very. I mean, I ended up giving this book one star in the end, so, you know.
THE HEROINE
JACINDA
I've always felt Jacinda was on the whiny side, and in this book I felt it intensely. She was constantly second-guessing herself to the point where I wanted to slap her and ask her why she has to be so freaking stubborn in the first place. She constantly feels the need to rehash her feelings to the reader, as if we didn't get everything the first time she ranted. Also, she seems almost obsessed with Will, which is creepy on so many levels that I'm not even going to go there.
THE LOVE INTERESTS
CASSIAN
Cassian is the only character than I actually like in these books. He's actually very interesting, and he really does seem to care about Jacinda (though honestly I don't know what is so desirable about her). He's a born leader, but he also is vulnerable. And he's just so…I don't know, hot. I mean, he is, and I really love him for it. He'll also sacrifice a lot for Jacinda. He's actually very selfless and clearly has a good heart.
WILL
I hate Will. I don't believe in mincing words, so I do. I hate Will. He's horrible and creepy and I just hate him. He constantly feels the need to assert authority and is constantly trying to tell Jacinda what to do, which is not cool at all. I feel like he's that kid who thinks he's a hotshot but is really (and pardon my language here) nothing but shit. He's gross.
THE SISTER
TAMRA
I kind of feel like Tamra is such a random character. Honestly, she never really does anything. She whines a lot. Then complains. Then finds some sort of happiness, but of course at some point she'll just descend into whining again. Frankly, I couldn't stand her.
THE PLOT
Ah, the plot.
Well, it starts off pretty interesting, actually. There's this whole thing with the enkros facility, and what's going on there, and what will happen in the future and whatnot. I mean, it was actually pretty interesting, and I was looking forward to seeing where it was gonna go. I was even willing to ignore the gigantic plot holes that were big enough to hide a dinosaur in.
Then it turned ugly real fast.
It was clear by the halfway point that Sophie had no intention of answering pretty much all of the questions she raised in this novel. And she didn't, so I was right. I don't mind some open endings, but if you're going to open a thousand can of worms, you've got to give something. Leaving readers with a million questions generally pisses them off.
It just felt so unnecessary. Why bother to do something like that? Just to be mean? Like, seriously. It just doesn't make any sense.
I just…it made me so angry. It actually started off well, and then it all went downhill. It really did have legitimate potential. And then…ruined. In a moment.
If I talk about this anymore I have the strangest feeling my fist will fly through my laptop, so I am going to top here. Now. And move on to something that will probably also make me angry, but hopefully in a different way.
THE ROMANCE
Sophie's brand of romance is just gross. At least, it's inappropriate for YA in my opinion. She also writes historical romance for adults and, um, it shows. There's one particularly awkward scene near the beginning that is basically completely pointless and not sexy or romantic at all, though I'm sure it was intended to be. I'm putting it in really tiny font, although it won't really spoil anything. Better safe than sorry. Jacinda is about to go into her draki form as part of their plan, and so she gets undressed but then decides that she just has to kiss Will, so she spins him around and kisses him. And then apparently he kind of just kisses her. It's weird and pointless and just disgusting. It was weird and not hot. It was totally unnecessary. And throughout the book, there's just no spark. All they do is act like idiots for each other, and not in a cute way at all. Frankly, I have this romance. I like Jacinda and Cassian together, but, well, you know.
THE WRITING
I don't really care for Jacinda's voice, so it was hard for me to appreciate Sophie's writing. Jacinda's voice just doesn't sit well with me and the phrasing is so awkward. Not only that. But the sentences. Are like. Really choppy. And drawn out. Also, the word choice is just weird. Jacinda doesn't talk or think like a normal person. She sounds very unnatural when she speaks and it's hard to reconcile her and her thoughts because of the way she thinks them.
THE ENDING
I actually did cry a little bit at the ending, but only for the character I love. By the time I got to the end of this book, I honestly could've cared less what happened to Jacinda and Will and just wanted to finish already. I do like that at least at the very very end of the novel she didn't focus on the romance and focused at least briefly on something other than Jacinda and Will sucking face.
WRAPUP
So, I will probably not be reading any more Sophie Jordan books. I don't like her version of a male hero. He just wasn't attractive to me at all. And I think it's fairly obvious that I hated the romance in these books beyond belief. So while this series started off pretty well for me, it fell short in the end. I honestly unfortunately cannot give you my personal recommendation.
FINE.
*FINAL RATING: 1.35 RED ROSES*