Hidden by Sophie Jordan
(Cover picture courtesy of The Teen Bookworm.)
A dangerous journey.
Shattered bonds.
Undying passion.
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.
In some ways, Hidden by Sophie Jordan was much better than the second book Vanish. Yet in other ways it was much worse. How so? Well…
The problem is that Sophie Jordan raised more questions than she answered. Who are the enkros? Why do they study dragons? What is the meaning of the term ‘enkros’ and how does it apply to them? What are the motivations of all of the scientists involved in studying the draki? How can they not know about their transformations into humans? What will happen to Cassian and Jacinda’s bond as they part ways? Is Will ever going to grow up and stop with the whole possessiveness thing he had going on throughout Hidden?
I mean, despite all of these questions the plot was reasonably paced, there were some twists and some characters acquired more depth. Jacinda, however, was not one of them. I felt like all she did in the whole book was allow herself to be captured in the noble sacrifice trope and then gets rescued and sort of mopes around indecisively for the rest of the book. The person who did acquire depth is Cassian, though. You can feel his love for Jacinda growing even as she spurns him and we learn he is absolutely willing to give his life for her. His decision at the end of the novel makes sense because of his characterization, but I still hated that his storyline wasn’t as neatly wrapped up as it could be.
Sophie Jordan has great descriptions and such vivid imagery at times. I love her writing style in general, but the fact we were stuck in Jacinda’s head the whole time made Hidden not nearly as enjoyable as it should have been. The world-building in the Firelight trilogy had the potential to be ground-breaking in terms of adding to existing dragon lore, but there were just too many loose ends by the final chapter. Overall it was an okay read, but I certainly won’t be reading any other Sophie Jordan books if I can help it.
I give this book 2/5 stars.