Hidden | Sophie Jordan | Book Review

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Fans of Maggie Stiefvater and Colleen Houck will love this epic tale of forbidden romance and nail-biting action from New York Times bestselling author Sophie Jordan.In the climactic finale to the steamy Firelight series, Jacinda must fight to save her life, her love, and all of her kind.If Jacinda were to follow the wishes of her community, she'd happily settle down with Cassian, the prince of her pride. But she just can't. She's in love with Will, a human boy who comes from a family of hunters. Their relationship breaks the most sacred rule and endangers everyone she cares about. Now Jacinda, Will, and Cassian fight back against the hunters and their shadowy allies who would destroy them all. . . .

When I cracked open Hidden by Sophie Jordan, third book in the Firelight series, I was really excited. I mean, I had been putting the book off for a long time and was reading other more pressing books. Yet, in the back of my mind I would always see this book and feel a twinge of excitement that it was waiting for me. Now, I will admit, I have let about two years slide by between my receiving this book and my reading it. It turns out that absence does not make the heart grow fonder. I hate to type this out for you, but I was really disappointed in Hidden. It was not at all what I was hoping it would be.

Hidden opens exactly where Vanish leaves off. Thus beginning some of my disappointment, although that might as well be on me. I had forgotten some of what happened in the previous books and I didn’t bother to google or to catch myself up. Needless to say, I was quite confused at the opening of Hidden. Jacinda, Will, and Cassian are about to infiltrate the enkros research facility by using Jacinda in her manifested form as bait. They are doing this because Cassian’s sister Miram has been captured. Jacinda did not anticipate the different draki from other prides. She also didn’t anticipate being unable to really fight back. Luckily, Will and Cassian break in and free all of the draki with her help, including a dangerous grey draki who is more dragon than human. Oh, also, they are on their way back to the pride, on the run from Hunters and Jacinda must choose between the pride and Will. That’s kind of the whole plot of Hidden.

You know, I used to admire Jacinda and think that she was this awesome, strong, tough as daggers girl who sticks to her guns. While reading Hidden I was disgusted by her. She spends more time mooning over Will than she does trying to save her skin. For example, there’s one scene where the enkros are about to do something bad for her and INSTEAD OF USING HER FIRE POWER LIKE A SMART PERSON SHE BASICALLY JUST STANDS THERE. Um, what? Girl you are out of my circle of trust for being a weak, pathetic heroine. I am sorry but if I had the power to breathe fire and someone was going to hurt me, I would use that power to save myself instead of waiting for some boy to save me. She’s just dumb and boring. That’s all.

The love triangle pretty much ends in this book. Basically, Jacinda acknowledges that she is bonded to Cassian but doesn’t love him. She cares for him very deeply as a friend but can’t see herself with him. Instead, this is the book where she “fights” to stay with Will who gives her a Cracker Jack prize, lol. It’s ridiculous, typing it all out, now that I think about it. Like, those two are supposedly so in love, but he gets all mad at her when she tries to go back with the pride to help prepare them for what may come next. Really? Really? I think if he actually loved her, he would let her do what is best for herself which is protecting her family, not flouncing off with him to god knows where. It’s just, ugh, my disappointment is kind of actually palpable. I am just so annoyed with the relationship in this book. Gone is the tension from Firelight and now it’s just declarations of love and you have to leave all that behind, blah blah.

Jordan’s writing style… what can I say. This book took me over five days to read only 256 pages. I just could not get into it. Granted, some of that was from legitimate life anxiety and stress. But the other part was that this book never really called out to me. I never was like, heyyyy I care about these characters and what happens next. Like, I think I would have been more into this had there been more tension and more of a solid focus. I’ll admit there is a lot of action. There’s a lot going on, which is great, sure. However, if you were to draw a line of the plot, there would be like three events on it. Jacinda getting captured, them fleeing, and return to the pride. Boom done. Boring. I just, meh, this book is meh to me.

As for wrapping up the trilogy, I am sad that this, Hidden, is the book that wraps up the trilogy. There wasn’t anything that made use of the bond beyond Jacinda feeling Cassian’s feelings. Instead of progressing forward, she seems to progress backward. The story is boring. The characters did not interest me. However, at least the ending is legitimate and real and there’s pretty much no possibility left for a sequel, yet I could see a companion series or a spin off, which I would actually really be okay with if it still had the magic and tension and romance of Firelight.

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April (Books&Wine)

April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

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