Vanish by Sophie Jordan
Dragons. People who shape shift into dragons. OK, I’m interested already.
90% of this book is Jaycinda, the main character, angsting over her boyfriend. She can’t hang out with him because she’s from a dragon clan, and he’s from a hunting clan. This means that if his family finds her family, her family will be tranquilized, caged, and spend the rest of their lives being experimented on and drained of blood. OK, I can see where that would put a damper on a relationship…
All the way at the end, Jaycinda redeems herself and does something outrageously brave for someone she doesn’t even like. OK, not a total love-struck idiot. But it was pretty hard to get through the book until that point - good thing there are other characters who are more interesting. Like Jaycinda’s sister. She has an interesting time!
The book opens with Jaycinda, her mother, and her sister running from the boyfriend and his family. They escape - it’s a really cool trick - and go back to the dragon clan’ s secret hideout. Everyone is mad at Jaycinda for changing shape in front of hunters and endangering the clan. She thinks, but how could I let my boyfriend die? Even if we can never see each other again, at least he’s still alive.
Then someone overhears her talking about the hunter boyfriend - and gossips. Now everyone is mad at her for endangering them over a boyfriend!!!! And she’s mad that they are mad, because true love!
Now, I’m haven’t read the previous two books, so I don’t know why their love is so much better than anyone else’s, but really? People who remember being hunted by men with dogs and guns aren’t going to care how ‘in love’ Jaycinda is - they just don’t want the hunters to realize that the clan exists. Their greatest safety is that no one is looking for them. They have a right to be mad, and Jaycinda shouldn’t be surprised that even her best friend is mad at her.
For most of the story I can’t stand Jaycinda. Luckily, Jaycinda’s sister has an interesting plot line. There’s also the dragon prince, who wants to marry Jaycinda - or maybe her sister. There’s also the prince’s cousin, who plans to marry Jaycinda whether she likes him or not - she’ll come to like him after they’re married, for sure. What a creep. And there’s a serious chance that Jaycinda will in fact be forced to marry him, almost all the way through the book. Interesting how that is handled! Then there is the prince’s sister, spoiled princess, who is just the kind of girl we love to hate. She has hidden talents - and doesn’t use them in the nicest way.
Altogether, it was a pretty interesting book, but it loses points by me for the brain-dead ‘don’t fall for someone who wants to kill your family and them expect your family to forgive you’ thing Jaycinda has for so long. Three stars.
90% of this book is Jaycinda, the main character, angsting over her boyfriend. She can’t hang out with him because she’s from a dragon clan, and he’s from a hunting clan. This means that if his family finds her family, her family will be tranquilized, caged, and spend the rest of their lives being experimented on and drained of blood. OK, I can see where that would put a damper on a relationship…
All the way at the end, Jaycinda redeems herself and does something outrageously brave for someone she doesn’t even like. OK, not a total love-struck idiot. But it was pretty hard to get through the book until that point - good thing there are other characters who are more interesting. Like Jaycinda’s sister. She has an interesting time!
The book opens with Jaycinda, her mother, and her sister running from the boyfriend and his family. They escape - it’s a really cool trick - and go back to the dragon clan’ s secret hideout. Everyone is mad at Jaycinda for changing shape in front of hunters and endangering the clan. She thinks, but how could I let my boyfriend die? Even if we can never see each other again, at least he’s still alive.
Then someone overhears her talking about the hunter boyfriend - and gossips. Now everyone is mad at her for endangering them over a boyfriend!!!! And she’s mad that they are mad, because true love!
Now, I’m haven’t read the previous two books, so I don’t know why their love is so much better than anyone else’s, but really? People who remember being hunted by men with dogs and guns aren’t going to care how ‘in love’ Jaycinda is - they just don’t want the hunters to realize that the clan exists. Their greatest safety is that no one is looking for them. They have a right to be mad, and Jaycinda shouldn’t be surprised that even her best friend is mad at her.
For most of the story I can’t stand Jaycinda. Luckily, Jaycinda’s sister has an interesting plot line. There’s also the dragon prince, who wants to marry Jaycinda - or maybe her sister. There’s also the prince’s cousin, who plans to marry Jaycinda whether she likes him or not - she’ll come to like him after they’re married, for sure. What a creep. And there’s a serious chance that Jaycinda will in fact be forced to marry him, almost all the way through the book. Interesting how that is handled! Then there is the prince’s sister, spoiled princess, who is just the kind of girl we love to hate. She has hidden talents - and doesn’t use them in the nicest way.
Altogether, it was a pretty interesting book, but it loses points by me for the brain-dead ‘don’t fall for someone who wants to kill your family and them expect your family to forgive you’ thing Jaycinda has for so long. Three stars.