Vanish by Sophie Jordan

Vanish by Sophie Jordan

Release Date: September 6, 2011
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 294

An impossible romance.
Bitter rivalries.
Deadly choices.

To save the life of the boy she loves, Jacinda did the unthinkable: She betrayed the most closely-guarded secret of her kind. Now she must return to the protection of her pride knowing she might never see Will again—and worse, that because his mind has been shaded, Will’s memories of that fateful night and why she had to flee are gone.

Back home, Jacinda is greeted with hostility and must work to prove her loyalty for both her sake and her family’s. Among the few who will even talk to her are Cassian, the pride’s heir apparent who has always wanted her, and her sister, Tamra, who has been forever changed by a twist of fate. Jacinda knows that she should forget Will and move on—that if he managed to remember and keep his promise to find her, it would only endanger them both. Yet she clings to the hope that someday they will be together again. When the chance arrives to follow her heart, will she risk everything for love?

Jacinda's loyalty to her kind was tested and it was a very difficult struggle for her. Afterall, most of her pride has treated her as nothing more than a prize, the pride's only fire-breather. But they are still draki, and of course there are those in the pride that mean a lot to Jacinda.

I enjoyed reading Vanish and liked that it was fast-paced, just like Firelight was. Readers get to learn more about Cassian and get to see a different side of him. He becomes a character with more dimensions in Vanish and Tamara has really grown as well--hope to see more of her in the third book! Jordan's writing is very easy to read, approachable and with plenty of action, romance and draki, this fast-paced sequel to Firelight will keep readers hooked!

One thing that bugged me, however, was Jacinda's ping-pong game of emotions over her love interests. Will is back in her life, but Cassian has wedged his way in as well. As mentioned, readers will get to see a different side of him and understand him better, and he's not as cruel as one might have initially thought.
(Mild spoiler alert ahead! Stop reading here if you don't want to read the spoiler!------>) That said, some sparks fly between Cassian and Jacinda and after that, Jacinda really can't seem to make up her mind. When she's with one, she thinks of the other and starts to have some mixed feelings. While I get that the situation must be very confusing to her, and no doubt is causing plenty of emotional toil, she spends half the book not knowing how she feels about the situation. When she's with Cassian, it's Will she constantly thinks of. But when she's with Will, she thinks that she shouldn't be with him, she's gotta leave him (even if it's only to protect him) and guiltily thinks of Cassian. The emotional ping-pong game got rather tiresome after awhile--wish she would stop shying away from her feelings so she could figure things out and just pick one of them! (Granted, I'd feel terrible for the guy she didn't pick!) At the risk of sounding very corny, she should really follow her heart or she could risk spending her life life second-guessing herself.
Cassian turned out to be not a bad guy and was definitely a stronger character in Vanish. After seeing how he and Jacinda interacted, a part of me was rooting for him. It was hard not to, since he really helped her out of a few tight spots, and genuinely seemed to care about her and not just her ability to breathe fire.
(End spoiler)

All in all, I had fun reading Vanish and can't wait for the third installment of Sophie Jordan's series!


Overall: 4.5 out of 5
Plot: 4 stars
Characters: 4 stars
Writing: 4.75 stars
Cover: 4.75 stars