Book Nerds Across America: trial by fire

Friday, August 21, 2015

Firewalker by Josephine Angelini

This picture of me and Josephine Angelini from back in 2012 is one of my favorites. So cute!

Book Summary
Worlds divide, magic slays, and love lies in the second book of Josephine Angelini’s The Worldwalker Trilogy.

"You think I’m a monster, but my choices, as ruthless as they seem, are justified."

Lily is back in her own universe, and she's ready to start a new life with Rowan by her side. True, she almost died in the Pyre that fueled their escape from New Salem, and must hide her magic for the safety of everyone she cares about, but compared to fighting the Woven, the monstrous creatures inhabiting the alternate Salem, life is looking pretty good.

Unfortunately, Lillian, ruthless ruler of the 13 Cities, is not willing to let Lily go that easily. If she can’t persuade Lily to return to her world, she will force her to come back by doing away with the ones she loves.

Picking up right where Trial By Fire left off, Firewalker is another sexy, fast-paced, heartbreaking thrill ride from internationally bestselling author Josephine Angelini!

Flo's Review
As usual, I have to start off my review of Josephine Angelini's book talking about how much I and the other Book Nerds love her. It's like a habit now. Lol! But we do. What a sweetheart!

Here's our review of Trial by Fire.

Firewalker is interesting in that it addressed the issues I had with Trial by Fire, but it also didn't at the same time. My main thing with Trial by Fire is that I felt that while the concept was cool, it took a lot of explanation that detracted from the action in the story. I figured that now that the world -- or in this case, worlds -- have been established, Firewalker would just be action. Well, yes and no. A lot of things happened, but it still felt like we were getting a lot of exposition. Some new characters take on central roles in the story and need to be taught. This was a useful refresher for me, as it's been over a year since I was in Lily's world, but it brought the same slower feel of the first story into this one.

Another thing I wanted from this book was to learn more about Lillian and why she did what she did. My wish was granted. We get the full story and, without giving anything away, it's not black and white. Lily explains in frustration to Lillian that she has to know the full story because they are the same person and she (Lily) wants to know whey she (Lillian) would make the choices she made. This idea of Lily and Lillian being the same person is explored from many different angles in the story and that was pretty cool. This also extended to other characters, and I really liked reading about it unfolding in different ways.

Speaking of other characters...we see a lot of "the other side" with many of the major players in this book. As in, we saw them one way in Trial by Fire, but now we are seeing another side of them in Firewalker. Sometimes this is good (yay!) but sometimes it is not (sad day!)

Now that Lily is not simply learning what she is and who she is, she can take the next step in character growth: she can start really becoming her true self. She grows a lot in this book as a leader and is confronted with difficulties because of it. How she handles these situations is what sets her apart as her own person and is leading her to her full potential.

So, there's Rowan and there's Tristan...but can we talk about Breakfast?! #TeamBreakfast! I absolutely adored his character. If I didn't think Una would kick my butt in .2 seconds, I would be all over that.

Of course we are left at the start of something new and (what looks like) big at the end of the book. I have no idea what book 3 will be about, but I am looking forward to where it will take us and how everything will be resolved.

Thanks so much to Macmillan for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Sunday, December 28, 2014

Trial by Fire by Josephine Angelini

Book Summary
This world is trying to kill Lily Proctor. Her life-threatening allergies keep her from enjoying experiences that others in her hometown of Salem take for granted, which is why she is determined to enjoy her first high school party with her best friend and longtime crush, Tristan. But after a humiliating incident in front of half her graduating class, Lily wishes she could just disappear.
Suddenly, Lily is in a different Salem—one overrun with horrifying creatures and ruled by powerful women called Crucibles. Strongest and cruelest of them all is Lillian . . . Lily's other self in this alternate universe.
What makes Lily weak at home is what makes her extraordinary in New Salem. In this confusing world, Lily is torn between responsibilities she can't hope to shoulder alone and a love she never expected.

Flo's Review

The Book Nerds love us some Josephine Angelini! She is super adorable and super sweet and we loved the Starcrossed series! So we were very excited to get our hands on Trial By Fire at BEA this year. (Especially Jacque, who had flight issues and literally walked into the hall and straight to this line.) We decided to wait to review it until around its publication date.

It's a very cool concept. Lily Proctor is a teenager in Salem, Massachusetts. She had a Very Bad Day and the next thing you know -- voila! She is in alternate universe. And the crazy thing is, a version of herself exists in this universe! In fact, it is she who pulled Lily here. And not only Lily -- her mother, sister, and best friend also exist in this alternate universe. Craziness!

But for some reason, I had a bit of a hard time getting through it. I think that while this alternate universe is a a really cool concept that I like, it also took a lot of exposition to set it up. I mean, there was action and things happened, but it really was a lot of Rowan just explaining things to Lily. And I understand why, because by the end I really did feel like I had a strong sense of the world -- like I was there. I am looking forward to how this plays out for Lily and Rowan. And even more so -- I am super curious to know more about Lillian. I think that's another thing I was missing. We learn at the beginning (and later as well) that she feels like she did what she had to do -- but why?! I really wanted to get into her head, and I really hope we get to do that in the next book.

Jacque's Review:

I have to agree with Flo that the concept is great. Witches are the rulers of the cities in the new universe. They can convert heat into energy to power the cities, grow food, heal the sick, etc. Josephine did a remarkable job of incorporating the history of the Salem Witch Trials into this very unique story. As much as I wanted to love this book, it was a slow read for me.

A good story, in my opinion, is built around the relationships between the characters. For a large portion of this book there were trust issues, so the relationships were slow to develop. Also, Lily had a lot to learn about witchcraft and how things worked in the new world. This required a lot of detailed explanation which at times was lengthy and confusing.

On a positive note, I did find the ending to be very exciting. If the sequel picks up where this book left off, we should have a continuous progression to the story without all of the history lessons. I also hope there will be more to the romance to help keep the pages turning. If both of those things happen, I think it was well worth persevering through Trial By Fire. This series has a lot of potential and I look forward to seeing what will happen next.