Firewalker by Josephine Angelini

Title: Firewalker (Worldwalker #2)

Author: Josephine Angelini

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Release Date: September 1, 2015

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

Worlds divide, magic slays, and love lies in these 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 fuelled 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 got 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.

It’s no secret that Josephine Angelini ranks among my all-time favourite authors. I love everything she writes and everything of hers I read leaves me wanting more. Firewalker was so much more than I could have hoped and I loved every single page of it.

Lily is back in her world, this time with Rowan by her side. But after the months she’s spent in New Salem, it’s hard to just slip back into her old life. It doesn’t help that something, or rather someone, in New Salem keeps wanting to pull her back. Lily can only resist Lillian for so long before she finds herself going back to the Pyre and transporting herself, Rowan and her newfound mechanics back to New Salem. Back in this universe, Lily starts to question everything she thought to be true, and finds herself making decisions that may cost her everyone she loves.

I’m always a little apprehensive going in to a new Josephine Angelini book. Not because I’m worried I won’t enjoy the story because I have complete faith in her on that front, but rather because I’m never sure if I’m going to come out the other end with my heart intact. She is particularly gifted at writing stories where my emotions are put through the wringer but I still wouldn’t change any moment of that story. Firewalker was no different. Firewalker wastes no time jumping into things: the story picks up just moment after where Trial by Fire ended. So right from the start, something is happening. And honestly, it doesn’t let up until the very last page. And even at that point, I was kinda hoping there were still pages left to turn. And like I had predicted, Firewalker pretty much put my heart through the wringer. I was constantly worried about the fate of the different characters I have come to love over the course of these two books. And by the end of the book, let’s just say it’s kind of up in the air as to whether some of them are even alive anymore or not. And now I have to wait a whole year to find that out, and it’s going to be painful. 

But for real, though, Josephine Angelini wrote an absolutely fantastic story in Firewalker, and dropped so many hints as to what might actually be going on and it made me all the more curious about what’s to come. And like with any of her books that aren’t the last one in a series: THAT ENDING. WHAT WAS THAT EVEN? Aside from the fact that I’m not sure about the status of some people, I just need to know what happens next and what is going on. As a reader, you reach the end and you’re just left hanging. But in the best way possible. 

One of the things I loved about Firewalker was seeing how much Lily had grown. Where in the first book, she was kind of trying to find her footing as far as this whole magic and multiple universes thing was concerned, in this one, Lily was strong and fierce and ready to do just about anything it took to protect the people she cares about. In my review of Trial by Fire, I had predicted that Lillian was just sort of made to look like a villain and after reading Firewalker, my prediction seemed pretty accurate. Granted things might still change by the time I get to the end of the final book, but I found out so much about Lillian in Firewalker and it had me seriously reconsidering my opinions of her. She definitely isn’t the villain she seems to be and she has pretty valid reasons for doing what she did. It will definitely be interesting to see how it all plays out. And that brings me to Rowan. Who I am still all about. Even if there were a couple moments where I kinda wanted to smack him. But then I have so many unanswered questions where he’s concerned and all I will say is that Rowan better be coming out of all this in one piece otherwise I will be PISSED. 

Another interesting aspect of Firewalker was that it kind of introduces and spends time with different characters than the first book. I mean the story still very much focuses on Lily, Rowan and Lillian and whatever love triangle there is there, if you can even call it a love triangle at this point. But Firewalker also allowed me to get to know Lily’s Tristan (as opposed to the Tristan from New Salem who was very present in the first book), Breakfast (whose name cracked me up every time I read it) and Una, three people from Lily’s world who end up in New Salem because they become her new mechanics when Lily and Rowan are back in our world (are you confused yet—I might be and I’m the one writing this and I’ve read the book). I loved getting to find out more about this Tristan because I definitely had questions about him after the first book and at times what I found out about him and his story broke my heart a little. I’ll definitely be curious to read more about all of them in the future book, even if I am concerned about what my growing attachment to them will do to my heart in the next book.

If this long and rambling review wasn’t a dead giveaway, I absolutely loved Josephine Angelini’s Firewalker and I have a lot of feelings about it. And those feelings are confused and complicated but completely worth it. And I’ll be pining for the final book in the series. For real, Traitor’s Pyre can’t come soon enough.

Trial by Fire by Josephine Angelini

Title: Trial by Fire (The Worldwalker Trilogy #1)

Author: Josephine Angelini

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Release Date: September 2, 2014

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

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 rules 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.

It’s no secret that I absolutely ADORE Josephine Angelini and her books. When I heard she had a new series coming out, I couldn’t help but be excited. But at the same time I was afraid that it wouldn’t live up to all of my expectations. Trial By Fire completely surpassed all my expectations and I loved every page of it.

For as long as she could remember, Lily Proctor has barely been able to leave her house without suffering from severe allergic reactions to the world around her. Her whole life, this has kept her from being able to experience the things normal high school girls would get to experience: things like going to parties, going out on dates. But she may finally be able to cross one off her list when her best friend and longtime crush, Tristan, agrees to take her to a party. Except the party turns into a big humiliating event for Lily and she wishes she could be anywhere but there. Without realizing it, Lily’s wish becomes a reality when she is transported to a different Salem, one where everything that once made her weak now make her incredibly powerful. With that power, Lily has to go up against the most powerful of all the Crucibles in this alternate Salem, Lillian, her other self. Will Lily be strong enough to do what it takes to protect a city she can barely recognize and find her way home?

So here’s the thing. When I first heard about Josephine Angelini’s Trial By Fire I was under the impression that it was about witches, and that the main character got transported back in time and met her past self. I was right about one of those things, sort of right about another, and wrong about the last. Trial By Fire is totally about witches, or Crucibles in this case. The main character, Lily, doesn’t get transported back in time, she gets transported to an alternate universe. And it’s her alternate self she meets, not her past self. That meant that when I first started reading, this made it so I was a little confused, but once I worked it all out for myself, I more than enjoyed this story. I was already a huge fan of Josephine Angelini’s before reading Trial By Fire, but this book made me love her even more. This story was captivating, and layered—every time I thought I had something figured out, something new was thrown in and I was trying to figure it out all over again. And I of course have to talk about the romance in this story. Having read (and being a huge fan of) Josephine Angelini’s Starcrossed trilogy, I was definitely looking forward to whatever romance was going to be in Trial By Fire. I’ll be honest and say that the romance here felt a lot more understated. I expected it to be more in my face, but in the end I really liked the way it played out. It fit in perfectly with the story, and it made me like those characters that much more. But obviously there were also some very sensual moments. One in particular involved paint and well, that’s all I’m going to say about that.

I really liked reading about Lily. I liked that once she was thrown in this world where magic was a thing she didn’t just take it in stride. Much like she never let her health issues stop her from doing what she wanted in her world, she fights back against what people are telling her in this new world. And that’s what I loved most about Lily’s character, she didn’t let anything get her down, and considering everything she was going through, that was a great attitude to have. It was also interesting to see the differences between Lily and Lillian, her alternate self. The two may have played the same role in their respective worlds, but they couldn’t have been more different. Or at least that’s how it seemed while I was reading Trial By Fire. Knowing what I know about Josephine Angelini and her books though, I might be thinking differently by the end of the next book. The same can be said about the differences between the two Tristans I met, granted I only saw one of them for a very brief period of time. The one character I only met one of was Rowan, and one was more than enough. I don’t even know where to start with Rowan. At first, I wasn’t sure how to feel about him. I honestly thought he might turn out to be one of the bad guys. But I was clearly wrong because by the end of the book I was ALL ABOUT ROWAN. I definitely want more Rowan in future books and I can’t wait to have more Rowan in future books.

In case you hadn’t figured it out by now, I absolutely loved Josephine Angelini’s Trial By Fire. It completely lived up to all my expectations, and it brought a fresh and new perspective to a subject that has been dealt with previously. I absolutely cannot wait to find out what happens next.