This is the sequel to Trial of Fire, which was the previous book I reviewed. I expected this to be incoherent and make a mockery of itself, because it looked like this story would be taking place in the real world. You know, instead of the interesting fantasy world that had been built up to now. I prepared myself for disappointment.

 

I was pleasantly surprised to find that this book was actually incredibly good, and a step up from the first book. Our protagonist returns to the real world, and of course real-world things happen, but the author manages to develop several characters nonetheless.

 

We get a throwback to the events that happened previously. We have a meaningful interaction with the only main character I give a shit about. The love triangle is back, only it looks a bit more serious this time. A goth girl joins them. (No, seriously.) One of the villains from the first book is actively trying to kill them this time, and thus is portrayed as MUCH more competent than any of the other villains.

 

But more than any of that? Our antagonist's backstory! We finally find out why she took Lily from her world, and her reasons for becoming the tyrant she is today! And holy shit, did this deliver. Lillian is a really well-written character and she, more than anything, kept me reading.

 

I was unsure about what I thought of this book during the first half. Lily gains a bunch of new friends, all of whom become her mechanics, and she has to rapidly explain to them about magic and willstones and shit. They believe her a bit too quickly, imo. It's a bit rushed. Oh, and two of them are in love with each other, so thanks for that.

 

Spoilers ahoy now.

 

One of the villains from the last book is actually doing something villainous now, and he kills Lily's father. Wow, that's intense. That's tragic.

 

...or at least it WOULD be if the book ever went into any depth about Lily's dad or anything. Which it doesn't. We've never met him. He's never said a fricking word. We are never, ever introduced to him, not even when he's about to die.

 

I mean, come on, you want to care us about that? Well, I don't. If you're going to kill off a character, make us care about them first.

 

Which brings me onto my next point, because - the author does exactly that near the end. Kills off one of my favourite characters, who was initiating a love triangle with Lily. 

 

And you know what? Rowan has been the love interest for the WHOLE of the first book. In the second book, Tristan takes over. And the thing is that Tristan's relationship with Lily feels so much better. They have an understanding. With Rowan, they're almost always fighting. Rowan's a dick and I don't like him. I'd really rather she ended up with Tristan.

 

On the other hand, Tristan is a womanising dudebro. Yeah. But I still empathise with him, and the fact that I PREFER this guy to the main love interest tells you just how much is wrong here. The thing is that Tristan really, really improves by the end of the book...

 

...well, until the author decides to kill him off. Great. Fan-fucking-tastic. I guess we're stick with Rowan the dickhead now. Who has now betrayed Lily and is probably going to try and kill her.

 

I don't want to spoil Lillian's revealed backstory, but I was really moved by it. A lot of things made sense. A lot of pieces fell into place. 

 

Problem is, it also started to feel like the author was trying to shove some no-nukes + hardcore vegan agenda down our throats. The protag is passionate about being against nuclear weapons, and about being vegan. Fine, she was like that in the first book. That's fine.

 

Until we discover that Lillian, the antagonist, has visited other worlds and found that nuclear war has obliterated the planets (oh no, hate the nukes), and that humans are using other humans like animals by keeping them alive and cutting off their limbs to eat. That sounds suspiciously like...the same vegan stuff she's been throwing at us...

 

I don't know why they didn't just kill the humans, freeze the bodies, and THEN eat them? Do they not have refridgeration or something? It seemed unnecessary really, just being edgy here...but whatever.

 

That aside, it was really good and I definitely enjoyed it. I'm a bit annoyed that they killed off the only semi-decent guy in the love triangle, thus dooming us to King Dickhead as the love interest instead, but there's also a lot of twists about the Woven themselves which were really interesting.

 

All in all, loved this book and didn't expect to.

Firewalker - Josephine Angelini

***This review has also been posted on The Social Potato

Firewalker was an anticipated novel but I ended up feeling 50/50 about it. On one hand, it is a fantastic follow up to Trial by Fire but it was also filled with romantic drama and I hated that.

With this book, Lily’s Tristan--the one she used to love--is back in the picture. I was actually surprised by how well that was handled. I was happy that even though Tristan clearly had feelings, Lily doesn't feel the same way any more. Rowan also trusts Lily enough not to question things, SO YAY! But the problem was that Rowan and Lily’s relationship kind of took a bad turn in this book. For a good chunk of the book, they are both keeping secrets from each other and we all know how that ends. In case you don't know, IT ENDS BADLY. And just because you’re keeping secrets to protect one another doesn’t mean the result will be any different. SERIOUSLY, this is all Relationship 101 stuff. I think given a lot of the awkwardness surrounding Lily and Rowan’s relationship (what with the fact that Rowan used to be in love with Lillian) I just want them to be a strong couple who stand side by side instead of one who doesn’t know how to communicate. Don’t get me wrong, secrets aside, they still work fantastically together with Rowan respecting Lily’s wishes and vice versa but secrets just suck. Then there was something that happens towards the end that bothered me. There was a lot of dramatic irony and the whole situation just made me antsy. I just wanted to shout at both of them to build a bridge and GET OVER IT.

I also had a hard time taking in Lily’s Tristan, Breakfast and Una easy acceptance of the situation at hand. I wanted them to not let go of things they had known all their life so easily. Situations like these are always so tricky because one might get annoyed if characters take too long adapting or if they don’t even bat an eye at the situation.

Lily's struggle on the other hand was fantastically portrayed. Lily is still very much adjusting to all these changes and learning new things about herself. For example, Lily has all this magic at her disposal but she still doesn’t know how to handle all of this power, so she constantly needs to be grounded and reminded not to take over her mechanics’ minds. Lily has her selfish moments but in spite of all of this, she is still very much Lily but she struggles to remember that throughout the book. Lily becomes haunted by the similarities between herself and Lillian and a lot of this book deals with Lily trying to find something that makes her Lily and not Lillian. By the end of this book, I was SO proud of Lily and the choices she had made (even though there were times when I disagreed.. LIKE WITH ALL THE SECRET KEEPING.)

However, I was a little bothered by how Lily was treated by her friends/mechanics. I get it, mechanics must protect their witches but she is a super powerful witch and I wanted to see that in their treatment of her. I wanted Lily to be seen as badass instead of just having the ability to be badass.  Also there were times when her opinions weren’t even considered. We as readers know that she is on to something but I hated when her own mechanics just dismissed the things she said.

Lillian plays a big role in this series and the more we learn about her, the more I want to know. She is the 'other Lily', the one who had a different upbringing than Lily but is similar to her in many ways. This book really made us question her role as a villain by showing her side of the story and things became all sorts of complicated. It made Lily question herself and the people around her but it also made me question aspects of the story.  I don’t know where things will go but to be honest, I’d rather Lillian not turn out to be this amazingly good person because the things she has done cannot just be excused because she had ‘good’ intentions.

One of my favorite things about this book was seeing Lily’s Juliet. I absolutely adore her and Lily’s relationship and it was so much fun seeing her again (and I hope we get to see her again!!) Juliet is such a fantastic sister and I love that she was on Lily’s side no matter what.

This series is so rich in its world building and I loved seeing even more of that in this book. We aren’t just given enough details to keep the story going. Instead Angelini pushes the limit and we learn more things about the world and question things we hadn’t before. I LOVE that.

I am having so much fun with this series and while I did have some issues with this book (AND WHAT HAPPENED a little before the end) I think it's a good follow-up and I am ready to sell my soul for Traitor’s Pyre. IS IT 2016 yet because I NEEEDS to read Traitor’s Pyre.


Note that I received an ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review

3.5/5; 4 stars; B+This book focuses on Mick and his troubles with the Dragon Council, as well as continuing development of Janet's character and understanding of her particular magical gifts. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as book 1 but it was still a fun PNR to read.

This series is not perfect, and it is not for everyone, but it is for me.

As it is the holidays I will write shorter reviews..well try to.This time around Mick is having problems with idiotic dragons, yes those guys are not cool. I am unsure about Mick though, I like him...or do I? he is good, but, something was mission this time around.And Janet is trying to solve a murder. Now she is kick-ass and is dealing with her powers that are tough to handle. Sure the passion is there between these too, but...Coyote is mysterious and cool. The Magic horny mirror is awesome. Nash is an ass as always.I still can't think of this as just pnr, I am naming it PNR UF mix. And I do want more even if it was not fantastic.