Firewalker by Josephine Angelini

Published by Pan Macmillan on August 27th 2015
Genres: Fantasy, Fantasy & Magic, Fiction, Love & Romance, Romance, Travel, Young Adult, Young Adult Fiction
Pages: 352
Format: Paperback
Source: Publisher
Goodreads


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Witches do not die quietly

Firewalker - the follow-up to Trial By Fire - is another sexy, fast-paced thrill ride from internationally bestselling author of the Starcrossed series, Josephine Angelini.Lily Proctor has made it back to her own universe, and it's finally time for her and Rowan to be happy and relax. True, she almost died in the Pyre that fueled their escape, and they must hide her new magic for the safety of the world, but compared to fighting the monstrous Woven and leading armies in the alternate Salem, life is looking good.Unfortunately, Lillian, ruthless ruler of the thirteen Cities, is not willing to let Lily go that easily. Lily is the closest version of herself she's ever seen in all her worldwalking, and Lillian's running out of time. If she can't persuade Lily and Rowan to return to her world, she'll have to find a way to make them come back.

Firewalker is an interesting follow up to the first book in the Worldwalker trilogy, Trial By Fire. Picking up where Trial By Fire left off, Lily is back in her own world again but she’s not alone. As Lily recovers from the events of the first book, she has to come to terms with who she is – a powerful witch in a world without magic. Rowan may have followed her back to her world but he can’t forget all he left behind in his own. Secrets threaten to tear them apart as Lily has to decide just what she is willing to sacrifice in order to save the world.

Lily is one of those characters I love to read. She’s not the same girl who started the series. With her trusted mechanic Rowan by her side, there is the feeling that Lily could accomplish anything – even saving the world from mysterious beasts and power-hungry witches. But nothing is ever just as simple as stopping imminent world destruction! Especially not when pesky real world problems interfere.

One of the things I liked most about this book was how there are consequences to Lily’s trip to Lillian’s world. There is no just dropping off the face of the planet for three months with no consequences. The way Lily’s before life in this world wasn’t forgotten added to the sense of realism in this book.

That’s not to say there isn’t a lot of magic, witchcraft and world-hopping involved too. Lily is stronger than ever and has only just began to realise how powerful and addictive her magic can be. I think the magic in this series is very interesting and I’m looking forward to seeing Lily as more than just a cauldron for her coven to power up from. She still has room to grow in her power by the time the series is over.

Combining characters from multiple worlds and having more than one version of a person could be confusing but that is not the case in Firewalker. Angelini manages to have scenes with multiple versions of a character without any confusion. There is a sense that these characters are both a product of their environments but at the same time the same soul runs throughout every version of a person.

Plot wise, for much of this book I felt like it was just bridging the gap between brilliant beginning novel and what I hope is an epic ending. Lots of information was exchanged and the foundations of what should be a great plot was laid out. I thought certain parts just felt a little too easy and didn’t believe others considering other things in the novel we knew to be true. Whilst I liked the contemporary world consequences, I felt like that part of the story was weaker than the parts from Lillian’s world.

Firewalker was a nice return to Lily’s magical tale but it doesn’t quite measure up to the first book in the trilogy. The world building is nice and I loved getting to see more of Lillian and Rowan’s world whilst witnessing the drama and plot working up to what should be an interesting climax. There is romance mixed in with some nice interactions between Lily and Rowan but ultimately I didn’t feel as invested in their relationship as I had in the past.

Having read Firewalker – I’m more excited than ever to read the third and final book in the Worldwalker trilogy, Witch’s Pyre. This is shaping up to be an entertaining series but Firewalker fell a little short of my expectations.

 

Many thanks to Pan Macmillan Australia for the review copy.