Trial by Fire (Worldwalker Trilogy, #1)

by Josephine Angelini

In her hometown of Salem Lily Proctor endures not only life-threatening allergies but humiliation at her first high school party with her best friend and longtime crush, Tristan. But in a different Salem -- one overrun with horrifying creatures and ruled by powerful women called Crucibles, she is Lillian, the strongest and cruelest Crucible ... Lily's other self in an alternate universe that Lily suddenly finds herself where she is torn between responsibilities she can't hope to shoulder alone and a love she never expected.

Once meek and tormented by debilitating allergies, Lily Proctor is transported to an alternate universe and becomes a staggeringly powerful witch. The plot contains mild profanity, sexual situations, and violence. Book #1

• ISBN10: 125005088X
• ISBN13: 9781250050885
• Publish Date: 2 September 2014 (first published 28 August 2014)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 17 November 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Feiwel & Friends
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 384
• Language: English

Reviews

[ladygrey]

Trial by Fire is an odd book. I started reading it based on some good reviews online, but really had no idea what I was getting myself into.

I was sort of taken aback in the first few chapters because sex is at the forefront of the whole story. It's not explicit but it's also not what I was expecting in a YA book. Especially, just one of the characters and their really kind of horrible attitude toward the whole thing. Lily even says it's nauseating so it's kind of supposed to be awful, but that doesn't make it better that it's kind of awful the way he uses women and is used by them and takes advantage of younger girls. I found it pretty unsettling. Then the rest of the novel is fairly sex heavy, throughout - mostly because once you get into the magic, it's all a metaphor for sex.

Which, actually could be interesting, if I had been expecting it. Because I'm an adult and the ideas of the reversals of power and the vulnerabilities and responsibilities interesting concepts. I think exploring the the vulnerabilities and power of sex from other side isn't a bad thing. But again, you really have to know that's going to be the running theme through the story. Because this book, interesting ideas or not, is pretty overtly sexual. In a way that I kept thinking, "This is *not* young adult." Though, as much as the story feels like just a thin facade with a whole lot sex, it's not explicit at all.

The other part of this book is that it's not especially well written. The characters are decent enough. Oh, except Lily. Sometimes she wasn't bad as a character. Sometimes she was so simplistic and naive. It's annoying when characters make broad decisions and cling incessantly to them with the mindset of a 8 year old. Like the whole not eating meat thing. Alaric says it's natural and SHE AGREES but then said it used to be and now the whole overcrowded inhumane treatment thing. Fine. That's all true in our world. BUT YOUR NOT IN OUR WORLD ANYMORE AND YOU KNOW IT. You're in the world where you agreed that hunting and eating animals is a natural part of life. So, you're entire objection and your incessant clinging to it makes zero sense anymore. If she'd acknowledged that and changed her argument to, "well I haven't eaten meat in years so my body probably can't handle it" - totally fair. But she's just so simpleminded about the whole thing, about several things, it bothered me.

Though I didn't love the characters the secondary and tertiary characters were interesting and Lily wasn't annoying the whole time. There's some things I'm looking forward to see play out in the next book. But the writing is... it's not simplistic like [b:Divergent|13335037|Divergent (Divergent, #1)|Veronica Roth|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1588455221l/13335037._SY75_.jpg|13155899] it's just very basic. It's like messy, first draft sort of writing where the author was just trying to get the thoughts and the idea down but no one went back and polished it. And there's a degree to which that's how Angelini writes. Because there's also an awful lot of telling. So, the writing overall feels blunt in some places.

But beyond the words, the ideas are really interesting. I really like the idea of these women as crucibles - the concept of transforming matter and energy inside their bodies. I've always liked the idea of crucibles in general so this was a fascinating spin on that. I also liked how they used heat to do it and the whole firewalking thing was cool. And the turn in the Salem witch trials - the witches drawing power from what was supposed to be their destruction and the world that came out of that. I also really liked the science of the magic - the way so much biology and physics is incorporated into the whole thing. It was different and fun.

So, I'm kind of torn - I like the ideas quite a bit and the characters well enough but not so much the writing and I'm hesitant about some of the content. It's not an easy book to like.

[readingwithwrin]

“I remember what I must do, even if it makes me the villain of my own story”


I went into this book without really knowing what it was about besides witches. I'm glad I did it that way, because If I had actually read others reviews about it, I probably wouldn't have been as curious to read/listen to it as I was. (I did win a copy of this in a giveaway so that's why it's on my 0by18 challenge)

I actually ended up really loving this book, and now I need to get my hands on the next book very soon so I can see what happens next!
But lets get back to actually reviewing this book first.

Lily is an extremely sick teenager, pretty much everything makes her sick and no doctor can figure out why. With a dad that is absent and a mom that isn't doing so well either, and a sister in college. Lily is pretty much left on her own to try and manage her sickness. Yes she does have a best friend Tristan who does make sure she's okay, but they also have this weird chemistry going on that makes their friendship a little uneasy at times. All of this changes after a party one night that leaves Lily in a bad way, which leads to her being transported to another 'world'.

This is when I actually started to love the story. Yes the beginning was all needed, but lets face it it's not the most exciting and at times made no sense (see epipen complaint a lot of people had). Back to the the new world. It's similar to the one she's from, but so much better it has magic, and scary beasts and still has some of the things from our world as well. It is amazing!


"The flames rise, and I twist and scream, trying to get away, but the iron shackles on my wrist keep me bound to this stake.
I’m a witch. And witches burn."

Lily learns that what made her sick in her own world, helps make her powerful in the new world. That she is actually someone that is feared and has a lot of power that others wants. We see her go on an adventure and meet people who truly start to care for her and want the best for her. She learns how to do magic and to help others with their magic. This all sounds like it would get confusing or info overload at times, but it never was. Angelini did an amazing job to teach us the ways of this world, all while making sure it wasn't to much at once.

“The people who love you will guide you like bright lights into the other worlds.”

Romance was a small part of this story, but it's just in the background for most of it and it seems like it is going to stay that way for the next book as well! YAY!
Yes please keep giving me more female YA protagonists who are willing to learn and risk themselves to save others, all while admitting their flaws and accepting help from others!

Now that I've gushed as much as I feel I can about this book, I'm going to try and find the next book on audio as well. :)

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[Kelly]

Trial By Fire was a wonderful blend of fantasy with the element of atmospheric interdimensional travel, driven by an intense romance and the plight of one girl to save a world that is not her own. Lily was a sickly child, often hospitalised with severe allergies and a constant fever in which she was ostracised by her peers. All except Tristan. For Lily, their friendship consists of watching Tristan's female conquests while seeing her peers enjoy the life Lily so desperately covets. Until the parameters of their friendship begin to change and will leave Lily grief stricken.

Tristan was little more than a pretentious womaniser while his friendship with Lily felt dubious and unrealistic. Lily may not have shared the quintessential teen experience but she wasn't afraid to stand up for herself and refused to allow Tristan to hurt her again.

Lily's heartbreak is palpable as Lillian summons the teen to her realm in an archival Salem, a world where the brutal monarch decrees the Thirteen Cities whilst looking for an heir to her empire. In Lillian's world, Lily is no longer a delicate girl, but infused with a power to rival her namesake. Leaving behind her sister and ailing mother, Lily is desperate to return home believing Lillian's world is merely a hallucination. She's frightened but refused to accept the gravity of the situation until she stumbles across Rowan.

Rowan exudes power. Lillian's former mechanic feels an attraction to Lily as he watches her stumble through the city streets, believing she is his Lillian. With animosity flowing through his veins, it soon becomes apparent that Lily is her own and not the Monarch that had sent his father to death. Rowan is the only character who is not apparent in both worlds, he is an original and perhaps why both Lillian and Lily are drawn to his prowess.

Rowan is a Native American who's Outlander community faces decimation, both from the engineered monsters known as the Woven and Lillian's genocide. Lily is no ordinary girl, she's a Witch yet to realise her own destiny and the reason why Lillian summoned her to her barren world. With Rowan's guidance, Lily begins to discover her artistry and emerges as a potential source to confront Lillian and end her reign over the Thirteen Cities. The chemistry between Rowan and Lily smoulders but learning his history with Lillian, the romance felt as though Lily was merely a substitute for the Lillian Rowan had once fallen in love with. Lily struggles with her feelings for Rowan, still in love with Tristan believing her feelings for her former best friend being unrequited. Although I thoroughly enjoyed the storyline, the romance was awkward and dubious at best.

The world building was incredibly vivid, I loved the landscape of Lillian's world and the comparisons between both dimensions of Salem. I enjoyed Lily's character development from a sickly and bland girl who most likely would have been an isolated adult driven by the responsibility of caring for her mentally ill mother, to the strong and determined young woman who was torn between her family and becoming the conductor who was entrusted to contend with the ever increasing hostile Lillian.

Josephine Angelini is a wonderful storyteller who is able to immerse and engage readers. Although the romance was loathsome at times, Lily's character development and the vivid world building will leave readers enthralled until the final page. One of the few traditional paranormal romances I've thoroughly enjoyed. Highly recommended.

[cornerfolds]

Read more of my reviews at Cornerfolds.com!

I have heard about Trial By Fire from some of my best blogging friends ever since it came out two years ago. Although I had purchased the book last year, it was still sitting on my shelf collecting dust. It just never spoke to me, but still sounded interesting enough to buy just in case the mood struck. When it came up as available as an audiobook from my library, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to finally give it a try!

Trial By Fire is about Lily, a girl who is allergic to everything and her life is pretty limited as a result. She wants to go to a party for the first time, it turns out horribly wrong, and she... ends up in a parallel world full of witches and monsters. There, she meets Lillian, her alternate universe double, who also happens to be the strongest witch Crucible in this version of Salem and wants Lily to join her in her schemes. Obviously, because Lily is the heroine of this story, she decides to do the opposite.

I actually didn't have many feelings about Lily. She was an okay main character, I suppose, but she just didn't wow me like I hoped she would. I could certainly understand why she wanted to get away from Lillian, why she wanted to help where she could, and why she struggled with going back home. It wasn't that I couldn't understand her motivations, there was just something about her that didn't really click for me and I can't quite put my finger on it. I also didn't quite buy the romance.

The two love interests (because there must be two) are Rowan and Tristan. Rowan actually chases Lily down and tries to kill her upon their first meeting, but quickly redeems himself. There is actually a Tristan in Lily's own Salem, but he is a cheating scum bag so she has issues trusting this Tristan to begin with, but begins to realize they are not the same person. The three of them go on the run together and Lily has to work out her feelings for each of them. I didn't hate either of the love interests, but again I just didn't really connect with either of them. To be honest, I didn't really connect with this book.

Trial By Fire tries to be a lot of things. When I picked it up, I assumed it was fantasy, obviously with parallel universes as well. Those two things could probably work together alright, but throw in a ridiculous amount of science-y stuff and giant man-eating monsters and... it's just too much. Essentially, science is outlawed and the world runs on magic. I understand the point. Again, the problem with the book isn't that I didn't understand, it's just that I never really cared - I wasn't invested.

And on to something I never quite did understand - Lily's magic. It's repeated over and over that magic is something learned over years, so I cannot, for the life of me, understand why Lily basically just walked into Salem and dominated everything. I also couldn't understand why a lot of the magical elements in this story worked the way they did, especially the weird mind connection thing. In the case of the magic, I do wish things had been explained a bit more.

The world building was well done, I'll give it that! I had a great time picturing this alternate Salem with its differences from our world. I loved how the differences were explained to make me feel like they actually made sense instead of just being ridiculous. The gardens were especially interesting to think about. Unfortunately, an interesting world doesn't make a great book.

I wanted so much more from this book! I have heard endless great things about this entire series and, although I had never read anything by this author, I expected to be blown away. Trial By Fire just wasn't what I'd hoped. I never really connected with any of the characters and the plot was confusing and scattered. I don't think I'll be picking up the next one in this series.

Weirdly addicting even if I did have some issues. The premise and plot are what kept me hooked. It was really intriguing and, well, kind of weird and confusing, but kept me hooked nonetheless. I didn't hate any of the characters, but I didn't really love them either. They felt slightly one-dimensional even though I really wanted to love them. I liked them, but also didn't care too much. Sorry. Also, some REAL awkwardness. Especially one scene. I feel like she was going for seductive and sexy and maybe I just missed the train or something, but I had a REALLY hard time reading that one scene. And everyone acted like it was like no bid deal! Whatever. Still enjoyed it.
Full review to come.

[jesstheaudiobookworm]

3.5
It really bums me out that this book was just "okay" for me overall since it started out so well! Josephine Angelini's Starcrossed series is one of my favorites and I think this book could have been too if it hadn't taken such a drastic (in my opinion) genre turn. It seems like it started out as a scifi/paranormal story (alternate universe), which I was really into, and then took a sharp turn into what ended up being basic fantasy to me (nothing extraordinary). I was hoping there would be more similarities between the two worlds so the reader could compare and contrast, but instead it seemed like Angelini only marketed this book as AU to attract readers when all she really wanted to do was write high fantasy. I was really bored with the "other Salem" which translates into being bored with 75% of the book. I kept hoping it would returned to the original setting, but apparently that's only happening in the sequel, which I may or may not get to (probably won't anytime soon).

[girlinthepages]

This review was originally published at Girl in the Pages


I usually write very calm, analytical reviews. In fact, I pride myself on it. I like being able to look back on my reviews and have a clear and coherent message as to my thoughts on a book. However, much of that I fear is going to go out the window with this review because I cannot stop flailing over how much I loved this book. It’s only the second book I’ve picked up so far in 2015 but it’s already become my first five star read of the year!

I love this book because…

Science.The world building and basic plot of this world pull from actual scientific theories (such as the idea of parallel universes) that could be true (if stretched a bit) and therefore the worlds feel so much more vivid knowing that it could kinda sorta be possible. I’ll be the first to admit that I was not the hugest science fan in school (I do run a book blog, after all) but there’s a lot of careful and thought out scientific theory that goes into every nuance of this world, from how spirit walking is possible to begin with to how heat is transmuted into energy on the most basic level to produce “magic.” While some of it did become a little hard to follow at some points (I never took physics, I opted for anatomy instead) I appreciated how carefully the author thought out her world building and how readers aren’t supposed to just accept something as being possible, as Lily is always questioning how things work. Like Lily, readers get a constantly developing picture of how the fantasy parallel universe works throughout the novel rather than an info dump, which is how proper world-building should be done!

“Magic is science that only people who are born with a particular talent can do.” (222)

Magic. While the foundation of the fantasy world is built on scientific principles, some characters are genetically able to perform certain types of science (which I would describe in more detail BUT I don’t want to spoil anything). These people are mechanics, crucibles, and witches. It was fascinating to read how willstones worked and how those who could perform “magic” could perform scientific miracles that could sustain thousands upon thousands of people (such as purifying vast quantities of water and creating antibiotics). In the “real” world that she comes from, Lily is a huge environmental activist so watching her struggle with not wanting to accept that she’s a witch but also realizing the potential she has to help sustain a world that doesn’t need to burn fossil fuels or use nuclear energy really develops her as a character. Mechanics, crucibles, and witches also form a superior political rank than the average citizens do, as magic is what sustains the thirteen cities and the Witch of Salem (Lily’s other-world self, Lillian) is the leader, leading to political intrigue in the book as well, in a world that is part medieval and part futuristic.

Chemistry. As in romance. (See what I did there? Punny, I know). While this book is by no means a romance centered book, the element is there for those who enjoy it (which is definitely me). And while romance may not be a main focus of the plot, when it did happen it was very intimate and pretty steamy. All witches have the ability to “claim” other people by touching their willstones, and when one is claimed by a witch it binds their life pattern of sorts to her. This claiming on such a soulful, deep level is the ultimate intimate act, literally being able to reach into someone’s mind and will. Witches often claim a mechanic who’s scientific abilities are used to keep the witch in tip top shape and assist her in spells and rituals, and the bond they share is so intimate and so close that it’s impossible to negate having a soul-deep connection with one another. This is where Rowan comes into play. Rowan is a renowned mechanic, perhaps the most powerful in all thirteen cities, and when Lily inadvertently becomes his responsibility, they become irrevocably bonded. Watching their sort-of romance develop (amidst a lot of negative feelings about their situations) is the best sort of slow-burn romance, and the importance of a witch’s body to rituals and spells, along with being her mechanic’s responsibility, leads to a lot of steamy physical tension. I don’t know if any of this makes coherent sense if you haven’t read the book, but all you really need to know is that Rowan is everything and Lily and Rowan are my official ship of 2015.

Values. The world building also bucks a lot of the traditional fantasy tropes as well as holding a lot of different values from our own society. The society is matriarchal, with the Witch of Salem and the Coven who do the essential work to run and care for the cities all being female, while mechanics all seem to be male. The alternate Salem has used sciency-magic to fuel their world through sustainable magical resources and are able to create meat without holding livestock, light their cities with glowing trees and fauna, and issues such as smog and pollution are nearly unheard of. The alternate Salem is also much less modest, with the physical body being the main source of power for witches and therefore nudity is not as shameful and taking pride in one’s body (and sexuality) is not taboo.

Overall: This book had me flailing nonstop and now has me recommending it to everyone I know! The world building was the best I’ve read in a long time, and that coupled with an original blend of science and magic, a main character who goes through a lot of growth, a steamy simmering romance and a super sustainable matriarchal society has me wanting to run in circles around my room just to wear off the hyper energy of how gleeful I was upon finishing it…and upon finding my new book boyfriend. One note of caution though- be prepared for a cliffhanger ending!

[bookishzelda]

The interesting thing is even though Trial by Fire has alternate universes and focuses on different aspects of science, it doesn’t really have a Sci-Fi feel. To me it feels more like a Fantasy, which is also a component of it. Which is fine since I love both genres and putting them hand in hand always leads to a great combo.

This is one of my favorite concepts of alter universes. That each action we take creates a spin-off universe with the action we didn’t. Branching out, creating an infinite number and the fact that some other universes are already destroyed due to those alternate choices. I also like that

There are many interesting facets to this book. One is the two Lillians. Even though Lily and Lillian are the same they are both different too. It’s the whole nature vs nurture, they might have a basic similar nature but their experiences in life have influenced who they have become. They have different things and had different experiences and even different love lives and pains. Where Lillian was the one betraying, Lily was the one betrayed. It’s very cool to see this play out and makes for a complicated romance story.

Speaking of complicated this is one of the most complicated love triangles I have ever read. It’s not just a bit of forbidden love since Lily doesn’t plan on sticking in this universe. It’s the fact that there are two of the same girl, although different. Can you really separate the two. Is loving one inevitable because you love the other. Lots of thoughts in my head. Lots of thoughts...all though I think Josephine is excellent at writing great love stories. We might be experiencing Lily’s love story now but you can also tell that Lillian had a great one to share as well.

I enjoyed the characters including the good, bad and ugly. I thought you could see where some of their actions are coming from. They are just bad because they feel like it, there are things that pushed them in that direction or triggered them. I thought their backgrounds were well developed in that sense. There was focus on them but not overly focused.

The ending is fantastic and although it has me clammering for book 2 sooner rather than later. I really liked how it turned out. It’s got me wondering what is going to happen but also summed up well enough that I wasn’t angry.

I loved the plot, the characters and the writing. The flow was perfect, the world vivid in my mind.