Trial By Fire
Author: Josephine Angelini
Series: The Worldwalker Trilogy #1
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Fantasy
Release Date: September 2, 2014
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Summary:
This world is trying to kill Lily Proctor. Her life-threatening allergies keep her from enjoying many of the experiences that other teenagers take for granted…which is why she is determined to enjoy her first (and perhaps only) high-school party. But Lily’s life never goes according to plan, and 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 cruellest of all the Crucibles is Lillian…Lily’s identical other self in this alternate universe. This new version of her world is terrifyingly sensual, and Lily is soon overwhelmed by new experiences.
Lily realizes that what makes her weak at home is exactly what makes her extraordinary in New Salem. It also puts her life in danger. Thrown into a world she doesn’t understand, Lily is torn between responsibilities she can’t hope to shoulder alone, and a love she never expected.
But how can Lily be the saviour of this world when she is literally her own worst enemy?
First Sentence: Lily Proctor ducked into the girls’ room, already yanking back her rebellious hair.
I received a copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for a honest review. All opinions are my own and I was not compensated for this review.
My Review:
When I first heard the words “witches” and “parallel universes,” I knew I had to get my hands on Trial By Fire. Add the fact that the book is set in Salem, Massachusetts and I was willing to bribe anyone for the book. Then I saw that Trial By Fire was also written by Josephine Angelini and my expectations for the book nosedived wayy down. I didn’t enjoy any of Josephine Angelini’s previous books, Starcrossed and Dreamless, for various reasons, so Trial By Fire had me worried. In the end, I was right to be worried – Trial By Fire failed to impress me, but just plain bored me most of the time.
The flames rise, and I twist and scream, trying to get away, but the iron shackles on my wrists keep me bound to this stake.
I’m a witch. And witches burn. (ARC 37)
As I expected, Josephine Angelini’s writing dragged down the book. Literally 99.8% of the Trial By Fire was full of info-dumps and telling, not showing. Just looking at my notes right now, I can see that I’ve complained about the info-dumping and the telling not showing problem seven times until I just gave up complaining about it altogether because it’s not like me complaining about the writing would change anything. To make matters even worse, Trial By Fire goes into too much in detail about certain things while skips over other things. For example, I am obsessed with everything that has to do with bows and crossbows. I love them so much that when I was playing Maplestory, I immediately chose to be an archer instead of all the other million jobs that were available. While I was reading Trial By Fire, I saw a mention of a crossbow, which got me really excited.
Until I saw this was how Josephine Angelini chose to describe it.
The weapons were strange to her as well. From what she could see, most of the soldiers were carrying crossbows, but not old-fashioned crossbows. These were high-tech and looked lethal. (ARC 42)
And that was it. There were no more words used to describe the crossbows. My question is, HOW DO THE CROSSBOWS LOOK LIKE?! Sure, they are high-tech and looked lethal, but that still doesn’t tell me how exactly it looks like! I want some answers! (I wanted to type that sentence in all caps so badly, but barely refrained myself from doing so.)
Going into Trial By Fire, I expected there to be insta-love and was so surprised to find out that Trial By Fire had no insta-love in it at all. Josephine Angelini’s Starcrossed series was full of insta-love and another similar fantasy book about parallel universes, 3:59 by Gretchen McNeil, was also full of insta-love, so naturally, I expected Trial By Fire to have insta-love too. Although Trial By Fire doesn’t have insta-love, I’m not exactly sold on the romance. It was kind of sweet and nice, but I’m not exactly cheering for the couple.
“Because I trust you. I want you to be everything I loved about her and nothing I hated. I want it so badly that I know I shouldn’t trust myself enough to trust you. But I guess I’m doing it anyway, even though I know you’re not staying.” (ARC 273)
The first one-fourth or so of Trial By Fire was okay. I had tons of issues with the writing as I’ve mentioned earlier in my review, but I did enjoy the story somewhat. (I’m saying “somewhat” because it took me a very long time for me to realize that I was enjoying the story due to how horrible the writing was.) Once I’ve reached the halfway point of Trial By Fire, however, I was bored out of my mind. It was a real struggle to finish Trial By Fire (I didn’t DNF it because I received the book from Macmillan and felt like I should give the book a review at least) and by the time I was finally done reading, I was cheering out of happiness because I finally finished the book.
After I finished Trial By Fire and did some thinking, I feel like Trial By Fire is just a filler book to make the Worldwalker series a trilogy. All Trial By Fire really did was introduce us readers to the world, the society, and the characters. Yes, it goes into the world-building and the character’s back stories in great detail, but nothing really happens. Things were happening for awhile in the first fourth of the book, but the rest of Trial By Fire basically had no plot.
Overall, I’m really disappointed with Trial By Fire. It had such an excellent premise, but just fell flat for me. I don’t know if I’ll be reading its sequel since Trial By Fire is a filler book for the series in my eyes, but we shall see.
I am so relieved that someone else felt the same way about this book’s writing! Finally! It’s being pushed really, really hard by MacTeen, but I felt that it really fell short of expectations. I reviewed it for School Library Journal…which meant I had to be kind of vague about not loving the book. Glad to see an honest review :)
Eden recently posted…New Theme: Goran
I haven’t really heard too much about this book, but just looking at the cover and reading the blurb, makes me think this won’t be a book for me. Reading your review doesn’t make me want to read it more :/ Too bad it wasn’t a great read for you!
Sandra @Sandra’s World of Books recently posted…Why it has been so quiet on the blog
Well…..I’m glad I DNFd this book now especially after reading this. I think I made it around pg140, something like that, and I was so bored. The writing was horrendous and like you stated, NOTHING WAS HAPPENING. I just couldn’t take it. I was really disappointed also because this was one of my most anticipated books.
Crystal @ Crystal in Bookland recently posted…The Gateway Through Which They Came by Heather Marie (Blog Tour)
I think the hardest part of being a book blogger would be this reason right here! Reading books that you just can’t stand or that are just really bad. Congrats on finishing the book though, that couldn’t have been easy. This isn’t book that would really interest me in the first place but now I really don’t want to read it!
Good review. Too bad it was a disappointment. Starcrossed was really good. <3
I am so worried. I’m getting the book any day now, and I keep seeing ify/bad reviews!
Isabel recently posted…Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
I’m so sorry to hear this wasn’t a winner for you! I hate when I am so excited to read a book, but only find out it’s one info-dump after the other.
Meredith recently posted…The Bell Jar
So sorry to hear you didn’t enjoy this one, there’s so much hype over it too! But then hype does have a tendency to spoil things by making you have really high expectations, great review though!
Safah @ Midnight Pageturners recently posted…Tease by Amanda Maciel – Raw and Honest
You know my thoughts on this one. I was so disappointed since I’ve not ever read anything by this author and was going on that summary. It sounded like it would be such an amazing story and yet…it left me wanting more. I agree about the info dumps :-( Do you think you’ll attempt the next book? I think I’ll be checking out early reviews first.
Kristen@My Friends Are Fiction recently posted…Review of Under the Egg by Laura Marx Fitzgerald
Thank you for your honest review! I was planning to read this book too and from your review, i think i won’t like it. that crossbow thing is really full of telling. Unlike other novels, this one surely has lots of telling than showing. thank you for your review! :)
This book seems so cool! I will have to check it out! The story sounds so interesting. :-)
Man, in really disappointed people don’t seem to like this book. All I’ve seen are negative reviews, and that makes me sad. It sounds so interesting! I’m like you- I was intrigued by the though of witches and parallel universes! I’ve never read anything by this author, so I may pick it up at some point just to check it out myself.
i’m really not into fantasy books
I’ve never read a book by Josephine Angelini and I wanted to start with this one cause it seemed a good book about witches and I love good books about witches! Now I’m not so sure honestly :(
Frannie Panglossa recently posted…Review & Booktalk: “The darkest minds” by Alexandra Bracken
Dude! I am not a big fan of witches (in books I mean) but this sounds like a pretty cool book. I don’t know if I will pick it up any time soon because my TBR list for this month and October is just CRAZY but I will definitely add it to my TBR list of Goodreads and maybe when I get some time, I will pick it up :)
Oh dear, oh dear. So many of my GR friends have given this glowing reviews, even though they’ve been badly burnt when reading STARCROSSED, so I have to say I’m rather curious about this book. I’ve been having a really bad track record with books lately, so maybe your review is what pushes me to either read or not read this book.
Fab review!
Aly (@bookishaly) recently posted…We’re Talking Big Numbers, People
I’ve been seeing a lot of mixed reviews for this book. Some people seem to love it, but the others thing it’s just awful. I’m really not sure if I should read it or not.
I’m like you in that any books that has witches and “parallel universes” definitely gets my attention. I’ve never read any books by this author but I thought I might start with this one. After reading your comments, I may still read it but it will probably not go at the top of my list! Thanks for sharing your feedback!
I just heard of Trial by fire last night. so I was excited to read this review , I’ve never read anything by this author before, and now i’d be nervous if I were to pick up a book. Great review. And I’m guessing while the concept of this book is good, the story could be a LOT better..
Other words; THANKS FOR THE WARNING!! :)
I hadn’t heard about this book before my sister won an arc and she told me about it. She really enjoyed it and I’m going to try it myself to see how I feel about it. Thanks for the honest review!
My friend let me barrow their copy of this book since theyre a reviewer, She gave Trial by Fire so much hype that it even got me excited bout reading it. Unfortunately I was really dissappionted by the lack of action & there was alittle to much information thrusted upon the reader.
This is the 4th unsatisfied review I’ve saw for this book. It was so hyped up. I got so excited to read it. I love any story with witches but this I think I’ll pass on. Thanks for the honest review.
I’ve heard mixed reviews for this and now that I’m hearing about how this book isn’t as good as it looks, I’m a little uneasy about it. I was looking forward to reading about the Salem Witch Trial aspect :/
Kelly recently posted…Top Ten Book Characters That Would Be Sitting at My Lunch Table
This book definitely does not sound good, it’s weird how a lot of books that sound interesting fail to impress A LOT.
Hadn’t you JUST posted a gif review for this book? Has time gone by really fast or am I confusing reviews?
I’ve had this on my list on Goodreads for a while… I was so excited for the witches, but with the unimpressed reviews, I don’t know if I’ll be picking it up. Maybe I’ll be able to borrow it from a friend, but as of right now, I don’t think it’ll be high on my to-be-bought shelf. :/
I was thinking about reading Trial by Fire after seeing the cover and synopsis, but after reading your review I don’t think I’ll like it. Thanks for letting us know with your honest review!
I haven’t read anything by Josephine Angelini yet, but I’d thought this would be a great book to start! The synopsis sounds so intriguing, I’m sorry you were disappointed by this :/ I’ll probably still give Trial by Fire a shot, but judging by your comments, it won’t be too impressive, haha.
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That’s sad. I was really looking forward to this book. I still think I’ll read it, but I’ve lowered my expectations.
I had many similar feelings about this book!! Overall it was just meh, and I had trouble getting into it. It’s funny though, because I found the last half more interesting and I liked the end better than the beginning. Like you said though, nothing really happened. I didn’t feel anything while reading, and I wasn’t invested in the romance either. And the writing – UGH. I DNF’ed Starcrossed because of her horrible writing, but I hoped that she had improved for this one. Sadly not. I feel like the concept was really good but the execution sucked!
Jessi @ Novel Heartbeat recently posted…Review: Champion by Marie Lu
When I read this line, “I was cheering out of happiness because I finally finished the book,” I couldn’t help laughing out loud. Not to disrespect you (never would do that), but because I had gone through something amazingly similar. I had My Last Kiss sitting on my shelf waiting for me to read it and I finally gave in about three weeks ago. And I mean the three weeks. It took me that long to read the book, but I was so dead-set on finishing it. At the end I realized why exactly you had DNFed it just about a one-fourth of the way. I had to push myself mentally and convince myself to read a few pages for days and by the end I was happy I was done with it. The ending was a little better than the rest of the book, but it could hardly hold up enough credit to give the book an outstanding review. That’s why I couldn’t help but laugh at what you said. I kind of felt relieved I’m not the only person who cheers at the end of a boring book. And Trial By Fire sounded so good and it felt like a lot of buzz was building up around this book. Now that I know what you thought of it, I might just skip it altogether. Not in the mood to redo what happened those three weeks.
Thanks for being honest. It was refreshing to read this review and not have it be filled with cliched superlatives, but instead honest reactions. I will definitely trust your opinion in the future. Looking forward to it, actually!
Tiffany S. recently posted…Tova
New York City
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Alright, so… I read Starcrossed and Dreamless, but I didn’t finish the series because they… just weren’t for me. All of the gushing that happened about those books, but I felt guilty because they disappointed me so much. I skimmed through most of them. But, I heard about Trial by Fire and I thought I will absolutely give her another shot because this book sounds AMAZING! Unfortunately, it sounds like it will end up being another not so great one for me. I will still give it a shot, because I always try to give books a shot, but my expectations won’t be so high. Thanks for the giveaway!
Jaime Lester recently posted…In a Handful of Dust
Oh boy, I was really excited for this one too! I might wait for the library for this one just in case, since I can’t afford to waste cash at the moment. And I was looking for a good new series to hop into, darn it. >_<
Haven’t read this author; that’s too bad about the writing
I think the plot is kind of interesting. Maybe Josephine Angelini could’ve made it better by actually helping the readers imagine the world of Lily Proctor, too bad though. I can’t believe you actually have notes when reviewing makes me love you even more because of your dedication. Awesome review btw.
Thank you for the well-constructed and honest review! I love the premise of this book, but have heard mixed things about it. I wonder what side of the fence I’ll be on when I get round to reading it.
Ebony @ Daring Damsels recently posted…Five Friday Favourites #18 – Books Recommended To Me
I didn’t know this book, but I do have Starcrossed by the same author waiting to be read on my shelf. It’s too bad the writing didn’t do it for you, the plot really seemed interesting. I guess I will read Starcrossed first to see if I want to read other books by Josephine Angelini.
Thais Pampado recently posted…O Aniversário de Anya
It sounds like such an interesting premise…anything to do with Salem intrigues me. I’ve entered to win this book on a few other sites. I hope that if I read it, which I still want to, I won’t mind the author’s style of writing.
Thank you for an honest review. When I read the summary, I got bored halfway through.
So honest! I’m thankful. The cover will forever be beautiful though!
There are so many raving reviews, yet you just got me very worried. I’m glad there’s no insta-love, but the crossbow instance really is saddening and as I have yet to read the author’s other series, I’m otherwise clueless as to what her writing style is like. So it could be just a bad coincidence, but I can’t tell because I don’t know her writing. And writing style is a very very touchy topic for me.
Cassidie Jhones recently posted…Who View (1): S8 E4 – Listen
It’s awful you didn’t like her storytelling skills – but I really like the concept and that it’s about witches.
I too love archery!!
Hope you find another book with teh same concept that you’ll like!
Lovely review :)
I’ve heard a lot of buzz for this book. I have this on my tbr pile ’cause never read anything by Josephine Angelini and I though why not start with this one? Anyway, thank you for your review.
Diana Grace recently posted…Cover Reveal and Giveaway: REBORN (Angel Creek 3) by Ada Adams
This is an amazing story! I got many reviews from friends recommending this one! Thank you for your review!
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I’ve heard so many amazing things about Josephine Angelini’s Starcrossed series, despite the insta-love aspect, so I was really excited about picking this one up, because the summary was spectacular. It’s unfortunate that it was a disappointment for you, though, after reading your review, I can completely understand why. Stories like these really need well-thought world building, especially with parallel universes. Hopefully the sequel is better. Great review!
You’re such a critical reader (believe me, that’s a compliment!), because if I were to read the bit about the crossbows, I think I wouldn’t notice how badly it was described. You’re very keen at recognizing flaws in books, that’s what I envy the most about reviewers. Hahaha. I was about to put this on my TBR, because as you have clearly stated, it doesn’t have insta love. But when I read further and saw that there was nothing special about the protagonist’s relationship with her love interest, I felt kind of doubtful whether I should read it or not. Who knows, maybe their relationship will change at the second book?
I never really wanted to pick this up, but reading your review made me want to read it. I want to form my own opinion about it, cuz seriously it’s still a pretty awesome premis and I will ad it to my TBR. Since I’ve already read and enjoyed some ofAngelini’s other books I do think that I will at least like this one. To bad you didn’t like it :/ but i hope I will :) Great review, I really apprecieate that you’re really critic, because I always have trouble with buying books – will I really like it enough to pay for it? So reviews like yours help me make up my mind :)
Aw man :( I was looking forward to reading this book! I might still read it though. I appreciate hearing your thoughts on it. At least I won’t go into it with high expectations and get disappointed
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That’s too bad ’cause I thought this series was great. Will check it out still soon though.
I haven’t had the chance to read Trial By Fire, but didn’t want to rush it because I had crossed feelings about it. The cover looks nice and also the synopsis, but I had the same problem with you with Josephine. But my problem deepens on the mood I am. I might enjoy it or not, so I did not buy it yet.
I was on the verge of bribing someone to have a copy and had high hopes about this book. However, reading your review made me re-think it again.
Thanks for the honest review. I might end up reading it, but it is not the first book on my TBR pile.
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I gave Trial of Fire 3 stars on goodreads but I’m not sure it really deserved this rating… I was so happy to be finally able to read this book (in my country its name is Attraverso il fuoco, which means through the fire) but I have to say that it didn’t fully satisfy my expectations. And it’s a shame because last year when Josephine came here in italy to attend a book festival, she sounded so passionate about this new project and her excitement was contagious. The premise seemed amazing… i mean, witches, parallel worlds and Salem?! Saying I was intrigued is an euphemism! But then… a few days ago I read the book, and even though it wasn’t that bad, it wasn’t what I expected.
Happy Blogversary Kelly :D
Just wanted to say that I love your blog and your giveaways are always amazing!!!
Well, I haven’t read that book yet but after your review I think that I WILL asap!!!!
Oh no! I was really looking forward to that one… Darn. Info-dump is the worst!
I think I’ll still read it, but it just made it’s way down my TBR by quite a few spots. And it sounded so good too! :-(
Sophia recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday: Books That were hard for me to read
I am glad I read your review. The cover and the blurb appealed to me and I was thinking this would be a good way to introduce me to Josephine Angelini. Thank you for the heads up. I may try of read of hers, but not at this time.
Terrie Fulk recently posted…Cover Reveal & Giveaway! STARTER WIFE
Thank you so much for pointing out the crossbow part. I really had high expectations on this book because of the raving reviews and the summary (it really sounded good). With that said, I would still read it, give this book a chance or something, but it’s definitely not one of the books I’m aiming to buy right now.
Well, i don’t think i will be picking up this book anytime soon, especially when you said that you were just so relieved you finished the book and not in a good way. I have read her other series but i did not finish that series out either. I am into fantasy and even witches! but they need to make me capture into their world and the characters themselves. Thank you for your review :)
Thanks so much for the very thorough review on this book! I was actually kinda curious whether or not I should read it since I’ve always loved the ideal of parallel universes. From the get-go I knew there was something off about the plot so I was waiting for someone to review it before I’d start reading — so thanks for doing this!
I read this book a while back, and I found it amazing. It may have been an introduction into the world, but many vital events took place. I found it so enjoyable, and I couldn’t put it down. I have read her other books(Star-crossed trilogy), and I found the Greek theme captivating.
I found Josephine Angelini to be one of my favourite authors. I loved the contrast of Lily’s ‘normal life’ (I say normal, but I mean Lily’s day-to-day life, which is anything but) to her alternate dimension one. Despite it being in the blub, the shift of dimensions made me want to continue reading. Overall, I love the story-line, the world, the characters, and the ending which leaves me waiting for the release of ‘Fire Walker’.