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breezy610's review against another edition
5.0
I feel sorry for Lily having just getting home to having to go back. another awesome book in a great trilogy.
eesh25's review against another edition
3.0
Hello! And welcome to our show "Lily knows best"! Let me introduce our stars Lily, the all-imporant Witch, and her insignificant little lackies, the.... Mechanics!
Sorry about that intro. It just had to be done.
You see, I spent most of the time reading this book mildly irritated. then we reached the 70-75% point and I went from mildly irritated to full on pissed off. I just wanted to get the book over with after that point. Which was really sad because I was very excited to read this book.
Let's make a list of all the things that didn't work for me:
1. The Writing: I stand by what I said during the review of Trial by Fire, the writing isn't particularly bad. The author is just not good at emotions. You could even go so far as to say that she is terrible at expressing emotions through her writing. In this series, at least. And the switch first-person doesn't work either. It sounds ammateurish, to say the least.
2. Lily: I don't hate Lily. Okay, I kinda do. I mean, how could I not? The sheer self-righteousness inside of her makes me want to strangle her. She doesn't always do the wrong thing, she usually does the right thing, but it's not about that.
It about the fact that no matter matter if she's right or wrong, she herself will never even entertain the possibility that she could be wrong. And that would be okay if we saw her change or saw other people telling her that she isn't always right. But everyone is all into Lily-worship and she remains the same. The line between her and Lillian is very thin.
Author needs a reminder that the protagonist is righteous and the antagonist is self-righteous.
3. The predictablitly: One of my favourite things about book 1 was the unexpected ending. In this book, except for one little thing, everything else was predictable. That decreased my interest in the book.
4. The Witch and Mechanic dynamic: You may have noticed that called the mechanics "insignificant little lackies". That was because that's how they're treated. It's almost sexist in a way. Everyone is going on and on about witches, who can only be female. It's all "Witches are important", "witches are powerful", "Protect witches", blah blah blah... WITCH. While Mechanics seem to be disposable, props for the witch to use. I dislike.
5. The ending: I didn't like it. I can't give details but just know that I think it wasn't the best way to end the book. It ended at a weird point that didn't really make me care as much about what would happen in the next book, unlike with book 1. Honestly, if I didn't love Rowan, I wouldn't even read the next one.
There was also the fact that the reason behind Lillian going psycho-killer was stretched to death and the lying and the lack of respect Lily has for Rowan pissed me off. Word od advise Lily, stop feeling so "wronged" and get off your high horse.
And don't even get me started on the stupidly forced and pointless love triangle the author tried to force in...
Overall, I like the world that this series is set on and I like the overall idea of inter-dimentional travel and doppelgangers. I also like some of the characters and the attempt to make both Lillian's very similar but subtly different in the ways that matter (I say attempt because there hasn't been much success).
I still think this series could be good and for that reason, and for Rowan, I will be reading the final book. Hope it's not a let down.
Sorry about that intro. It just had to be done.
You see, I spent most of the time reading this book mildly irritated. then we reached the 70-75% point and I went from mildly irritated to full on pissed off. I just wanted to get the book over with after that point. Which was really sad because I was very excited to read this book.
Let's make a list of all the things that didn't work for me:
1. The Writing: I stand by what I said during the review of Trial by Fire, the writing isn't particularly bad. The author is just not good at emotions. You could even go so far as to say that she is terrible at expressing emotions through her writing. In this series, at least. And the switch first-person doesn't work either. It sounds ammateurish, to say the least.
2. Lily: I don't hate Lily. Okay, I kinda do. I mean, how could I not? The sheer self-righteousness inside of her makes me want to strangle her. She doesn't always do the wrong thing, she usually does the right thing, but it's not about that.
It about the fact that no matter matter if she's right or wrong, she herself will never even entertain the possibility that she could be wrong. And that would be okay if we saw her change or saw other people telling her that she isn't always right. But everyone is all into Lily-worship and she remains the same. The line between her and Lillian is very thin.
Author needs a reminder that the protagonist is righteous and the antagonist is self-righteous.
3. The predictablitly: One of my favourite things about book 1 was the unexpected ending. In this book, except for one little thing, everything else was predictable. That decreased my interest in the book.
4. The Witch and Mechanic dynamic: You may have noticed that called the mechanics "insignificant little lackies". That was because that's how they're treated. It's almost sexist in a way. Everyone is going on and on about witches, who can only be female. It's all "Witches are important", "witches are powerful", "Protect witches", blah blah blah... WITCH. While Mechanics seem to be disposable, props for the witch to use. I dislike.
5. The ending: I didn't like it. I can't give details but just know that I think it wasn't the best way to end the book. It ended at a weird point that didn't really make me care as much about what would happen in the next book, unlike with book 1. Honestly, if I didn't love Rowan, I wouldn't even read the next one.
There was also the fact that the reason behind Lillian going psycho-killer was stretched to death and the lying and the lack of respect Lily has for Rowan pissed me off. Word od advise Lily, stop feeling so "wronged" and get off your high horse.
And don't even get me started on the stupidly forced and pointless love triangle the author tried to force in...
Overall, I like the world that this series is set on and I like the overall idea of inter-dimentional travel and doppelgangers. I also like some of the characters and the attempt to make both Lillian's very similar but subtly different in the ways that matter (I say attempt because there hasn't been much success).
I still think this series could be good and for that reason, and for Rowan, I will be reading the final book. Hope it's not a let down.
kkoerth613's review
4.0
Definitely liked this book a whole lot better than the first. Can't wait for the last book to come out.
annettebooksofhopeanddreams's review against another edition
4.0
I remember buying these books, so long ago, not even knowing what they were about. I had just read Angelini's other series and loved it and then there were these beautiful matching covers just catching my eye. After reading the first book last week, and being blown away by how complicated it was, I was really excited to dive into this book.
And the book totally didn't disappoint. It continued where the previous book stopped, although Angelini did help us remembering something that had happened in the first book by using throw away lines. And although this was clearly a middle book, bringing the characters from point A to B for the big finale, it was exciting from start to finish. The info dumps were spread out nicely and were included in a very natural way and the slower and more personal scenes were evenly balanced with some action and intrigue.
On top of that I like the characters and how none of them are truly evil or truly good. Angelini plays with choices and the power of making them and why we make them. She doesn't shy away from letting her heroes do horrible things for a good cause and she doesn't shy away from making us question if there even is a good side. It makes the characters all the more real and the conflict all the more interesting.
And last but not least: I really love how Angelini managed to mix fantasy, sci-fi, witchcraft and science without it feeling all over the place. Everything she does has an explanation and a solid base. Everything the characters learn seems logical and makes sense. There's one more big thing to explain and although I have my own guesses I can't wait to read the last book and to find out what's really going on.
And the book totally didn't disappoint. It continued where the previous book stopped, although Angelini did help us remembering something that had happened in the first book by using throw away lines. And although this was clearly a middle book, bringing the characters from point A to B for the big finale, it was exciting from start to finish. The info dumps were spread out nicely and were included in a very natural way and the slower and more personal scenes were evenly balanced with some action and intrigue.
On top of that I like the characters and how none of them are truly evil or truly good. Angelini plays with choices and the power of making them and why we make them. She doesn't shy away from letting her heroes do horrible things for a good cause and she doesn't shy away from making us question if there even is a good side. It makes the characters all the more real and the conflict all the more interesting.
And last but not least: I really love how Angelini managed to mix fantasy, sci-fi, witchcraft and science without it feeling all over the place. Everything she does has an explanation and a solid base. Everything the characters learn seems logical and makes sense. There's one more big thing to explain and although I have my own guesses I can't wait to read the last book and to find out what's really going on.
littlewhiterabbitreads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.5
livreads_books's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
nicolemhewitt's review against another edition
5.0
3.5/5 Stars
This review and many more can be found on my blog: Feed Your Fiction Addiction
Firewalker is the second book in the Worldwalker trilogy, and unfortunately it suffered from just a bit of middle book syndrome. That’s not to say that it didn’t advance the series at all – I just felt like it took a little too much time to get there. Still, if you’re a fan of the series, you’ll definitely want to pick this one up. There are some major revelations about Lillian and a few new characters added who (I”m assuming) will play a role in the final book of the trilogy.
What fed my addiction:
Lillian’s motivations.
A good portion of this book was Lily (slowly) learning what led Lillian to her decisions and how she became the “villain” in her world. Since Lily is Lillian, these revelations were pretty important for her – she needed to understand how she could possibly get to a place where she would start murdering people – so that she could avoid it herself. Of course, learning why Lillian did what she did also added some complications that Lily would have preferred to avoid, but that made the story all the more interesting!
The Scooby gang.
While Lily is in her own world, she manages to gain a coven! For the most part, I was a fan of the new characters and I’m eager to see how Angelini uses them in the next book.
The ending.
The last quarter or so of the book really picked up and things started getting incredibly interesting. Honestly, if the whole book had focused on what happened in the last quarter of the story, the book would have been fabulous and exciting!!
What left me wanting more:
Slow.
Like I’ve already said, just not enough happened at the beginning of the book. Lily spent too much time trying to avoid hearing Lillian’s story and recovering from her injuries. I wish we could have fast-forwarded through some of that and gotten to the good stuff earlier!
Slight love triangle.
With Lily’s Tristan back in the picture, we got a very slight love triangle thing that I could easily have done without. I never really connected with Lily’s world Tristan and had a hard time caring about that aspect of the story.
Like I said, fans of the series won’t want to miss this book, but you just need to be prepared for the fact that this second installment is a lot slower than the first. I’m still very eager to read the final book in the trilogy, though!! I give this book 3.5/5 stars.
This review and many more can be found on my blog: Feed Your Fiction Addiction
Firewalker is the second book in the Worldwalker trilogy, and unfortunately it suffered from just a bit of middle book syndrome. That’s not to say that it didn’t advance the series at all – I just felt like it took a little too much time to get there. Still, if you’re a fan of the series, you’ll definitely want to pick this one up. There are some major revelations about Lillian and a few new characters added who (I”m assuming) will play a role in the final book of the trilogy.
What fed my addiction:
Lillian’s motivations.
A good portion of this book was Lily (slowly) learning what led Lillian to her decisions and how she became the “villain” in her world. Since Lily is Lillian, these revelations were pretty important for her – she needed to understand how she could possibly get to a place where she would start murdering people – so that she could avoid it herself. Of course, learning why Lillian did what she did also added some complications that Lily would have preferred to avoid, but that made the story all the more interesting!
The Scooby gang.
While Lily is in her own world, she manages to gain a coven! For the most part, I was a fan of the new characters and I’m eager to see how Angelini uses them in the next book.
The ending.
The last quarter or so of the book really picked up and things started getting incredibly interesting. Honestly, if the whole book had focused on what happened in the last quarter of the story, the book would have been fabulous and exciting!!
What left me wanting more:
Slow.
Like I’ve already said, just not enough happened at the beginning of the book. Lily spent too much time trying to avoid hearing Lillian’s story and recovering from her injuries. I wish we could have fast-forwarded through some of that and gotten to the good stuff earlier!
Slight love triangle.
With Lily’s Tristan back in the picture, we got a very slight love triangle thing that I could easily have done without. I never really connected with Lily’s world Tristan and had a hard time caring about that aspect of the story.
Like I said, fans of the series won’t want to miss this book, but you just need to be prepared for the fact that this second installment is a lot slower than the first. I’m still very eager to read the final book in the trilogy, though!! I give this book 3.5/5 stars.