Firewalker by Josephine Angelini (Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads)Published by Macmillan on September 1st 2015
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 352
Format: ARC
I'm a Witch and Witches burn. Lily is back in her own universe, and she's ready to relax with Rowan. True, she almost died in the Pyre that fueled their escape, and must hide her 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.You think I'm a monster, but my choices, as ruthless as they seem, are justified. Unfortunately, Lillian, ruthless ruler of the 13 Cities, is not willing to let Lily go that easily. If she can't persuade Lily to return to her world, she'll have to find a way to make her come back.Picking up right where Trial By Fire left off, Firewalker is another sexy, fast-paced, heartbreaking thrill ride from internationally bestselling author Josephine Angelini!
It’s our stop for the Firewalker blog tour and today we have an interview with Josephine Angelini! Check it out below and trust me, if you like witches and magic, you should be checking out this series!
Describe The Worldwalker trilogy in 5 words.
You are your worst enemy.
Were there any scenes that had to be cut out of Firewalker that you wish would have stayed in?
I cut a series of letters from my villain to my hero—who are actually two different versions of the same person from different universes. The letters served to build the world of the parallel universe, but in the end we decided that they detracted from the pacing of the book.
Did any of your characters surprise you by doing something you didn’t expect?
I get asked this question a lot, and I feel bad for being so boring, but my plots are pretty well hammered out before I try to do anything with a character. My characters don’t surprise me, at least not in a plot-changing way. There have been times I’ve realized that I need a character that I hadn’t considered in the outline, though. That’s always one of those face palm moments for me, when I discover an entire character that I hadn’t realized was there because someone has to do the action that I’d plotted out. If you knew just how detailed my outlines were you’d see what “duh” moment that is for me.
If you had to pick only one, what would you say was your favorite scene to write in Firewalker? What was the hardest scene to write?
My favorite scene was also probably the hardest. Lillian in the barn. It really hurt to write that.
Do you have any strange writing habits?
Coffee and an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie. Bam. Has to happen.
When you read a real book, what do you use as a bookmark?
I’ve used everything from hairpins to napkins to coffee stirrers to dead leaves picked up from the ground. Once I even took off one of my bra straps. It was one of those convertible bras where the straps are hook and eye and can be removed, you know? That was interesting…
What are you currently reading?
I just finished “The Winner’s Crime” by Marie Rutkoski. Absolutely fantastic book. I can’t wait for the third.
Any advice for aspiring writers?
If you’re doing any sort of worldbuilding start with who runs the place and work all the way down to who takes out the trash. Really think it through in a practical way. How do these people make money to live? Where does the clean water come from? Make your fantasy world as real as possible and you will find the conflict and the drama that you need for an interesting story. Shying away from tough questions, like, what are the politics and the economy of your world will flatten your characters. Give them a real place to live in and real problems to deal with, and no matter how fantastic that world is, they will jump off the page.
What are you working on now?
Edits for book 3 of the WorldWalker Trilogy. I just finished a few weeks ago, but like always, you’re never done until they take it away from you and send it to print.
Favorites
Favorite Song (right now): Push Pull by Purity Ring
Favorite Book (right now): Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Favorite TV Show/Movie: Game of Thrones
Favorite Word: Don’t have one, but I’ve always been fond of the word “wicked”. Probably because I’m from Massachusetts.
Favorite Color: I like the color of nectarines. Sort of reddish, coral, peachy all mixed up. Like a sunset in fruit.
Favorite Curse Word: Balls. Always makes me laugh. I stub my toe—balls. I forget to buy eggs—balls. It’s a multitasker.
Check out my review of Firewalker below!
Firewalker is the second book of Josephine Angelini’s Worldwalker trilogy and if you haven’t read book one yet, stop here because I don’t want to ruin any of the story for you. I loved Trial by Fire and was anxiously waiting for this one so I could dive back into the world of witches and magic. I am going to apologize in advance if things sound vague in this review but it is mostly because I don’t want to spoil anything. A lot happens in this book and where book one focused a lot on building out the world and developing the characters, this one is more focused on tying everything together and advancing the story.
This book picks up immediately after Trial by Fire ends and now Lily is back in her world with Rowan. Having been severely burned in the pyre, she isn’t one hundred percent when they turn up in her world and are greeted by Lily’s mom and sister. As Lily begins to see the issues her leaving left behind, she also starts to think that there could be a future for her and Rowan.
Now that we are in Lily’s world, we get to see her connections with her family and her friends and I loved seeing this part of her. Since she spent the majority of her time in another world in the last book, we didn’t get too much of this. When she finally reconnected with her Tristan and Breakfast and Una as well, we learned more about them as well as how critical they would be to the remainder of the story. I also loved the relationship between Lily and her sister, Juliet.
As the story moves forward, Lily’s friends are drawn to her and as Rowan explains, they are natural mechanics. When Rowan begins to show the group what it means to be a mechanic, they all opt to have Lily claim them and their real training begins. This is definitely important because Lillian hasn’t given up on getting Lily back to her world and she is willing to do whatever it takes to get Lily to do what she wants which means the entire group is in danger.
As the group ultimately ends up back in Rowan’s world, they are faced with a number of challenges. The tribes are caught between the Coven and the Woven (both dangerous in their minds) and the ultimate reason why all the scientists were being killed by Lillian becomes clear… at least to Lily. Because of this, things between Rowan and Lily take a turn. I won’t say much about this but I have to say this was one of those moments in the book that change how I thought things would go – not just for them, but overall.
This is where I mention, there are a bunch of secrets floating between Lily and Rowan in this book. One of the secrets is directly linked to the reason Rowan encourages Lily to claim her friends as her mechanics. One of the other secrets is that Lily is still connected to Lillian and she is continuing to let Lillian show her all the justifications she has for doing what she has. All of them take a toll on the relationship between Lily and Rowan and in the end, even though they still very much care about each other, they are the things that make everything more complicated.
This book dives more into the Woven and as the group heads west, they finally encounter the Hive. As story comes to a close, it is clear that things will be very different for everyone going forward. I know this review is somewhat vague but I can’t apologize. If you are looking for a story with magic and lots of action, definitely check this one out and if you haven’t started book one, now is a great time to read it and dive right into Firewalker when it comes out.
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