Witch's Pyre
Due to a lot of schoolwork I haven't been able to read for pleasure quite as much as I've wanted the past few weeks. This is especially sad because a lot of long-awaited books have been published for the past month that I can't wait to dig into. One of these is Witch's Pyre, the last part in Josephine Angelini's Worldwalker trilogy.
Lily Proctor has done things she never could’ve imagined doing a year ago. Back then she was only a sick girl with a lot of allergies who spent most of her time in hospitals and her only friends were her sister Juliet and a guy named Tristan, who Lily was in love with. But after being transported from her world to a parallel universe where she met her double, Lillian, was told that she was a witch and taught by Lillian’s former lover, Rowan, Lily’s life changed forever. She’s doing unspeakable things and have had unspeakable things done to her. Rowan, who loved Lily and who Lily loved back, has betrayed her and Lily gambled everything when she decided to leave Salem and the Thirteen Cities to go west in search for the answer to the riddle that is the Woven, the horrifying, witch-made, mutated animals that plague the Thirteen Cities. Now Lily has lost something very dear to her and she’s standing in front of a strange place called Bower City and the answers to all her questions seems to be within reach, but was all she sacrificed worth it?
Bower City is the thing no one in the Thirteen Cities expected to find beyond the Ocean of Grass, beyond the vicious Woven called the Pride, the Pack and the Hive, but here it is. Lily and her coven enters a city run by Warrior Sisters, the bee-like Woven called the Hive who is known to kill everyone who bothers them. But Bower City turns out to be a nice place with kind people, with no crimes or starving families, with no fighting and no wars. But Lily and her coven soon realize that this is just an illusion. While Bower City seems perfect it’s actually too perfect. Everywhere is a Worker, a Woven closer to an actually bee than the Warrior Sisters, and they’re always watching. They’re always listening. They’re always threatening to sting you or carry you away if you get angry, sad or stressed. Violence is not tolerated but neither, it seems, are emotion. Lily and her coven knows that something is not quite right at Bower City but nothing could prepare them for the truth that lies within the city gates. Once they have it, once they finally know of everything they’ve always questioned, they need to decide if Lily’s double, Lillian, really is the worst thing out there or if they have to team up with her to settle the score with the Woven once and for all.
This was definitely an action-packed ending to Angelini’s trilogy. No matter what Lily does, an all-out war will tear down at Bower City and the only real choice she has is to decide what part she wants to play in it. After the loss of the Tristan from her world in the end of book two, Lily is heartbroken and confused when she reaches Bower City. Getting over the loss of her best friend and her first love proves impossible in a place where you’re not allowed to feel anything that isn’t close to happiness and slowly, Bower City is no longer the paradies they all hoped for, but rather a very nice prison.
Lily is reunited with Rowan as well, which gives more dynamic to the story. At first it’s all about finding her footing again and I liked how Angelini didn’t make it all about the brewing war but focused a lot on Lily and how she felt in the situation. She has to get over losing Tristan but she also have to forgive Rowan for what he did to her, or let him go forever. The path back to together is bumpy and awkward but Angelini guides her characters with a firm yet gentle hand. This story has so much depth and again, I thought it was nice that it wasn’t just about the political conflict. Both Lily and the reader needed time to adjust and accept everything that happened in the second book and Angelini allowed for this in the beginning of the third, which was nice, rather than to dive right into the action right away.
The secret of the Woven was a juicy one, well worth waiting two and a half books for. And just like the previous two books, the action was sharp and well-written, full of suspense at time and all-out fighting at others. Lily certainly pushes the boundaries in this one but I loved to see how much she’s grown since the first novel and to follow her character development throughout this one. I really think Angelini has done a great job with her characters, not only to make them feel human and real but in letting the reader see how they change and evolve throughout the books.
Another thing I liked was that, despite this being the last novel where everything would resolve itself, it wasn’t much longer than the previous two. Sometimes it feels like authors write the last part in the trilogy longer, mostly because there’s still so much to say which is often the case, but sometimes the length feels unnecessary and like it’s just being dragged out because the author can’t say goodbye to the story yet. That’s not the case here, which is a plus for me. I really do think that this is a nice and deserving end for this series and I’m more than a little sad that it’s over. I will miss longing for these books but I know I will return to them again in the future and I will certainly keep a lookout for what Angelini has in store next. If you’re uncertain if this parallel-world-witch-thing is for you then I say give it a go, I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the depth of these books!
Lily Proctor has done things she never could’ve imagined doing a year ago. Back then she was only a sick girl with a lot of allergies who spent most of her time in hospitals and her only friends were her sister Juliet and a guy named Tristan, who Lily was in love with. But after being transported from her world to a parallel universe where she met her double, Lillian, was told that she was a witch and taught by Lillian’s former lover, Rowan, Lily’s life changed forever. She’s doing unspeakable things and have had unspeakable things done to her. Rowan, who loved Lily and who Lily loved back, has betrayed her and Lily gambled everything when she decided to leave Salem and the Thirteen Cities to go west in search for the answer to the riddle that is the Woven, the horrifying, witch-made, mutated animals that plague the Thirteen Cities. Now Lily has lost something very dear to her and she’s standing in front of a strange place called Bower City and the answers to all her questions seems to be within reach, but was all she sacrificed worth it?
Bower City is the thing no one in the Thirteen Cities expected to find beyond the Ocean of Grass, beyond the vicious Woven called the Pride, the Pack and the Hive, but here it is. Lily and her coven enters a city run by Warrior Sisters, the bee-like Woven called the Hive who is known to kill everyone who bothers them. But Bower City turns out to be a nice place with kind people, with no crimes or starving families, with no fighting and no wars. But Lily and her coven soon realize that this is just an illusion. While Bower City seems perfect it’s actually too perfect. Everywhere is a Worker, a Woven closer to an actually bee than the Warrior Sisters, and they’re always watching. They’re always listening. They’re always threatening to sting you or carry you away if you get angry, sad or stressed. Violence is not tolerated but neither, it seems, are emotion. Lily and her coven knows that something is not quite right at Bower City but nothing could prepare them for the truth that lies within the city gates. Once they have it, once they finally know of everything they’ve always questioned, they need to decide if Lily’s double, Lillian, really is the worst thing out there or if they have to team up with her to settle the score with the Woven once and for all.
This was definitely an action-packed ending to Angelini’s trilogy. No matter what Lily does, an all-out war will tear down at Bower City and the only real choice she has is to decide what part she wants to play in it. After the loss of the Tristan from her world in the end of book two, Lily is heartbroken and confused when she reaches Bower City. Getting over the loss of her best friend and her first love proves impossible in a place where you’re not allowed to feel anything that isn’t close to happiness and slowly, Bower City is no longer the paradies they all hoped for, but rather a very nice prison.
Lily is reunited with Rowan as well, which gives more dynamic to the story. At first it’s all about finding her footing again and I liked how Angelini didn’t make it all about the brewing war but focused a lot on Lily and how she felt in the situation. She has to get over losing Tristan but she also have to forgive Rowan for what he did to her, or let him go forever. The path back to together is bumpy and awkward but Angelini guides her characters with a firm yet gentle hand. This story has so much depth and again, I thought it was nice that it wasn’t just about the political conflict. Both Lily and the reader needed time to adjust and accept everything that happened in the second book and Angelini allowed for this in the beginning of the third, which was nice, rather than to dive right into the action right away.
The secret of the Woven was a juicy one, well worth waiting two and a half books for. And just like the previous two books, the action was sharp and well-written, full of suspense at time and all-out fighting at others. Lily certainly pushes the boundaries in this one but I loved to see how much she’s grown since the first novel and to follow her character development throughout this one. I really think Angelini has done a great job with her characters, not only to make them feel human and real but in letting the reader see how they change and evolve throughout the books.
Another thing I liked was that, despite this being the last novel where everything would resolve itself, it wasn’t much longer than the previous two. Sometimes it feels like authors write the last part in the trilogy longer, mostly because there’s still so much to say which is often the case, but sometimes the length feels unnecessary and like it’s just being dragged out because the author can’t say goodbye to the story yet. That’s not the case here, which is a plus for me. I really do think that this is a nice and deserving end for this series and I’m more than a little sad that it’s over. I will miss longing for these books but I know I will return to them again in the future and I will certainly keep a lookout for what Angelini has in store next. If you’re uncertain if this parallel-world-witch-thing is for you then I say give it a go, I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the depth of these books!