Initial Impressions 10/2/15: Wow, what an interesting book! I struggled with it at the beginning because "fanti-sci" is hard for me sometimes. It all depends on how it's put together and some fanti-sci flows seamlessly to where I don't even know it's bending and I've read other books where the fantasy and sci-fi elements end up battling each other instead of working together. Once I got into the groove and the feel, I really ended up enjoying it! 
 I loved how the characters grew throughout the book, specifically Lily (of course) since she has the most growing to do. It was interesting to see her strength grow as well as her friendships, familial relationships, and romantic relationships. 
 I didn't quite fall fully in love with it but I did enjoy and appreciate so much of it! I especially enjoyed getting to know Rowan and his backstory and I'm still dying to know more about Lillian and what in the world is up with her. The pieces are starting to fall into place but I can't wait to learn more! I kind of want to just start the next book right away... 
 Full review originally posted HERE on The Book Addict's Guide 12/2/15: TRIAL BY FIRE was a really interesting book! I admit that I was a bit hesitant about the mash-up of science-fiction and fantasy with the alternate universe and magical powers merging into one story line but the further I got into the world building, the more I really enjoyed it! It was one of my first adventures into "fanta-sci" (the very first one didn't go so well) and although it took a bit of adjusting, I really got into Lily's world in TRIAL BY FIRE! 
 The beginning of the book was a bit slow for me. There were a lot of mixed messages regarding characters in terms of who was good to Lily and who was not so I was on a bit of roller coaster for the first portion of the book trying to get a hold on who I should like and who went on the naughty list... Once all of that sorted itself out and the focus started to turn more to Lily, I rather ended up enjoying things! All of the friendship/relationship drama in her "actual world" (or the world as she knows it) grew a bit tiresome but I also think it was supposed to. Clearly from the synopsis of the book and general concept, the reader knows that Lily is destined for bigger and better things... just in another universe. I was happy and totally hooked to see Lily's place in the alternate world and what exactly she could do there. 
 The world building and magic system were really interesting for me! It took me a while to really wrap my brain around the fact that we were dealing with an alternate world but then throwing magic in there, but I rather enjoyed that the magic was grounded more in science and that the differences in the world were because of scientific reasons. Once I got to that point, I think I was able to see it more as an alternate universe instead of a fantasy world -- even though it was a little bit of both! My brain really just has a hard time merging the two because sci-fi is obviously based on reality, a what-could-have-been, or speculation about the future and a fantasy world is something totally unrelated to our world as we know it. (I supposed there are exceptions to that like urban fantasy, paranormal aspects, and where other mash-ups but since I'm mainly a high fantasy reader, it was a bit harder for me to reconcile). 
 The relationships in the alternate world totally pulled me in too. I loved seeing Lily's relationship with Rowan develop, as well as how complicated things are for Lily in general given that there's already a Lily (known as Lillian) in this alternate world. Things really started to get complicated for everyone with a Lily and a Lillian and I got even more curious how Lily was pulled into New Salem to begin with! I loved the growth of each of the characters throughout the book and I was so happy to see Lily really come into her own. 
 TRIAL BY FIRE was definitely enjoyable and by the end of the book, I was sucked into this new fanta-sci world. I wanted to essentially binge read the series but I didn't end up reading the second book right away so I think I'll save it for when book three comes out! I'll need to keep myself up to speed for this exciting series!