Trial by fire by Josephine Angelini

Macmillan Children's Books. 2014. ISBN 9781447260820
(Age: 14+) Highly recommended.'I'm a Witch, and Witches burn'. Lily Proctor is an accident waiting to happen. Living in Salem seems to be the worst thing she could do to herself, as she is allergic to virtually everything. It is always interesting to read books with sickly heroines that overcome their allergies/diseases to fight the evil. Lillian is an extremely powerful witch in a Salem not so different to Lily's. Lillian has recently become sickly and is hiding things from her sister Juliet, when she brings Lily into her mysterious Salem. Unfortunately for Lily Proctor, the evil is a different version of herself. Lillian is the cruel leader of this dark medieval version of Salem, where instead of the witches being burnt, scientists are beheaded because Lillian refuses to allow them to destroy the wonderful world they live in.
This book is the perfect beginning to a fantastic trilogy. The protagonist is new to the world and her new discoveries allow for the reader to take the magical journey of learning how to worldjump. Things that Lily finds strange about this dark Salem are the things that make it interesting. The major difference about this alternate universe is that magic exists. Most people, whether they are witches, outlanders, scientists or mechanics understand the concepts of magic and this allows for an extremely fantastical approach on a universe we have never heard of.
I would highly recommend this book for people over the age of 14 as there are many scenes where there is explicit violence and a couple of moments where there are sexual implications. This book was fun to read and makes me wish that I had some of the awesome powers these witches have. 'Worlds collide. Magic reigns. Love Burns.'
Azriel P. (Student)