I received this ARC from Publisher for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Iron Trial by Holly BlackCassandra Clare Series: Magisterium #1
Published by Scholastic Inc. on 2014-07-22
Pages: 295
Source: ARC from Publisher
Amazon-Indiebound
Goodreads
Most kids would do anything to pass the Iron Trial.
Not Callum Hunt. He wants to fail.
All his life, Call has been warned by his father to stay away from magic. If he succeeds at the Iron Trial and is admitted into the Magisterium, he is sure it can only mean bad things for him.
So he tries his best to do his worst - and fails at failing.
Now the Magisterium awaits him. It's a place that's both sensational and sinister, with dark ties to his past and a twisty path to his future.
The Iron Trial is just the beginning, for the biggest test is still to come . . .
From the remarkable imaginations of bestselling authors Holly Black and Cassandra Clare comes a heart-stopping, mind-blowing, pulse-pounding plunge into the magical unknown.
My Thoughts:
A middle grade from Holly Black AND Cassandra Clare?!?! Basically a dream come true! And that synopsis? All things I love in a book! Magic! Magical boarding school! Secrets! Danger! Adventure! So, yeah. I was maybe a bit excited for this one 🙂 Now that I’ve read it, I’m dying for book two!
I’ve certainly read stories about a character finding out they’ve been admitted to a magical boarding school before. However, I’ve never read one where said character DID NOT WANT TO GET IN!!! This is one of the many things I loved about The Iron Trial. Callum Hunt is not your typical “hero.” In fact, he doesn’t particularly want to be a hero at all. He would rather stay home and avoid magic and everything related altogether! What?!?! Oy, I loved that. I really loved seeing the ways in which he took the prejudice against magic that he was raised with and began to question it. Seeing a young character grow and explore the ways in which their opinions differ from those of their parent is one of my favorite things to read.
And then there’s the world building. The magical system and society in The Iron Trial are so cool to read about. I loved learning about the Magisterium and the ways students advance through the magical levels. The different types of magics were really interesting as well. Even things typically mundane (like food) were unique! And then there’s the “darker” side. Which is obviously awesome and horrible! But what I really loved was seeing how Callum’s father’s take on magic was so different from the majority of the magical world. As Callum learns more about magic, the reader also learns. We begin to sort through who he can and cannot trust together. The reader isn’t just told what to think. Gah! I love this!!!!
Basically, The Iron Trial is a smart and engaging middle grade read. I cannot wait for our copies to come in for my school library. I’ll be booktalking it all the time!
Quinn @ Quinn's Book Nook
We got this book in my library the other day. I’m very curious about it. I love both Holly Black and Cassandra Clare, and then to top it off it’s middle grade! I need to read this – but I’m on a bit of a Jill Shalvis kick at the moment. So it might have to wait a little.