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 – 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…
So I was lucky enough to get this book a month early and I must say, I'm even more happy to have it than I was before. There's just something about Cassandra Clare that entrances me, and though her writing might not be the best, I'm hooked all the way through due to the incredibly storylines and characters. I can say the same for Holly Black.
What I liked about this book is the controversial main character; for once, Call was not the perfect-at-everything type of boy. He almost completely failed his test to get into the Magisterium, and you're left wondering why exactly he got picked for the school in the first place. But of course, I've read enough YA to know that something was up.
We're instantly launched into a Harry Potter-style world, but using the types of magic that I find very interesting; power of the elements. I also enjoyed the fact that there wasn't any love, despite many potential love interests being around. Tamara and Aaron, the two other people in Call's… (can we call it a teaching group?) were brilliantly complex and I loved the world that Clare and Black created. Harry Potter fans? Read this and enjoy.
• Buy this book at the Guardian Bookshop.
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