Review | The Iron Trial by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare

* I received this copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review *

The Iron Trial by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare

( The Magisterium #1 )

Fantasy / Magic / Middle Grade

Random House Children’s Publishers UK
11. September 2014

Summary:

Twelve-year-old Callum Hunt has grown up knowing three rules by heart:
-Never trust a magician.
-Never pass a test a magician gives you.
-And never let a magician take you to the Magisterium.

Call is about to break all the rules. And when he does, his life will change in ways he can't possibly imagine.

summary from: goodreads

4 out of 5 stars

Starting off with the world, I am thoroughly intrigued by it. It is a lot darker than you would expect of a Middle Grade book, which surprised me greatly. It doesn't mean I liked it less because of it, quite the opposite actually. It made me more interested in the world, it's history and the story itself. The magic system is interesting as well and I am looking forward to finding out more about the magic and all the possibilities it holds.

Moving onto the characters, a lot of them whom I am very interested in. My favourite character has to be Callum with his sarcastic comments and amazing personality. Tamara and Aaron, the other two main characters, were very likeable as well although not until further in the book, more so towards the end. I also found many of the side characters interesting, Jasper, Drew, Rufus, Celia, Alistair and others. What I loved the most was finding out the stories behind each character and what makes them who they are.

The reason I gave this book four and not five stars is because of the plot and action in this book, or the lack of it. This book is more of a set-up introducing the characters and the world with it's history. I liked that even though we learned about the world of The Magisterium there is a lot of it left undiscovered, which makes me look forward to future books even more.

For all of those who thing that The Iron Trial is a Harry Potter rip-off let me tell you that it isn't. The Iron Trial a magical ride on its own filled with amazing characters, a fascinating world and plot twists I never saw coming.

The only negative thing...I have to wait a year to find out what happens next...Damn.