Book Review: The Iron Trial by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare

Title: The Iron Trial (Magisterium #1)
Author: Holly Black & Cassandra Clare
Publisher: Doubleday Children's Books
Publishing Date: September 11th 2014
Length: 320 pages
Keywords: MG, friendship, magic school, elements
Source: Publisher

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 . . .

Summary by Goodreads

Callum, our protagonist, is such a kind and lovely boy. He is also a lonely boy. That is, until his life changes radically when he is accepted into the Magisterium, the one place on earth he's always wanted to avoid at all costs. 

   He has a disability and has been an outsider all his life. So even if he didn't want to attend the new school, this opportunity means a new start for him. It's his chance to make new friends and prove the world that he can be good at something, maybe even the best. 

   The character of Callum is a character who represents all the kids who are struggeling with a disability themselves. He shows that many things are possible when you believe in yourself. Call will encourage many readers to be as brave as he is.

Together with his new friends Aaron and Tamara, Call introduces readers to a new generation of magic apprentices at the Magisterium. THE IRON TRIAL kind of reminded me of the Harry Potter world. Yet Cassandra Clare and Holly Black's book has so many bewitching peculiarities that are solely Magisterium-made that you can't but think of it as its own magical world. I'm sure many readers will enjoy this new and different brand of magic. 

The three kids are only getting to know the Magisterium and its rules. As part of their apprenticeship Callum and his friends are presented with little tasks and small missions to develop their magic skills.  They are mostly harmless missions, so the story comes along less adventurous than expected. It is a very innocent kind of magic the kids are practicing. And they are learning to control the elements with the help of their mentors.
   Despite the big author bonus and the friendship story that works great I am not fully content with the rather slow pace of the story. The introductory part was longer than necessary and it was a while until I felt at home in the Magisterium.

This Middle Grade read is suitable for younger readers. The friendship part of the story is very important. Cassandra and Holly go into detail how such a strong bond of friendship between Callum, Tamara and Aaron develops over time and how trials are mastered together. I really like this wizard trio!

3,5/5 ***/* THE IRON TRIAL - Readers all over the world will fall in love with Callum's story of bravery, magic and friendship!  
 
Two beloved authors of mine teamed up to write a new magic school series, and now that I know there will be five books in this series I am an even happier reader. Clare and Black's writing is rich in detail and very strong in creating lovely atmospheric background settings to every chapter. I would recommend THE IRON TRIAL to younger readers but older fans of magic schools will definitely get their money's worth, too.

"As he bent closer, he realized they were words - words his wife had carved into the cave ice with the last of her dying strength.

As he read them, he felt them like three hard blows to the stomach. 

KILL THE CHILD" ― p.4-5

THE IRON TRIAL you might enjoy HEX HALL by Rachel Hawkins, THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL by Soman Chainani and THE LIGHTNING THIEF by Rick Riordan. These are YA and MG reads with a good portion of magic.

* Check out the German cover for THE IRON TRIAL. 

* THE COPPER GAUNTLET, the second book in this series comes out 2015.

* Click here to watch the THE IRON TRIAL book trailer.

* Here's an excerpt of THE IRON TRIAL for you to read.

* For more information about the authors and their books visit www.blackholly.com and www.cassandraclare.com.

* Thanks to Random House UK for sending me a proof copy of THE IRON TRIAL for review!

Book Review: Clockwork Princess (The Infernal Devices #3) by Cassandra Clare

 

Title: Clockwork Princess (The Infernal Devices #3)

Author: Cassandra Clare
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Publishing Date: March 19th 2013
Length: 568 pages
Keywords: YA, fiction, fantasy, romance, Shadowhunters, paranormalcy, 19th century London
Source: Bought 

Danger and betrayal, secrets and enchantment in the breathtaking conclusion to the Infernal Devices trilogy.

Tessa Gray should be happy - aren't all brides happy?
Yet as she prepares for her wedding, a net of shadows begins to tighten around the Shadowhunters of the London Institute.
A new demon appears, one linked by blood and secrecy to Mortmain, the man who plans to use his army of pitiless automatons, the Infernal Devices, to destroy the Shadowhunters. Mortmain needs only one last item to complete his plan. He needs Tessa. And Jem and Will, the boys who lay equal claim to Tessa's heart, will do anything to save her.

Summary by Goodreads  

March 19th was an epic date for every Shadowhunter fan. With the release of CLOCKWORK PRINCESS we got a first class ticket back to one of our most beloved set of 19th century Shadowhunter darlings. At the end of CLOCKWORK PRINCE many things were left unsolved. What is Tessa's heritage? What's it about her mysterious Clockwork Angel and who will get the girl in the end?

The main focus of THE INFERNAL DEVICES is on the clockwork creatures that have been invading the Shadowhunters' peace for quite some time now. A werewolf here, a faerie there, but their presence is not as remarkable as in Cassandra's THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS series. A great part of the story is about the relationships of the Shadowhunters and their friends and the power struggles of the Clave. Its relationships are as nifty and delicate as in a Jane Austen novel, its battle scenes and imaginative storyline uniquely Cassandra Clare.

Will and Jem are truly a gift. This book is Cassandra Clare's best so far, also her hardest and most sincere. Big parts of it are about facing death and what it means to lose the people you truly love so much, you simple can not bear to be without them.

Jem and Will are friends and the best Team! In CLOCKWORK PRINCESS Cassandra Clare explores the possibilities of two great loves in one life and the endless boundaries of a true friendship. Friends, almost like brothers, don't necessarily need to become enemies because they are in love with the same girl. And said girl doesn't always have to be the pressured one. Tessa is very strong and headstrong and luckily has the capacities to decide on her own.

Unsurprisingly, CLOCKWORK PRINCESS continued the love triangle between Tessa, Jem and Will and acted on its threats to cause heartbreak for everyone involved, regardless of whether you are rooting for one or the other boy.

There's much time to untangle personal relationships and issues of all kinds. Each couple is different in its own wonderful way and it was a pleasure to get to know them better individually and as a pair.  Gabriel, Gideon, Cecily, Will, Jem, Tessa, Charlotte, Henry, Sophie, Magnus.

Cassandra Clare found fluent passages from one chapter, one story, to the next and everything's very consistent.

 

I was so thankful for the last hundred pages of this book. Cassandra Clare didn't end the fight and with it the story. She gave us and her characters time to say goodbye. Mellow and intimate. Words I needed to read, secrets I wanted to know. Overall a well-rounded trilogy. The ending had a very Downton Abbey Christmas special feel about it and it made me feel so increibly good about the characters and the story and everything at that moment.

Some things, I knew, were inevitable. Yet reading about them, broke my heart, every single word equaling a teary sob. I hadn't expected that to happen and it got even worse towards the epilogue. The epilogue. You might have heard about it by now. The epilogue is everything all at once. How can you have a happy ending and at the same time you are only partly happy about it? 

And I just couldn't resist to compose a little song for my favourite Shadowhunter:

Shadowhunters break my heart,

with their sweetness, kindred souls,

off to bake a duckling tarte,

for my sweet sweet Will. 

1) of parabatais that throw you off your feet with their sweetness
2) of 19th century bookworm references
3) of all its adorable couples
4) of the funniest songs
5) of its tearful epilogue

5/5 ***** CLOCKWORK PRINCESS - YA dreams come to fulfilment. Brilliant and all-consuming!

I can wholeheartedly say, this is one of my favourite series, even among the favourites! Reading CLOCKWORK PRINCESS was just marvelous! Cassandra Clare has found a writing voice that draws you into her stories like no other. CLOCKWORK PRINESS is her best book so far, making the THE INFERNAL DEVICES series so incredibly hard not to adore.

* Have you read Cassandra Clare's THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS series yet?

* Click here for an excerpt of CLOCKWORK PRINCESS!

* Watch the book trailer.

* Find the CLOCKWORK PRINCESS family tree here. 

* For further information about Cassie and her books visit www.cassandraclare.com