Wednesday 29 July 2015

Book | Magisterium: The Iron Trial


Today I bring you a review of Magisterium: The Iron Trial, written by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare. Both authors are bestsellers. Cassandra Clare is what immediately made the book catch my eye because I am a big fan of her series The Mortal Instruments. I wasn't sure I knew who Holly Black was at first and after googling her I flipped out. She is the author of the Spiderwick Chronicles! I LOVED them as a child and I felt kind of ashamed I didn't realise she was the author. So knowing that I already have their books in my collection, it was an absolute privilege for me to be sent this book and have a chance to read and review it. 

I don't want to spoil the book for anyone so I will vaguely describe it. The book begins with a prologue; one that definitely leaves you confused and asking questions. The book then follows the likeable character Callum Hunt. It starts in typical high school fashion: Boy is naughty in school and drives away substitute teachers. He has noticable features such an injured leg with a bit of a limp. The book is based about Callum going to a magic school called 'Magisterium', where they learn to perform magic with the elements of fire, water, earth and air. The plot is certainly full of twists and turns and there is a meeting with an enemy. 

So what is my opinion? For starters, I really like the illustration of the book cover. The blues really stand out against the white and it is overall quite pretty. There are also illustrations at the beginning of each chapter which is good at helping you to visualise certain characters or aspects of the story. As for the contents, I actually quite liked the book. Some aspects remind me of Harry Potter (magic, two boys and a girl who are a team and stand by one another and an enemy) and the style of writing also reminds me of Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments. By the middle of the book I was completely hooked and couldn't put it down for hours. You know a book is captivating when it makes you stay up until 3 o' clock in the morning! I think my favourite part of the book was the school itself. The authors did fantastic at describing the Magisterium in a detailed manner and I could really picture how luxurious and eye catching it was. I wish the school I went to was as cool as that!

The book itself is 295 ages so it isn't a super long book but isn't necessarily short either. I think it is a nice read and it would one of those books you could easily carry around in your bag to pull out whenever you have a spare moment. 

Overall, I enjoyed the book and look forward to the sequel coming out on the 3rd September called Magisterium: The Copper Gauntlet. I really want to see how Callum gets on after his first year learning magic! I would recommend this book to people who enjoy the Harry Potter series, The Mortal Instruments and the Divergent trilogy.



Have you read this book? Let me know!







*This book was sent to me. However, all opinions are 100% my own and I would NEVER lie about liking a book. 

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