Wizards
Written by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
Fantasy, Middle Grade
Published September 2014
320 Pages
Purchased. Published by Random House Australia
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★★★☆
Think you know magic? Think again. The Magisterium awaits.
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.
It's the day or The Iron Trial, where teens are plucked from their classrooms to be tested for their level of magical ability as to whether or not they will be chosen for the Magisterium, a boarding school for the gifted. But not twelve year old Callum. His father had always instilled the fear that magic must never be used and children taken into the Magisterium will never return. Callum blunders his way through the trial but has caught the eye of the Master Rufas, a prestigious senior tutor who has also guided Callum's late mother and sees the potential in the untrained mage.
"You will discover what your ordinary self would never have had the privilege to see. You will learn great things and you will do even greater things.
Welcome to the Magisterium."
Suddenly it seems as though everything Callum was taught about the Magisterium may have been a lie. Along with teammates Tamara and Aaron, Master Rufas will take the three young mages under his wing to one day face combat against an enemy in which power has engulfed their humanity, while the Magisterium awaits a chosen hero to counteract the Enemy of Death. Finding friends, allies and a place where Callum feels accepted and valued will come at a price, what will unravel will shake Callum to his core. A secret that will threaten to tear the magical world apart.
The Copper Gauntlet Magisterium Book Two
Written by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
Fantasy, Middle Grade
Published September 1st 2015
270 Pages
Thank you to Random House Australia
★★★★
Callum Hunt’s summer break isn’t like other kids’. His closest companion is a Chaos ridden wolf, Havoc. His father suspects him of being secretly evil. And, of course, most kids aren’t heading back to school in the magical world of the Magisterium.It’s not easy for Call... And it gets even harder after he checks out his basement and discovers that his dad might be trying to destroy both him and Havoc.Call escapes to the Magisterium but things only intensify there. The Alkahest, a copper gauntlet capable of separating certain magicians from their magic - has been stolen. And in their search to discover the culprit, Call and his friends awaken the attention of some very dangerous foes and get closer to an even more dangerous truth.
Callum has survived his first year at Magisterium, now a second year mage who's magic cannot be bound. He's home for the summer break and his relationship with his father is now strained at best, still attempting to convince his only child to leave the school behind. With his Chaos wolf by his side, it seems his father has an ulterior motive and before he can confine Callum to a life of experimental testing, Callum flees for the safety of the Magisterium once more.
But when a priceless artifact is stolen, all fingers are pointed firmly at Callum's father who has now fled and on the run. Callum's secret threatens to be exposed, but along with Aaron, Tamara and a very reluctant Jasper, they'll need to hunt down the Alkahest, find Callum's father and stop the sacrificial mistake he's about to make. Before it's too late.
Kelly's thoughts
The Magisterium series had drawn similarities to the Harry Potter series, a boarding school for magicians slash mages who are fighting against the evil of the world, but with enough differences to stand on it's own merits. Both The Iron Trial and The Copper Gauntlet are fantastic middle grade reads that explore a boarding school for teens known as the Magisterium, where children with magical abilities are chosen to hone their skills as mages, training for a war against their own kind. Despite his father's wishes, Callum not only is chosen to enter the Magisterium but will train under the accomplished Master Rufan who also trained his late mother, a woman tragically killed when Callum was still an infant and left the boy irrevocably damaged.
Callum's injury has always ensured his loneliness, mocked throughout school for his distinct limp. But now at the boarding school for mages, Callum finds himself not only with friends but a purpose greater than he's even known. I really liked Callum's character. Even with his permanent impairment, he never saw himself as anything other than able and wanted to be treated as such. Along with his team slash roommates Aaron and Tamara, they begin training under the prestigious master Rufas, a man known for only training the best of the best and despite Callum's best intentions to be expelled from the Magisterium, he starts to realise his father may have been wrong in his dire warnings.
The tentative friendship between Callum, Aaron and Tamara was a strange combination, I think that's where the Harry Potter similarities also lie along with the boarding school location and rivalry between the mages in training. But for me, that's where the similarities end. I loved the character dynamics and rivalry, it added a much needed layer to what was a fairly light storyline. Appropriate for the intended audience and those who enjoy an entertaining middle grade read.
The tentative friendship between Callum, Aaron and Tamara was a strange combination, I think that's where the Harry Potter similarities also lie along with the boarding school location and rivalry between the mages in training. But for me, that's where the similarities end. I loved the character dynamics and rivalry, it added a much needed layer to what was a fairly light storyline. Appropriate for the intended audience and those who enjoy an entertaining middle grade read.
Compared to Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments series, I enjoyed the writing so much more with thanks to Holly Black I suspect and looking forward to reading her previous releases as a result. I enjoyed The Copper Gauntlet slightly more than The Iron Trial and looking forward to the next release in the series. Rather than recommend it to fans of Harry Potter, I feel the Percy Jackson audience may appreciate this series more so. It's entertaining and a quick read for those who enjoy middle grade fantasy and adventure such as myself.the final verdict
Kelly is an Aussie who's love of chocolate milk is only surpassed by her love for Alice in Wonderland. She is currently on a semi hiatus.
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