Non-Spoiler Book Review: 

The Magisterium Series: The Iron Trial 

Principles of Magic 

Fire want to burn.

Water wants to flow.

Air wants to rise.

Earth wants to bind.

Chaos wants to devour.

When I went to BookCon in May, I had the privilege to get an early copy of The Magisterium: The Iron Trial by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare. As they explained during their Epic Storytelling panel (Watch Panel), both authors wanted to change it up in this fantasy book series of children going to school to learn how to control their magic or face the horrible consequences if they do not comply to the Magisterium rules. Sounds frightening for a school which is where we have Callum Hunt.

Callum or Call, is a twelve year old boy who lives an ordinary life with his father Alastair Hunt. Call is very conscious of his left leg which is shorter then the other one because of an injury he sustained as an infant. A lot of his anger comes from others looking down on him or feel pity because of his disability. This sometimes makes Call an outsider among his peers. It's one of the reason why he has a witty personality to hide his sadness at times.

Callum Hunt artwork by Cassandra Jean

A big part of Call's childhood is the warnings his father repeats majority everyday to him. Never trust a magician or allow them to take you to The Magisterium. Because of the past, Alastair wanted Call far away from magic as possible. Unfortunately, Call encounter with bullies made his magic abilities more apparent. Because magic runs in the family, all Mage children must take a test to see if they qualify for Magisterium school.

All Call had to do was fail the test, a plot his father and him agreed upon when the time came. Well...Call did fail the test as according to plan. However, he was still selected to become an apprentice to attend the Magisterium School. Under the tutelage of Master Rufus, Call was selected with two other children named Aaron Stewart and Tamara Rajavi to make a team.

During his time at the Magesterium, Call learns to harness his magic, makes actual friends and learn the horrible past battles about the Mages which included his father and mother.

My Review:
Now that I explained a little about the first book in the Magisterium series, I'm excited to read the next book. Holly and Cassandra knows how to mix up a fantasy story when dealing with complicated characters and there chosen path in life. Some fantasy YA story like to follow the same blue print at times. You get a chosen child hero, lose parents because of horrible past, have no friends, have great power inside them, saves the day and everybody is happy. Maybe 2 out of 7 is true about Callum as the great twist at the end changes the game about his future at the Magisterium school.

Call friendship between Aaron and Tamara will be tested of how long he can keep a dark secret from everybody or suffer the consequences if he tells a soul, especially Aaron continuing in the book series. To not spoil anything major until the book is released, I would recommend you pick this book up when it is released September 9, 2014.

The Magisterium Series: The Iron Trial I give it an 3/5.