The Iron Trial by Cassandra Clare and Holly Black
*****SPOILERS*****
I was very surprised by this book because it was nothing like I thought it was going to be. It went above and beyond all of my expectations.
As I mentioned before, the setting of this book was extremely reminiscent of Harry Potter. The magic school with the main character growing up without magic, the books being one year at magic school per book.
While these factors would make non-bookaholics think this was just a rip off, I soon realized that the character dynamics were more similar to Percy Jackson. There's a trouble making main character, a knowledgeable father figure/teacher that explains all the magic stuff, and a girl best friend who seems to know everything. The plot however is not very similar to either of the books I described before.
I was extremely happy that our main character was disabled. Cassandra Clare is very good at representing minority populations in her books. There needs to be more disabled characters depicted as heroes (cough cough or villains) in YA and children's literature.
The friendship between Tamara, Call, and Aaron was very special and I absolutely adored it. I was so proud when they all came together after their misunderstanding with the sand. They reminded me so much of Harry, Ron, and Hermione that I nearly cried! This line totally sold me on their friendship "They all yelled in excitement. Tamara yelled becaue she was happy, Aaron yelled because he liked it when other people were happy, and Call yelled because he was sure they were going to die."
Okay yes, I realize that all our characters are 12, but my shipper heart can't help but think about who Call might end up with. It sounded like Celia was a contender since she has an obvious crush on Call, but it's always possible that Tamara might fall for him. I however, find Aaron/Tamara promising. I'm not the only having these thoughts though....oh tumblr. 
Master Rufus was a complete dick at the beginning (hence the sand) but I felt that he become more like Chiron as the book went along. Speaking of dicks, Jaspar annoyed the crap out of me, but I think he really came around in the end. I felt bad for him pretty much the whole book, because he had the "acting out because really my life is shit" complex. The only time I was truly filled with rage at him was when he made fun of Call's leg and Tamara threw pudding on him.
I originally thought that Warren was going to be the trademark "magical pet" of the series and that upset me because I found him quite annoying. But then Call found Havoc, who I imagine to be so cute! He sounds like he's going to very useful on Callum's magical adventures. I still think Warren is going to come back into play though because it seems a little strange that he disappeared after only a few chapters.
This book had a lot of plot twists. I thought it was really cool that Aaron was a maker even though he wasn't the narrator. I thought it would be interesting, like having Harry Potter told from the point of view of Ron. This idea was completely shattered by the bowling alley scene at the end.
I can't say I was surprised about Drew as he had been acting suspicious for a while, but I had no clue about any of the shit that went down at then end. Holy crap! I didn't even think that Callum might be a chaos-ridden, let alone the Enemy of Death and Tamara even mentioned that! The reveal at the end, while it was totally surprising, felt like something that wouldn't be revealed in the first book. I think it might have been a more powerful moment had it been in the third or fourth book when we were more attached to the characters.
Despite all that, I still have so many questions about the whole soul-switching thing and how that's going to affect Call's decision making and morality compass. I simply cannot wait for The Copper Gauntlet. Callum's antihero complex is so exciting and interesting. Instead of having the weight of saving the world on his shoulders, he has the weight of destroying it. He is destined to be the evil mortal enemy of his best friend. I'm shaking with anticipation of how that will work out.
Side note on the topic of future books: The titles frustrate me to no end! I predicted that each book would be a year at the magisterium, similar to Harry Potter's book pattern. So the first book has the year metal in the title (iron) as does the second one (copper) and the fifth (golden)! However, the third and fourth do not! That makes me sooooo mad!!!!
*****SPOILERS*****
Anyways, I'm super excited for the next book. It's set to come out on September 1st. I've officially read every Cassandra Clare book, and The Iron Trial has inspired me to pick up something of Holly Black's. If you have any suggestions, please comment below. Thanks!
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