Review: The Iron Trial by Holly Black & Cassandra Clare

Title: The Iron Trial

Author: Holly Black & Cassandra Clare

Series: Magisterium #1

Genre: Middle-Grade/Urban Fantasy

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Publication Date: September 9th, 2014

Edition: Kindle Edition, 304 pages

Source: NetGalley

Purchase: Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | BAM

Synopsis:

   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 .

.

   Hmm, where to start. This book sounded interesting, and in a way it was. But the whole book from start to finish really felt like a Harry Potter clone, a very poorly done clone.

    I hoped that I was just jumping to conclusions, but with the heading to magic school, to him being very forced to make friends with one poor male student, and a girl who likes to follow rules and do well on tests. It was really hard not to see it. The more I read the less original it felt. And that really bothers me.

   Magic school, whatever that's fine but do it in a way that doesn't feel like you are copying another story. Heck, there was even a character that was similar to Tonks. There were parts that were mildly original. The idea of chaos magic, neat idea. But the main structure of the story was too similar for me to ignore.

   Bottom line, I was pretty disappointed that, yet again, authors can't write an original middle-grade story. I'm sure the target audience won't care that it's similar to Harry Potter, but I feel that a good way to know your middle-grade book is good, is if adults can read it and enjoy it just as much.