Living in the stories

Series: Magisterium #1

Publication: September 9, 2014 by Scholastic Press

Goodreads

Everyone wants to pass The Iron Trial and get to Magisterium. It is dark and mystical place where apprentices learns how magic works. They work with elements and fight chaos-ridden creatures. Magisterium is definitely not for weak ones that is why Masters themselves chose their apprentices. Call doesn't want to go there, he tries to fail the trial because his father persuaded him, that Magisterium is place where he's gonna die but he gets there anyway.  

There are fantasy books that makes you wait the whole story just for the climax where something dramatic happens. And then there are books that you cannot put down until you finish them. The Iron Trial is definitely the second type. It's not only action packed, but also quite original.

Callum Hunt is twelve years old boy that went through a lot in the past because of his broken leg. He lives with his father when strange things start to happen and he discover he can practice magic. Callum as a character is unusual because he's just twelve and has all these contradictory feelings inside him. On top of that he's not the typical hero in the shining armour. Of course he helps his friends but he's not the main hero which makes the storyline unpredictable. That was nice change, it freshens up the whole story and I really like it. 

Master Rufus teaches also Tamara and Aaron. These two became friends with Call and I like the diversity between them. Tarama was the smart one, Call was the cocky one and Aaron was the nice one. They were different from each other, they argued but they get under each other skin and soon they help each other. The only thing that bothered me was they act more mature that twelve years old. I imagined them as maybe fifteen years old. 

The main thing I loved about this book is that every chapter is full of action or some kind of mystery. You don't really have time to be bored because there is always something going on in Magisterium. This is mostly caused by Callum who is a very curious boy.

The foundation of the magic are elements. And this is where the originality comes. Every apprentice works with four elements - fire, water, air and earth. Only some of them can also work with chaos. The whole concept of Magisterium, history of mages and everything about it was so precisely elaborated and well written that I couldn´t  put it down. 

But the ending. Oh my. The ending was incredible. I wasn't expecting such a thing. I loved it, because it shocked me and I think it was a clever step. But I hated it because it is a big cliffhanger and I don't want to wait for a sequel. I want it right now. That's how much I liked The Iron Trial. 

To sum it up, it is amazing middle grade/fantasy book that has rich world with strong characters and it truly tells good story. 

*I received a copy of this book from the netgalley in return for an honest review. All opinions and thoughts are my own.*

This is soooo good. I would finish it in one sitting but I don´t want it to end. :/