The Iron Trial

Summary: 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 . . .

Thoughts: despite falling into a fairly common section of middle-grade literature with wanna-be's for Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, this book actually stands on its own feet pretty well. An interesting plot and good writing barely make this story stand out, what does put it in the spotlight is the curious cast of characters. The main three, especially, are fun to follow in this book but hold a lot of potential for the rest of the series. All in all, a good book that leaves you curious to see where it goes next.

Content: Magic, mild violence, and a few mildly creepy scenes put this book on the older side of middle-grade books, thus, generally ok for most ages. 

Hannah Coulter

Summary: Hannah, the now-elderly narrator, recounts the love she has for the land and for her community. She remembers each of her two husbands, and all places and community connections threatened by twentieth-century technologies. At risk is the whole culture of family farming, hope redeemed when her wayward and once lost grandson, Virgil, returns to his rural home place to work the farm. 

Thoughts: Hannah Coulter is the bittersweet tale of a life gone by. We see Hannah's childhood and early adult life during war times and how the world recovered afterward from the loss and damage left behind. We see a quiet tale of times changing and how the land and people change with it, moving on and coming full circle at the same time. A moving book that is well written, with the background of life itself more of a focus than the specific people. The cast is still well developed and enjoyable, almost guaranteed to make readers cry.

Content: War, adult relationships, and other hard topics plus writing style make this a good read for adults. 

A Glory of Unicorns

Summary: An award-winning author compiles twelve stories from popular fantasy writers to demonstrate the importance of magic in everyday life and show how unicorns are a prime source of this power.

Thoughts: So rarely do we see any modern stories depicting unicorns without wings or sparkly rainbows. I love this book because of its compilation of vastly different stories, and poems, that all depict accurately interesting unicorns. 

Ok, rant over. Really though, this book is great. There's a little something here for every fantasy fan and we highly recommend it!

Content: Some mild violence and language in some of the stories and magic in just about everything. Still good for most ages!

Alex and the Ironic Gentleman

Summary: Often mistaken for a boy because of her haircut and name, Alex Morningside is an inquisitive girl of ten-and-a-half who attends the prestigious Wigpowder-Steele Academy. Unfortunately, though she loves to learn, Alex just can’t bring herself to enjoy her classes. Her teachers are all old and smelly and don’t seem to know about anything that has happened in the world the past thirty years, and her peers…well they are quite simply ridiculous. Luckily for Alex, the new school year brings an exciting new teacher. Mr. Underwood makes lessons fun and teaches her how to fence. But Mr. Underwood has a mysterious family secret - the swashbuckling and buried treasure kind - and not everyone is glad he has come to Wigpowder-Steele. When the infamous pirates of a ship called the Ironic Gentleman kidnap Mr. Underwood, Alex sets off on a journey to rescue him, along the way encountering a cast of strange and magical characters, including the dashing and sometimes heroic Captain Magnanimous, Coriander the Conjurer, the Extremely Ginormous Octopus, and the wicked Daughters of the Founding Fathers’ Preservation Society.

Thoughts: This was a funny and cute story about a small girl and a crazy adventure. Good writing and interesting characters carry the story along. My one problem with the story is that it starts off fairly realistic with an almost real-world setting, but quickly spirals into fantasy and some of it felt a little disjointed with the rest of the story. But, had I been aware of it beforehand, I may have enjoyed it more. I still recommend giving it a try for a fun, lighthearted, read.

Content: Some mild violence. Otherwise, good for all ages!