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.