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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I guess when I saw it was by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare I was hoping it would be up my alley, but it is certainly a middle grade book. I just couldn’t dig into it when I had more YA and Adult fantasy waiting in my TBR pile.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
I'm not even sure how many stars I actually want to give this book, because everything is affected by my wanting to shout loudly to other reviewers: THIS IS NOT JUST A HARRY POTTER RIP-OFF. Now, let me explain why.
First, if you read the entire book, you know that part of the point is to play with tropes. (I won't say why to avoid spoilers, but I think we can agree that's the case.) In order to play with or subvert tropes, you have to use them. Here are some tropes that JK Rowling DID NOT INVENT: wizarding schools, trios, immortality-seeking evil wizards, etc. e.g.:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WizardingSchool
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PowerTrio
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EvilSorcerer
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ImmortalitySeeker
That said, does the existence of Harry Potter make referencing these tropes easier? Of course! Because more people are familiar with them. Are the authors doing this on purpose? Almost certainly. Does that mean that the book is a "copy" of Harry Potter? No. Not anymore than Harry Potter was a copy of any of stories with similar tropes that came before it. (Like, seriously, not every science fiction chosen one story is a rip-off of Star Wars either, guys.)
Also, I think we all know that if one of the authors wasn't Cassandra Clare, who has a history with Harry Potter fan fiction, that these same complaints would not be raised so vehemently. (I don't want to name names, but there are books that have been published since HP that are much closer to it than this one.) But take a moment to consider that one of the reasons that Harry Potter worked so well, and resonated with so many people, is that it contained elements that people love. Cassie (and I assume Holly as well) was a big Harry Potter fan for a reason - she loves that kind of fantasy. So is it really that surprising that she writes it as well?
Now, to be fair, the authors obviously knew that these comparisons would be raised, and that was something they were willing to deal with. Honestly, I don't think the book would have worked if it was pre-Potter, because of the aforementioned issue of familiarity with tropes. Does that mean that it's a rip-off? Not anymore than Divergent is a "rip-off" of Hunger Games because it took advantage of the increase in popularity of dystopia as a genre to sell better. (And if you want to argue that Divergent DID rip off Hunger Games, then you should also think that Hunger Games ripped off The Giver... etc.)
Anyway, that's my rant about that. Feel free to argue with me. :) As for the book itself outside of the comparison issues, like other people, I think that the ending is what makes it, and what will make the rest of the books. It does mean that the lead-up in this novel isn't as strong (and indeed, relies very heavily on existing tropes, necessarily), but it means that the novels following this will probably be stronger. Also, I enjoyed it as much or more than I've enjoyed any middle grade novel recently. I also suspect that it plays very well to the intended audience, since it covers just the right kinds of themes for middle grade.
First, if you read the entire book, you know that part of the point is to play with tropes. (I won't say why to avoid spoilers, but I think we can agree that's the case.) In order to play with or subvert tropes, you have to use them. Here are some tropes that JK Rowling DID NOT INVENT: wizarding schools, trios, immortality-seeking evil wizards, etc. e.g.:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WizardingSchool
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PowerTrio
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EvilSorcerer
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ImmortalitySeeker
That said, does the existence of Harry Potter make referencing these tropes easier? Of course! Because more people are familiar with them. Are the authors doing this on purpose? Almost certainly. Does that mean that the book is a "copy" of Harry Potter? No. Not anymore than Harry Potter was a copy of any of stories with similar tropes that came before it. (Like, seriously, not every science fiction chosen one story is a rip-off of Star Wars either, guys.)
Also, I think we all know that if one of the authors wasn't Cassandra Clare, who has a history with Harry Potter fan fiction, that these same complaints would not be raised so vehemently. (I don't want to name names, but there are books that have been published since HP that are much closer to it than this one.) But take a moment to consider that one of the reasons that Harry Potter worked so well, and resonated with so many people, is that it contained elements that people love. Cassie (and I assume Holly as well) was a big Harry Potter fan for a reason - she loves that kind of fantasy. So is it really that surprising that she writes it as well?
Now, to be fair, the authors obviously knew that these comparisons would be raised, and that was something they were willing to deal with. Honestly, I don't think the book would have worked if it was pre-Potter, because of the aforementioned issue of familiarity with tropes. Does that mean that it's a rip-off? Not anymore than Divergent is a "rip-off" of Hunger Games because it took advantage of the increase in popularity of dystopia as a genre to sell better. (And if you want to argue that Divergent DID rip off Hunger Games, then you should also think that Hunger Games ripped off The Giver... etc.)
Anyway, that's my rant about that. Feel free to argue with me. :) As for the book itself outside of the comparison issues, like other people, I think that the ending is what makes it, and what will make the rest of the books. It does mean that the lead-up in this novel isn't as strong (and indeed, relies very heavily on existing tropes, necessarily), but it means that the novels following this will probably be stronger. Also, I enjoyed it as much or more than I've enjoyed any middle grade novel recently. I also suspect that it plays very well to the intended audience, since it covers just the right kinds of themes for middle grade.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I wanted to read this book because my goal this year was to discover more authors. Holly Black is adored on Booktok but didn’t want to jump in to her most popular series. I decided to start at the beginning and read her other work first, I had just read Tithe by Holly Black and decided to read this one as I love Cassandra Clare. I loved this series.
Callum Hunt doesn’t want anything to do with magic. His father hates it and left the world of magic when Callum was born and his mother died in a magical war. Callum 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. In order for him to not get into the Magisterium, he tried to fail his tests and fails at failing. Now the Magisterium awaits him. It's a place that is both sensational and sinister, with ties to his past and a path to his future. The Iron Trial was just the beginning, the biggest test is yet to come.
Okay, so this is a joint project with two fantasy writers. Yes, we all also see the parallels with Harry Potter. But I really enjoyed this book, I think the storyline is amazing, the world-building is integrated but not too integrated to hurt my head. I think Cassandra Clare does really well with the world building. I loved both of the author’s style of writing that I managed to enjoy this book right away. The plot twist was amazing and keeps your gripped for wanting to read this book. I didn’t have anything negative to say about this book, I just wanted it to be longer and I wanted more. I cannot wait for the next book in this series.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
(UPDATED RATING 17/12/16)
Actual Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
This was a good start to a series, I liked it.
Now I will address the elephant in the room, meaning the "Harry Potter 'Rip-off'" reviews. I absolutely disagree with that comment and I think that goes too far. The only similarities that this series has with HP are:
- The magic school
and
- The friendship trio.
Other than that, this story is completely it's own.
PROs:
- It follows a rebellious kid who does everything to fail the entry test but he ends up getting excepted anyway, that alone made me want to read this.
- It is written with just the right amount of mystery for a middle-grade audience.
- I could not tell when one author wrote one part and the other wrote the next. Holly Black and Cassandra Clare's writing fits so well together.
CONs:
- At times the protagonist was annoying and made huge mistakes without even thinking.
- There are still aspects of the world that haven't yet been explained, but hopefully we will get more of that in the next books.
If you're looking for a middle-grade recommendation, this one is a good one :)
Actual Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
This was a good start to a series, I liked it.
Now I will address the elephant in the room, meaning the "Harry Potter 'Rip-off'" reviews. I absolutely disagree with that comment and I think that goes too far. The only similarities that this series has with HP are:
- The magic school
and
- The friendship trio.
Other than that, this story is completely it's own.
PROs:
- It follows a rebellious kid who does everything to fail the entry test but he ends up getting excepted anyway, that alone made me want to read this.
- It is written with just the right amount of mystery for a middle-grade audience.
- I could not tell when one author wrote one part and the other wrote the next. Holly Black and Cassandra Clare's writing fits so well together.
CONs:
- At times the protagonist was annoying and made huge mistakes without even thinking.
- There are still aspects of the world that haven't yet been explained, but hopefully we will get more of that in the next books.
If you're looking for a middle-grade recommendation, this one is a good one :)
I'm so happy with this book!!! Took me a while to get into but when you do it's awesome, sure it's kinda like Harry Potter but then again it's nothing like Harry Potter