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hurrikanekathrina's review against another edition
2.0
Actual rating 2.5 stars
I'm conflicted about this book. It read easily enough and I couldn't help but see potential in the story, but the blaring parallels to Harry Potter were too much to ignore. Now, I am by no means a person that jumps on any similarity in the same genre, shouting "rip-off!" at every book. I never understood the comparisons between the Shadowhunter books and HP. Or Divergent and Hunger Games. Sure, there were similar elements and surely the same target group was adressed, but apart from having the typical elemtents of their genre, all those books were pretty much autonomous, independent book series for me, stories that florished from an individual idea. Inspired by each other, sure. But they were still their own story.
The Iron Trial , however, is the first book where I think the term "rip-off" might be adequate. It's not "inspired" by Harry Potter. It's not a similar genre. It is the same . Seriously, at parts in the book, I was sure Clare and Black had simply copied pages from the Harry Potter books. I could literally give you a list of at least 20 major story elements that are straight from HP, but I'm not gonna do that, as it would make this review endlessly long. I'm simply gonna describe the rough outline and that should be enough to underline my point:
The story is about a 12 year old boy, who alone survived the attack of a dark enemie when he was a baby and was left behind with not a scar, but a crippled leg. This boy - black, unruly hair, pale, slight and thin - grows up with a relative that knows of magic but hates it and tries his best to deny its existence and tell the boy that magic is abnormal and horrible.
Still, once he's 12, Harry, err, I mean Callum, is chosen to go to a school that teaches young wizards how to use their magic. Already on the way there (in not trains, but buses) he meets two friends, one boy who is nice and immediately becomes his friend, and one girl, who excells at everything magic, but is kind of snobby and bitchy (later though, they will become best friends).
Once they arrive at Hogwarts the Magisterium, they are divided into houses, or groups?, and get their own rooms and common room, which is round, has a fireplace and red, plush chairs around said fireplace.
Apart from the other characters, which are pretty much just HP characters with other names (Master Rufus = Dumbledore, Jasper = Malfoy) the main story resolves around this dark enemy that hasn't been seen ever since Call survived his attack, but that is still rumored to be alive and waiting in the shadows. Literally, his name is the Enemy of Death (Voldemort is French and means Flight of Death btw). I mean, seriously?? They changed f#cking ONE word and that's it.
Oh, and of course there's also a forest that they are not allowed to go into.
Apart from pretty much every little thing revolving around the plot and characters, the writing itself was a huge HP ripoff as well. The way that JK wrote, putting much effort into describing the details of the magic surroundings, describing the day-to day life in the magic school, and having recurring minor characters that start to grow on the readers - The Iron Trial copied it One by One.
Now, one could argue that those were all great writing devices that JK used to build her world, and that it's not wrong to use them yourselfs. I agree, but let me explain. Think of art. As an aspiring artist, you often have artists that you admire and whose style is kind of what you are going for. There is a difference between studying that style and trying to develop your own style in a similar fashion, being inspired by those artists, and simply putting your paper over theirs and tracing the lines. The Iron Trial did the latter.
And it did it worse than HP. The convenient loads of info dumping all through the book, whenever something needed to be explained? Horrible.
Now, I've heard many times that all these similarities were intentional and that CC and Holly Black had constructed the story to seem like something that the readers would know only to be shocked by the UNEXPECTED plot twist in the end. Let me tell you, it was NOT unexpected. The first time a character mentioned that chaos-ridden sometimes didn't even know that they were chaos-ridden themselves, I knew that Call would either be chaos-ridden or otherwise possessed by the Enemy of Death.
Despite my rant, I have to say that the book was quite easy to read and the plot and world isn't uninteresting, which makes me really frustrated. I wanted to like this book so bad. If only it was more an autonmous story and less a rip-off. It definitely had so much potential, but as it is, I just cannot ignore the blaring HP parallels and the shameless attempt to copy JKR series (and earn the same sucess).
I'm conflicted about this book. It read easily enough and I couldn't help but see potential in the story, but the blaring parallels to Harry Potter were too much to ignore. Now, I am by no means a person that jumps on any similarity in the same genre, shouting "rip-off!" at every book. I never understood the comparisons between the Shadowhunter books and HP. Or Divergent and Hunger Games. Sure, there were similar elements and surely the same target group was adressed, but apart from having the typical elemtents of their genre, all those books were pretty much autonomous, independent book series for me, stories that florished from an individual idea. Inspired by each other, sure. But they were still their own story.
The Iron Trial , however, is the first book where I think the term "rip-off" might be adequate. It's not "inspired" by Harry Potter. It's not a similar genre. It is the same . Seriously, at parts in the book, I was sure Clare and Black had simply copied pages from the Harry Potter books. I could literally give you a list of at least 20 major story elements that are straight from HP, but I'm not gonna do that, as it would make this review endlessly long. I'm simply gonna describe the rough outline and that should be enough to underline my point:
The story is about a 12 year old boy, who alone survived the attack of a dark enemie when he was a baby and was left behind with not a scar, but a crippled leg. This boy - black, unruly hair, pale, slight and thin - grows up with a relative that knows of magic but hates it and tries his best to deny its existence and tell the boy that magic is abnormal and horrible.
Still, once he's 12, Harry, err, I mean Callum, is chosen to go to a school that teaches young wizards how to use their magic. Already on the way there (in not trains, but buses) he meets two friends, one boy who is nice and immediately becomes his friend, and one girl, who excells at everything magic, but is kind of snobby and bitchy (later though, they will become best friends).
Once they arrive at
Apart from the other characters, which are pretty much just HP characters with other names (Master Rufus = Dumbledore, Jasper = Malfoy) the main story resolves around this dark enemy that hasn't been seen ever since Call survived his attack, but that is still rumored to be alive and waiting in the shadows. Literally, his name is the Enemy of Death (Voldemort is French and means Flight of Death btw). I mean, seriously?? They changed f#cking ONE word and that's it.
Oh, and of course there's also a forest that they are not allowed to go into.
Apart from pretty much every little thing revolving around the plot and characters, the writing itself was a huge HP ripoff as well. The way that JK wrote, putting much effort into describing the details of the magic surroundings, describing the day-to day life in the magic school, and having recurring minor characters that start to grow on the readers - The Iron Trial copied it One by One.
Now, one could argue that those were all great writing devices that JK used to build her world, and that it's not wrong to use them yourselfs. I agree, but let me explain. Think of art. As an aspiring artist, you often have artists that you admire and whose style is kind of what you are going for. There is a difference between studying that style and trying to develop your own style in a similar fashion, being inspired by those artists, and simply putting your paper over theirs and tracing the lines. The Iron Trial did the latter.
And it did it worse than HP. The convenient loads of info dumping all through the book, whenever something needed to be explained? Horrible.
Now, I've heard many times that all these similarities were intentional and that CC and Holly Black had constructed the story to seem like something that the readers would know only to be shocked by the UNEXPECTED plot twist in the end. Let me tell you, it was NOT unexpected. The first time a character mentioned that chaos-ridden sometimes didn't even know that they were chaos-ridden themselves, I knew that Call would either be chaos-ridden or otherwise possessed by the Enemy of Death.
Despite my rant, I have to say that the book was quite easy to read and the plot and world isn't uninteresting, which makes me really frustrated. I wanted to like this book so bad. If only it was more an autonmous story and less a rip-off. It definitely had so much potential, but as it is, I just cannot ignore the blaring HP parallels and the shameless attempt to copy JKR series (and earn the same sucess).
gilliansuhre's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
vivizinha's review against another edition
1.0
First of all this book wasn't what I expected. In my opinion the history was not that well built and I didn't get closer to any of the characters.
But I think the big deal that made me really don't enjoy this book at all was the similarities with the Harry Potter series. I may say that if you read the book and is a great fan of Harry Potter, you're going to realize these
resemblances as well.
For me this reading was really annoying and I wanted to get out of that world so quick, made me really bothered.
But I think the big deal that made me really don't enjoy this book at all was the similarities with the Harry Potter series. I may say that if you read the book and is a great fan of Harry Potter, you're going to realize these
resemblances as well.
For me this reading was really annoying and I wanted to get out of that world so quick, made me really bothered.
belle2022's review against another edition
3.0
It was one of those books where it took me a while to really get into, but once I was 100 pages in it for seriously good. Need to read Copper Gauntlet ASAP
eyeleash's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Ableism
mar_gier's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
aerialcataloger's review against another edition
DNF-ed audiobook at 12% because "chosen one at magic school with significant childhood trauma from the last magic war is bullied by magic professor who seems to have it out for him for Reasons" as a trope has not aged well for me.
_erin_kate_'s review against another edition
1.0
Honestly, this is just a rip off of Harry Potter and every other young-adult novel ever :(
is_it_chris's review against another edition
5.0
WHERE IS THE FREAKING SECOND BOOK???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????