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A review by eesh25
The Golden Tower by Holly Black
4.0
The Golden Tower is the last book in the Magisterium series and it's a fairly good conclusion.
This series has had its ups and down. It started off with a band; I loved The Iron Trial. The second book was almost as good as the first. The things I loved most were the plot twists and the setting. The Magisterium, despite being underground, is so vivid and colourful in my mind. It's the kind of place that I would love to visit. And the authors always delivered unexpected twists; especially the one in the first book, which kinda blew my mind.
But the third book, The Bronze Key, wasn't the best. I was hoping, since the fourth book was an improvement, that the series would have an epic end. That didn't really happen.
The biggest problem was the villain. Alex is... cartoonish. His motivations are weak and there's no menace to him. Yes, he's very powerful and the steps taken to defeat him were interesting, but the character didn't have much to it. The whole series, to me, lacks a proper villain. Part of me thinks that the authors changed direction mid-series, since this book was originally supposed to be titled "The Enemy of Death". Whatever the case, the lack of proper direction later in the series was what made it not-epic.
There were a lot of things I liked about the book though. Mainly, I love that Aaron is back, and is in Call's head, of all things. It provided some great humour and I liked seeing Call and Aaron's friendship. Also, it was nice to have someone criticize how pessimistic Call is. Like in this scene,
Also, I still do quite like the characters. Jasper, for one, is endlessly intriguing to me. He can be a completely self-absorbed jerk but he's also always on Call's side. Provided that he gets to constantly whine about being on Call's side. It's hard to figure him out but he keeps things entertaining. Just like Call's point-of-view does.
In the end, if I had to describe how the series was for me, I'd have to go with somewhere between 'okay' and 'good'. The books were short and entertaining and even the last three gave us some surprises, but they didn't have enough depth to secure a place where I can say it's a fandom I'd be a part of. I liked them and I would recommend reading them, but maybe not for adults. I feel like, if I were a middle-grader, I would have appreciated them books a lot more. And that's who I'd recommend them for.
This series has had its ups and down. It started off with a band; I loved The Iron Trial. The second book was almost as good as the first. The things I loved most were the plot twists and the setting. The Magisterium, despite being underground, is so vivid and colourful in my mind. It's the kind of place that I would love to visit. And the authors always delivered unexpected twists; especially the one in the first book, which kinda blew my mind.
But the third book, The Bronze Key, wasn't the best. I was hoping, since the fourth book was an improvement, that the series would have an epic end. That didn't really happen.
The biggest problem was the villain. Alex is... cartoonish. His motivations are weak and there's no menace to him. Yes, he's very powerful and the steps taken to defeat him were interesting, but the character didn't have much to it. The whole series, to me, lacks a proper villain. Part of me thinks that the authors changed direction mid-series, since this book was originally supposed to be titled "The Enemy of Death". Whatever the case, the lack of proper direction later in the series was what made it not-epic.
There were a lot of things I liked about the book though. Mainly, I love that Aaron is back, and is in Call's head, of all things. It provided some great humour and I liked seeing Call and Aaron's friendship. Also, it was nice to have someone criticize how pessimistic Call is. Like in this scene,
Everything his dad had been afraid might happen had come to pass, except for the dying-in-the-tunnels part.
It wasn’t too late for that either.
Do you just think about the worst stuff possible? Aaron asked. Like this Evil Overlord point system. We really need to talk about that.
Also, I still do quite like the characters. Jasper, for one, is endlessly intriguing to me. He can be a completely self-absorbed jerk but he's also always on Call's side. Provided that he gets to constantly whine about being on Call's side. It's hard to figure him out but he keeps things entertaining. Just like Call's point-of-view does.
In the end, if I had to describe how the series was for me, I'd have to go with somewhere between 'okay' and 'good'. The books were short and entertaining and even the last three gave us some surprises, but they didn't have enough depth to secure a place where I can say it's a fandom I'd be a part of. I liked them and I would recommend reading them, but maybe not for adults. I feel like, if I were a middle-grader, I would have appreciated them books a lot more. And that's who I'd recommend them for.