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A review by amiascah
The Silver Mask by Holly Black, Cassandra Clare
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Ive got to say this was probably my least liked of the series so far, and as my 11 year old said when we finished it, 'I wish there was more school, why can't they just have one normal year'
'The Silver Mask' is the fourth book in the Magisterium series but Holly Black and Cassandra Clare. It follows Callum Hunt, teenage boy with a limp and the soul of the Enemy of Death trapped inside him. This book starts off months after Aaron's death with Call locked up in the panopticon, the mages jail. Through the story we see most of the regular cast of characters we've grown used to over the years, but most notably missing is Alistair Hunt, Call's father. None of this instalment takes place at the magisterium, and much to my son's disappointment Call doesn't attend a single magic class.
To be honest it kinda reminded my of Harry Potter in ways. I remember kids laughing about how no matter what went down, preteens or as they got older teenagers managed to solve the crisis and wrap everything up in time for the school year to end and the world just kept on keeping on. But then you hit the last books and suddenly everything felt off kilter cause the set rules and expectations that everyone was used to fell away and it was exciting for some unsettling for others, maybe even weird. It didn't feel like the same series at times. 'The Silver Mask' is like that, I think my kid went into it expecting something anything to pop up so that Aaron was alive, he's used to characters being killed off but the best friend isn't usually one of them. And then for them to proceed to their 4th year at school, new uniforms, new bead. new problems. Instead we got a rollercoaster ride, that I think could have been better.
The kid was happy enough but there was just something missing. I'm not feeling the connection between Tamara and Call, the chemistry is not there. I liked Jasper's character more and enjoyed the development of that relationship between him and Call. The journal and Call figuring out the biggest riddle was interesting until he figured it out and then it was kinda anticlimactic. Overall I think somethings felt too forced, and then others was just slow and not as interesting as the other books.
'The Silver Mask' is the fourth book in the Magisterium series but Holly Black and Cassandra Clare. It follows Callum Hunt, teenage boy with a limp and the soul of the Enemy of Death trapped inside him. This book starts off months after Aaron's death with Call locked up in the panopticon, the mages jail. Through the story we see most of the regular cast of characters we've grown used to over the years, but most notably missing is Alistair Hunt, Call's father. None of this instalment takes place at the magisterium, and much to my son's disappointment Call doesn't attend a single magic class.
To be honest it kinda reminded my of Harry Potter in ways. I remember kids laughing about how no matter what went down, preteens or as they got older teenagers managed to solve the crisis and wrap everything up in time for the school year to end and the world just kept on keeping on. But then you hit the last books and suddenly everything felt off kilter cause the set rules and expectations that everyone was used to fell away and it was exciting for some unsettling for others, maybe even weird. It didn't feel like the same series at times. 'The Silver Mask' is like that, I think my kid went into it expecting something anything to pop up so that Aaron was alive, he's used to characters being killed off but the best friend isn't usually one of them. And then for them to proceed to their 4th year at school, new uniforms, new bead. new problems. Instead we got a rollercoaster ride, that I think could have been better.
The kid was happy enough but there was just something missing. I'm not feeling the connection between Tamara and Call, the chemistry is not there. I liked Jasper's character more and enjoyed the development of that relationship between him and Call. The journal and Call figuring out the biggest riddle was interesting until he figured it out and then it was kinda anticlimactic. Overall I think somethings felt too forced, and then others was just slow and not as interesting as the other books.