Publisher - Corgi
Format - Paperback
Synopsis - 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 . . .
If anybody remembers my review of Jim Butcher's Storm Front, you'll also remember how I was not really interested in reading it but Boyfriend forced me into it and it actually ended up being a pretty incredible read? Well guess what? I never did learn my lesson....!
We bought the Iron Trial a few weeks back because it was in Waterstones' 'Buy 1 get 1 half price' deals and I was buying Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige. I've had mixed reviews for both Black and Clare in the past and so I was going to skip over it and just let Boyfriend read it. He loved it so much that he immediately ordered the second book for next day delivery. After much protesting, I gave him and started it. And read it. I read it with every spare minute I had until it was done.
Finishing this book was like being punched repeatedly in the stomach and realising that everything you've ever read just....wasn't this book. In the best way possible.
Let's just get this out of the way okay?
Yes, there are similarities to HP - in the same way that every single book post-HP that references smart kids going to magic school and facing challenges and bad guys will *always* remind us of HP. It's time to get over it and move on. Besides which, it reminded me of Percy Jackson WAY more and that's totally okay with me.
The characters in The Iron Trial are young and therefore there wasn't any romance which was kind of strange really but I absolutely adored it. The book jumped in straight away with intrigue and character development and I honestly just couldn't get enough. I love how the world outside the Magisterium is aware of magic and there's this whole initiation process. It was pretty cool.
The Iron Trial is one of those books that totally frustrates you but in the way that actually, you kind of love. There are so many secrets and mysteries and quite honestly, nothing really gets resolved either. I'm lead to believe that this is a 5 book series, so it's a good job that I love the excitement of waiting and wondering.
Speaking of the characters again, there are rather a lot of them. Luckily, each are separately recognisable and I get the impression that character development and backstory for minor characters will become more prominant as the series progresses. My personal favourite character is Rufus - purely because I know next to nothing about him despite him featuring in pretty much every chapter. I think big things are in store for him! The biggest and best thing about The Iron Trial?
WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ENDING?!
Every book i've read (or at least in current memory) tells me that the Good Guy is the Good Guy. But no. Oh no! It turns out that the Good Guy can also be the Bad Guy and there's not a chance in hell that you're going to be able to understand your own feelings about it.
I just.... I can't.... What even....
I literally have no freaking idea what is going to happen, or even how. Black and Clare are the first people in a VERY long time to have left me feeling like this after a book. It's been a week now since I finished it and i'm still bringing it up in conversations whenever I can. I'm still finding myself wondering how that can even happen and what that means for the future of multiple characters. I'm trying very hard not to just call in sick, give up on my current reads and read The Copper Gauntlet just so that I can have a little bit more insight as to where this is all heading.
I can honestly end this review and say that my mind is blown away by this book.
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