The Iron Trial / The Copper Gauntlet / The Bronze Key / The Silver Mask

Magisterium #1-4

by Holly Black, Cassandra Clare

From the imaginations of bestselling authors Holly Black and Cassandra Clare comes a heart-stopping plunge into the magical unknown. Think you know magic? Think again. The Magisterium awaits . . .

Genres: Fantasy

Paperback

About the author

Holly Black is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of over thirty fantasy novels for kids and teens. She has been a finalist for an Eisner Award and the Lodestar Award, and the recipient of the Mythopoeic Award, a Nebula, and a Newbery Honor. Her books have been translated into 32 languages worldwide and adapted for film. She currently lives in New England with her husband and son in a house with a secret library.

Reviews

[Robin Geggatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this series! I enjoyed all five books. The characters are dynamic and the action is from the beginning of book one to the end of book five. The only disappointing part is that there are no more books about these characters. This would be a high-interest book about fantasy for kids and adults alike.

[Prabhjot Kaur · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series was a mixed bag. I liked some of the books and others a little less but if you like magic, magic school and middle-grade characters then it is a good series. I did like the main character that may or may not turn out to be our biggest baddest villain. Overall not a bad series.

3 stars

[June · Rating 5 out of 5]

Keeps you guessing throughout the whole series while beig easy to follow

[Megan]

Middle ages novel similar to Harry Potter in scope, but still its own story. A good entertaining family series.

[Lynne Foster-Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

brilliant ! Second time of reading as have now bought the final book and am about to start it.

[Diego Arabit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great page Turner. I couldn't put it down. This does remind of me of Harry Potter, but it is still an amazing read that I will read again.

[Nicole Heuvel · Rating 2 out of 5]

If it was advertised as some form of Harry Potter fan fic then I would have given more stars.
There is a problem with the pace, both in the books and in the stories time line. The language is average, the characters average and totally unoriginal and there is some serious gaps of information through out.

[Amanda Perri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good read. And different.

[Eliza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked it. Not as much like Harry Potter as it seemed at the start. Some good twists!

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed the series and had fun action with lots of magic and a great friendship. The story seemed a bit repetitive though

[Десислава Сивилова · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a fun, fast-moving series, in my favorite magic-school setting. But both characters and relationships were pretty derivative (especially in Book 1), and the final resolution came too fast and easy (not that I'm a fan of epic battles, but here, there was no battle to speak of). In fact, I believe that was the problem of the individual books as well – they were too short, finished too fast, before the characters could really struggle to overcome any of the obstacles. In other words, the had it too easy (okay, not all of the time, a certain death excluded, but that's my overall impression).

Still, I liked the main character and his struggle against becoming a villain, I liked the funny moments -- and I would have liked the whole thing even more if those kids have shown at least some signs of growing up in the five years the series spanned. Unfortunately, I didn't see any such growth; at the end, they still sounded – and acted – pretty much in the same (mostly immature) way they did in the beginning, i.e. like middle-graders instead of teens.

Well, I guess actual middle-graders would enjoy the ride, especially if they still haven't read Harry Potter.