Brooke Reviews

YA Book Blog

Brooke Reviews: The Iron Trial by Holly Black, Cassandra Clare

by Leave a Comment

Brooke Reviews: The Iron Trial by Holly Black, Cassandra ClareThe Iron Trial by Cassandra Clare, Holly Black
Published by Scholastic Inc. on September 9th 2014
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Friendship
Pages: 299
Goodreads
three-half-stars
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 . . . From the remarkable imaginations of bestselling authors Holly Black and Cassandra Clare comes a heart-stopping, mind-blowing, pulse-pounding plunge into the magical unknown.

I don’t typically read much middle grade, but I’m a huge fan of Cassandra Clare and the premise of The Iron Trial totally intrigued me. A book about a boy who purposefully tries to FAIL the entrance exam into magic school? I’m sold. I started reading, and the very first chapter completely hooked me. Not only does it introduce the story world and the major conflict quite spectacularly, but it’s also an ingenious bit of foreshadowing. So major props to Clare and Black.

Just as we’re told in the summary, Callum Hunt fails at failing, and he’s admitted to the Magisterium. His dad didn’t want him to go. Call doesn’t want to go. But as the story progresses, Call comes to appreciate his training and also his new friends. I have such a soft spot for Call. He’s sort of bitter and sarcastic, but he’s not mean. He’s actually quite funny. And he has a crippled leg, which definitely presents unique challenges for Call and sets him apart from other stereotypical MG and YA characters I’ve read.

I love the strong friendship between the three apprentices, Call, Aaron, and Tamara. The plot is interesting and engaging and hints at exciting revelations in the following books of the series. The plot twist at the end of Book 1 (which I sort of guessed!) is absolutely FANTASTIC. Prior to reading the book, I read a review which pointed out similarities to Harry Potter. And so when I read The Iron Trial, these similarities really jumped out at me. That said, it didn’t affect my reading experience or my opinion of the book much at all.

BOOK 2!
Got my hands on an ARC of The Copper Gauntlet, which was very exciting because I was still reading Iron Trial at the time and couldn’t believe my luck. Not sure how much I can say, as I should probably wait until closer to it’s release date, but it has all the features of Book 1 I loved – magic, adventure, tension, intrigue. Call is hiding something big from his friends and so he’s facing questions of trust and loyalty. Another enjoyable read!

 

HAVE YOU READ THIS BOOK? SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS! 

 

Brooke Reviews: All Fall Down by Ally Carter

by Leave a Comment

Brooke Reviews: All Fall Down by Ally CarterEmbassy Row Book 1: All Fall Down by Ally Carter
Published by Scholastic Inc. on January 20th 2015
Genres: Action & Adventure, Young Adult
Pages: 320
Format: Hardcover
Goodreads
three-stars
Grace Blakely is absolutely certain of three things:

1. She is not crazy.
2. Her mother was murdered.
3. Someday she is going to find the killer and make him pay.

As certain as Grace is about these facts, nobody else believes her -- so there's no one she can completely trust. Not her grandfather, a powerful ambassador. Not her new friends, who all live on Embassy Row. Not Alexei, the Russian boy next door, who is keeping his eye on Grace for reasons she neither likes nor understands.

Everybody wants Grace to put on a pretty dress and a pretty smile, blocking out all her unpretty thoughts. But they can't control Grace -- no more than Grace can control what she knows or what she needs to do. Her past has come back to hunt her . . . and if she doesn't stop it, Grace isn't the only one who will get hurt. Because on Embassy Row, the countries of the world stand like dominoes, and one wrong move can make them all fall down.

Where to start with this book?? First of all, I was crazy excited that Ally Carter was writing a new series. I’m a huge fan of the Gallagher Girls, and I love Heist Society. I hoped that, even with different characters and a different premise, Embassy Row might carry on in the same vein.

But All Fall Down is NOT Gallagher Girls or Heist Society, and Grace Blakely is NOT Cammie or Kat. Grace is a more serious, emotionally unstable character. And this first book is very much about Grace’s mental health and her need to come to terms with her mother’s death. For this reason, I couldn’t entirely connect with her character. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t like her. As a reader, I’m sympathetic to Grace and rooting for her from start to finish. Nobody believes her – she’s the girl who cried ‘wolf’ – and I’m anxious for her to prove herself.

I didn’t feel particularly grounded in the story-world, either, but it’s something I’m willing to forgive because I appreciated that Grace’s character received more development and attention. I love the supporting characters, Grace’s friends Noah, Rosie, and Megan. And I liked the storybook-villain-feel the “Scarred Man” gave to the book. There’s political intrigue and mystery and hints of future romance.

I thought the ending was great, and there’s definite promise for an even better sequel.

 

Have you read this novel? Share your thoughts! *Also, I’m using a new plugin for my book reviews called the Ultimate Book Blogger Plugin, which I’m still learning to use but think is quite awesome. What do you think?