Available:*
Item Barcode | Collection | Call Number | Status | Item Holds |
---|---|---|---|---|
33607003483024 | Middle Fiction | BLACK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
From NEW YORK TIMES bestselling authors Holly Black and Cassandra Clare comes a riveting new series that defies what you think you know about the world of magic.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.
Author Notes
Holly Black was born in West Long Branch, New Jersey on November 10, 1971. She graduated with a B.A. in English from The College of New Jersey in 1994.
Her first book, Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale was published in 2002 and was included in the American Library Association's Best Books for Young Adults. Her other works include The Spiderwick Chronicles written with Tony DiTerlizzi, Ironside, Poison Eaters and Other Stories, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, The Iron Trial (Magisteruim Book 1) and The Copper Gauntlet (Magisteruim Book 2) written with Cassandra Clare, and The Darkest Part of the Forest. Valiant won the Andre Norton Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature. She also won the Young-Adult Prize in the Indies Choice Book Awards 2015 for The Darkest Part of the Forest.
Black and Clare's Magisterium Series has received both critical and popular acclaim appearing on numerous bestseller lists including The New York Times bestseller list in the Young Adult category.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-8-All his life Callum Hunt has been warned by his father that practicing magic is a guaranteed death sentence, the only certain way to make sure he doesn't reach his 18th birthday. When Call is summoned to attend the entrance exams for The Magisterium, a more-sinister version of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry, he promises his father he will deliberately fail the test to avoid the dangerous lure of magic school. Unfortunately, magic is in Call's blood, and though his permanent limp and sarcastic attitude do not appear to serve him well during testing, he is selected with two other "Iron Years" to be a pupil of the greatest mage of all, Master Rufus. Black and Clare have created a unique world in The Magisterium, adroitly sidestepping reader fatigue with the many post-Harry Potter "magical academy" fiction series. The underground school's labyrinthine tunnels, mysterious caverns, and strange rivers are an alternately wondrous and creepy setting for this hero's quest. The diverse main trio's multidimensional portrayals leave aside easy characterizations in favor of complex motivations which add depth to each character. Best of all, a late-stage reveal of the novel's true hero and villain neatly turn fantasy tropes on their heads.- Elisabeth Gattullo Marrocolla, Darien Library, CT (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Set in a magic-inflected version of the present-day U.S., this first title in the Magisterium series combines the talents of Black (Doll Bones) and Clare (the Mortal Instruments series) in a thrilling coming-of-age story that embraces fantasy tropes while keeping readers guessing. Twelve-year-old Callum Hunt has been raised to distrust magic. Mages killed his mother, and his father has warned him that the Magisterium, a school where young mages are trained, is a deathtrap. Callum's attempts to fail the entrance exam go awry, and he is chosen to apprentice under Master Rufus, along with fellow students Aaron and Tamara. As Callum, Tamara, Aaron, and their classmates embark on their first of five years of schooling, Callum realizes how little he knows of his own heritage. The strange, subterranean Magisterium is vividly rendered, and a string of ominous revelations will leave readers eager for future installments. Fans of both authors will enjoy getting to know this well-rounded cast in the first steps of their adventure. Ages 8-12. Agent: (for Black) Barry Goldblatt, Barry Goldblatt Literary; (for Clare) Russell Galen, Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary Agency. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Excerpts
Excerpts
From The Iron Trial: Book 1 of The Magisterium : His fingers grazed her cold cheek. A cry made him whip around. In this cave full of death and silence, a cry. A child. He turned, searching frantically for the source of the thready wail. It seemed to be coming from closer to the cave entrance. He plunged back the way he had come, stumbling over bodies, some frozen stiff as statues -- until suddenly another familiar face stared up at him from the carnage. Declan. Sarah's brother, wounded in the last battle. He appeared to have been choked to death by a particularly cruel use of air magic; his face was blue, his eyes shot with broken blood vessels. One ofhis arms was outflung, and just underneath it, protected from the icy cave floor by a woven blanket, was Alastair's infant son. As he stared in amazement, the boy opened his mouth and gave another thin,mewling cry. As if in trance, shaking with relief, Alistair bent and lifted his child. The boy looked up at him with wide gray eyes and opened his mouth to scream again. As the blanket fell aside, Alastair could see why. The baby's left leg hung at a terrible angle, like a snapped tree branch. Alastair tried to call up earth magic to heal the boy, but only had enough power left to take away some of the pain. Heart racing, he rewrapped his son tightly in the blanket and wound his way back through the cave to where Sarah lay. Holding the baby as if she could see him, he knelt down beside her body. "Sarah," he whispered, tears thick in his throat. "I'll tell him how you died protecting him. I will raise him to remember how brave you were." Her eyes stared at him, blank and pale. He held the child more closely to his side and reached to take Semiramis from her hand. As he did, he saw that the ice near the blade was strangely marked, as if she had clawed at it while dying. But the marks were too deliberate for that. As he bent closer, he realized that they were words -- words his wife had carved into the cave ice with the last of her dying strength. As he read them, he felt them like three hard blows to the stomach. KILL THE CHILD. Excerpted from The Iron Trial by Holly Black, Cassandra Clare All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.