(Early Review) Magisterium - The Iron Trial von Cassandra Clare & Holly Black

Title: Magisterium - The Iron Trial Author: Cassandra Clare & Holly Black Pages: 295 Published: September 9, 2014 Publisher: Doubleday Children's Books Review Copy: Yes, ARC Why did I want this book? I love the Black City trilogy. Out of question that I had to read the last one too!

Synopsis:
Think you know magic?
Think again.
The Magisterium awaits . . .
Most people would do anything to get into the Magisterium and pass the Iron Trial. Not Callum Hunt. Call has been told his whole life that he should never trust a magician. And so he tries his best to do his worst – but fails at failing.
Now he must enter the Magisterium. It's a place that's both sensational and sinister. And Call realizes it has dark ties to his past and a twisty path to his future.
The Iron Trial is just the beginning. Call’s biggest test is still to come . . .

Cover:
The Cover is beautiful, but (yeah, I know, mean word), it reminds me of "Harry Potter" or "Percy Jackson".

Title:
I like the title and I think it fits. The subtitles will change in every book and school year.

Writing style:
The writing style was good and fluent. It is easy to get into the story, even though the book is written in 3. person. Usually, I'm cautious when a story is told by two different authors. Do they fit together? Yes, they definitely do! Can you tell who has written which chapters? After reading Magisterium, I can say: No, I have no clue. The story of the book runs like a red thread through every chapter.

Characters:
I know, a lot of people on Goodreads accuse the book to be a second Happy Potter series (most of these people haven't even read it ...). Okay, I understand why they are suspicious: Cassandra Clare wrote FanFiction before she published The Mortal Instruments. Guess what? Yes! Harry Potter!
First: Call, the protagonist, is nothing like Harry. He isn't an orphan and he doesn't live under the staircase. And no, he doesn't get bullied either. However, Call isn't the most popular kid at school. But that is the case in almost every Young Adult book. His mom got killed when he was a baby and his dad wants to keep him away from the Magisterium, because he's afraid that Call might die like his wife.
He doesn't want Call to go to this school and makes him promise to fail the trials. But Call doesn't believe in passing anyway. His leg is crippled so he can't do any sports. And he can't control his magic either. So it is all the more surprising that the best magician at school wants to teach him. After a while he becomes friends with his roommates Tamara and Aaron. Unfortunately, Tamara really seems to have a lot of personal traits of Hermine (Harry Potter). Sadly, even I noticed this and I haven't read the Harry Potter books during the last 10 years. But I really like Aaron, Call's other friend. He developed his own personality and even plays an important role in this book (One I expected Call to have).

Noteworthy:
I own an ARC and Random House UK allowed me to post an early review from the middle of June.

Stuck in my Head:

»Call began to dread the end of the year, when his father would want him to come home for good. He had real friends for the first time in his life, friends who didn't think he was too weird or messed up because of his leg. And he had magic. He didn't want to give any of it up, even through he'd vowed he would.« (p. 157)

What I didn't like:
Cassandra Clare didn't just find fans during her time as a FanFiction author. A lot of people blamed her for plagiarism. She copied ideas and even whole sentences during this time.
Personally, I think her writing style is very good, it is a pity that she goes back to the roots of her writing carrier. She seems to like the atmosphere of Harry Potter and feels safe writing this kind of stories. But all the negative comments show that it might be time for her to follow a new direction. Cassandra Clare definitely has the talent to write great books. She just needs to find her own way.

Quick and dirty:
Awesome writing style, beautiful cover and a great story with twists I didn't see coming. It is NOT a new Harry Potter story! But the basic idea and flair definitely influenced this book. Some people will like that, some won't. There are so many books flooding the marked that it seems that there aren't any new ideas left. If you are looking hard enough you will find similarities to something in every book you'll read.
However, she developed her own story and her own characters and who knows: Maybe she wanted to proof, that not everything looks like it is. Sometimes you won't get what you expect!

Thank you to ... 
... Random House UK, who gave me this review copy in exchange of a honest review!