The Iron Trial by Holly Black (review)

After his mage mother was killed in the Cold Massacre, Callum has been raised by his father to hate magic, so when Callum receives a mandatory summons to audition for a spot at the Magisterium, a school for mages, he tries his best to screw up. He is nonetheless selected, along with the far more talented Tamara and Aaron, to be apprenticed to Master Rufus. Despite his rearing, Callum finds himself drawn to the school and what it represents, and he makes friends for the first time in his life as he, Tamara, and Aaron slowly open up to one another. An unrepentant rule-breaker hampered by a physical disability, Callum nonetheless ends his first year as a hero, but he’s also learned some deeply unsettling truths about himself; those may make him a danger in the promised sequels of this planned five-part series. Fantasy readers will find riffs on virtually all of their favorites here, with character constellations and plot points especially mirroring the Potterverse and Camp Halfblood, but the capable finesse of Black and Clare ensures the derivation becomes something surprising and enjoyable. Both the cosmology and the psychology hit the sweet spot for middle-schoolers who can tolerate some complexity but want magic to be understandable and character motivations traceable. In the end, the question remains: do readers really need another series featuring likable trio of magical apprentices facing down world-threatening evil? Well, why not?