Cover not available
The Iron Trial
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.
Why it's similar
Both books feature a young student attending a perilous magical academy who grapples with an unsettling, taboo connection to the magical world's most infamous dark sorcerer. In addition, both climaxes involve confronting subterranean dangers to uncover hidden truths about the protagonist's identity.
What's different
The Iron Trial deconstructs the classic 'chosen one' trope with a much darker, morally ambiguous twist regarding its hero, rather than following a traditional whodunit investigation.