- ISBN:
- 9780857532503
- 9780857532503
- Category:
- Adventure stories (Children's / Teenage)
- Publication Date:
- 09-09-2014
- Publisher:
- Random House Children's Publishers UK
- Country of origin:
- United Kingdom
- Pages:
- 320
- Dimensions (mm):
- 233x152x24mm
- Weight:
- 0.42kg
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Reviews
1 Review
I half loved it! And I half loathed it. It dabble deep into Harry Potter territory, but at the same time absolutely smashed stereotypes and cliches. Particularly at the end! Seriously, whatever you do, do NOT stop reading this book halfway. The fabulousness is at the ginormous reveal at the end.
Call was a very unique narrator. He's 12. Angry. Bitter. Troublemaker. (He's like the magical equivalent of Ramona Quimby...trouble, but usually accidental.) Call also is crippled.
THE ENDING. OH, PEOPLES, THE ENDING!! It was so unique and so utterly unprecedented and I...I'm still reeling. The ending blew my previous growling glances into oblivion. It knocked me down. IT MAKES ME WANT TO RECOMMEND THIS BOOK FROM THE ROOFTOPS.
But there's a lot of subtle child abuse. It frustrates me because the "good guys" are the ones being cruel and downright wrong to children for the pure fact that...they're adults. They have power over children. I find this unacceptable and wrong. I don't think it's fair or okay to write books for 12-year-olds where the adult figures are doing WRONG things, but it's written in a "well that's just how it is". Kids do not deserve to be treated poorly.
Call gets dragged away from his father, kicking and screaming, at the beginning of the book. He doesn't want to go to Magic School. His father doesn't want him to. Call is begging to stay. And worse still, they take him against his will to this school and then do not let him speak to his father. Not a phone call. Not a visit. THE KID IS 12 FREAKING YEARS OLD. Am I the only one disturbed?
Quote from the book: "Master Rufus clearly wasn't going to let him [Call] communicate with Alistair until Call settled in as an apprentice." pg. 85
There's a lot of Harry Potter similarities. Not limited to the trio of Call/Harry, Tamara/Hermione and Aaron/Ron (respectively Call is the troublemaker, Tamara is the studious uptight girl, and Aaron is...there.) They pick themselves up a Dobby like creature. Call has Hagrid tendencies with all the crazy creatures. There are ghosts flitting around. The "bully", Jasper, is Draco Malfoy.
But I love both the authors and I'm so so excited they wrote together! I'm definitely reading the rest of the Magisterium books because DID I MENTION THE PLOT TWIST AT THE END IS FREAKING FANTASTIC??!!! IT IS! GO READ THIS BOOK! It sets up to be full of cliches and then smashes them at the end...but I wonder if it should've been more original all the way through?
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