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Fantasy. Juvenile Fiction. Juvenile Literature. HTML:Callum Hunt�s summer break isn�t like other kids�. His closest companion is a Chaos-ridden wolf, Havoc. His father suspects him of being secretly evil. And, of course, most kids aren�t heading back to the magical world of the Magisterium in the fall. It�s not easy for Call . . . and it gets even harder after he checks out his basement and discovers that his dad might be trying to destroy both him and Havoc. Call escapes to the Magisterium � but things only intensify there. The Alkahest � a copper gauntlet capable of separating certain magicians from their magic � has been stolen. And in their search to discover the culprit, Call and his friends Aaron and Tamara awaken the attention of some very dangerous foes � and get closer to an even more dangerous truth. As the mysteries of the Magisterium deepen and widen, bestselling authors Holly Black and Cassandra Clare take listeners on an extraordinary journey through one boy�s conflict � and a whole world�s fate.… (more)
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Callum Hunt discovers that his father might already know that he has been taken over by the soul of the Enemy of Death...Cal discovers that his father has plans to steal and use a powerful artifact called the Alkahest, a copper gauntlet that he believes can be used in a ritual to separate Constantine Madden's soul from his son's body in the hope that he can somehow get his real son back. The horror and betrayal that Cal feels when he learns of his father's plan results in Cal leaving home and spending the rest of the summer break with his friends before they all head back for their new Copper Year at the Magisterium. When Cal overhears that someone has tried to steal the Alkahest, he puts the pieces of what he saw at home together and fears his father is still going to try to carry out his plan. He is torn in a variety of directions unsure who to confide in, worried about his father as much as he feels hurt and betrayed by him. When he learns that his father may be hunted down and killed, Cal decides he needs to find him before the mages of the Magisterium and his friends insist on coming along to help.
The characters are more fleshed out in this second installment of the series, and they each struggle with expectations and loyalties that are in conflict as they have to make decisions about who to trust and if they are willing to risk everything to be there for their friends. The pace is fast and the story grows dark as their quest for Cal's Dad and the copper gauntlet grows more dangerous, testing all their newly learned skills at fighting elementals and learning that they need to work together as a team if they have any chance of succeeding. Each of them learns more about themselves as well as each other, and what it means to be brave and resourceful. What makes someone a hero? What makes someone turn evil? When does curiosity, or even the desire to do good cross the line into something dark and wrong? There's a lot of food for thought in this book that will leave the reader thinking about it long after finishing the last page. A fast read and very enjoyable. I look forward to the next book in the series!
Callum has returned home for the summer but things have been very awkward between him and his dad. When Call finds out that his dad might be set on destroying both Call and his chaos-riden dog Havoc he flees back to the Magisterium seeking help. However, things get even more dire when Call finds out that someone has stolen the Alkahest, a copper gauntlet that can separate a magician from his magic. Call suspects his father so Call, Aaron and Tamara escape the Magisterium in search of both Call’s father and the Alkahest.
This was a fun read full of magic and adventure. I continue to enjoy the characters and all of the elemental magic. Havoc is a lot of fun as well.
Call is struggling with the big secret he found out in the Iron Trial, that he has Call’s body but has the soul of of the most evil mage ever. He is analyzing everything he does and trying to make sure it’s not evil. The fact that his father clearly thinks Call is evil isn’t helping things.
In this book we see a lot more of the chaos magic and what it means to be Makar as Aaron struggles to control his magic. Both Call and Tamara have also come a long way in how well they use their magic. The friendship and trust between the three is put to the test more than once. Our trio begins to learn to trust each other more and work together as a team.
We also learn a lot more about Call’s past. Some major storylines are wrapped up as well leaving me very curious as to what future books in the series will hold.
Overall this was a well done middle grade fantasy and I enjoyed it a lot. I love all the elemental magic in these book, the elemental creatures, the wonderful characters, and the action and adventure. This series is great for middle grade and older readers both boys and girls alike. I can’t wait to see what book 3, The Cosmos Blade, will hold.
I can imagine the wine-drunk night when these authors came up with this idea: "Okay, so imagine if we re-told Harry Potter, only from Ron's point-of-view. Oh, and Ron is the re-incarnation of Voldemort. You know, like the whole Horcrux thing, only Ron got the whole soul and now Voldie's followers want Ron to lead them or maybe they want to rip Voldie's soul out of Ron's body and put it back into Voldie's exquisitely preserved corpse? And, um, Herminone is vaguely ethnic and her parents aren't Muggle dentists, but are high-up in the Ministry of Magic? And Mr. Weasley maybe wants to kill Ron and Ron's dog? And at some point they all get joined on their adventures by a possibly-Asian Draco Malfoy? And we call Dumbledore Rufus because Bill and Ted? And we call Voldemort Constantine because comics? See, it's nothing like Harry Potter at all!"
It's actually all fairly enjoyable and I expect a huge amount of fan-fic-i-ness from Ms. Clare, but I keep wanting Holly Black's darker, creepier Victorian Gothic sensibility to assert itself on this fairly standard fantasy narrative.
My father was a building construction and carpentry teacher (I believe they call them Material Technology teachers now but he's retired...) and to me magic should be like this. Magic isn't safe, like using chisels, it needs supervision, because even if you do supervise carefully some idiot will try to cut a finger off (like someone did in my brother's class) and now I'm starting to plot how a magic school would operate, in reality.
So Call discovers that his father has plans, that involve Havoc, his well demon dog, and they're not good, so he runs away from home to one of his friends houses and then to school where the year starts okay but things go downhill rapidly and he runs away from school too.
I'm getting too old for these books. I'm seeing more plot hole than plot and weak worldbuilding rather than being drawn in but I'm not really the market for this so I can't really tell if it would work for the market.
This was a great second part to the series. The mystery and adventure is compelling and the characters are truly endearing, repulsive, trust worthy, slimy, altogether compelling.