The Copper Gauntlet by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure
Published by: Scholastic Press
Pages: 300
Format: e-book
Series: The Iron Trial (#1)
Rating: ★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

You see, I can’t help but be slightly disappointed with this series. At first the Harry Potter parallels were obvious, and it’s going to be hard to separate the two considering it’s 2 boys, 1 girl at a magical school hidden from the regular world. I mean, we all see what’s going on here. And I seriously hoped that by book two they would have moved away from HP and I hate to admit that the plot line is still basically the same with the characters roles switched up a bit.

Considering how lovable Harry, Ron and Hermione are, you’d think that the same basic elements would create the same love, but oh no. For some reason Call, Aaron and Tamara still aren’t really working together as a team! They fight like new friends do, which is good, great even. But I honestly don’t believe that they’re the best friends they say they are. Next! The Coppper Gauntlet answers the question of what would’ve happened if the golden trio just decided to bring Draco along for the ride. Basically, don’t do it! Why was Jasper necessary at all, if not to give Tamara a break from explaining the whole Enemy/Makar sitch. As for Celia – my favourite character in the series – where was she in this book? In a non-existing walking montage, that’s where. If she’s supposed to be Cal’s love interest she should at least be part of the main plot!

Seriously a part of Voldemort  the Enemy of Death’s soul is in Call? He can use a special language to talk to snakes chaos-ridden. Could Black and Clare really not think of anything else? Yeah it adds tension because unlike Harry, Call knows about his horcrux from Year 2, but at the same time we know how it ends for Harry so the rest of this series is really going to have to move away from Hogwarts if it wants to excite readers, and more importantly keep them interested.

What The Copper Gauntlet does introduce, however, if the idea of the quest, in a much more Percy Jackson style. Actually I’m struggling to think what the Magisterium has that HP and PJ don’t have already. This series just needs MORE. More action, more adventure, more originality, more complex characters. The next book will be the middle of the series so I can only hope that it has a real kick to it!