2015 Reading Challenge Weeks 1 & 2

Hello again!

It's time for my semi-regular Reading Updates!

Week One - A Book with Magic: The Iron Trial by Holly Black & Cassandra Clare

According to wikipedia, Cassandra Clare is the author of The Mortal Instruments series, and Holly Black is best known for The Spiderwick Chronicles series, and that is all news to me. I haven't read either of those, and only picked up The Iron Trial 'cause Half Price Books had signed copies and I had a coupon.

Turns out it's the first book in the Magisterium series. It's about Callum Hunt, a boy wizard of about 12 who's being shipped off to magic school - but with a twist! He doesn't wanna go. Ok... not exactly reinventing the genre. But it does make for an interesting new take on the teen wizard story.

Callum isn't the hero you expect. He's been told since birth that the Magisterium is a horrible place, and he seems hellbent on not fitting in - failing his tests, annoying his fellow students, breaking every rule he can, all in the hopes that they'll send him home and he can go back to life as normal. But of course, he can help but find friends, and as his interest and skills develop, so does the intrigue.

Of course, the Harry Potter comparison is unavoidable. But this book mixes things up in some key ways. The magic is presented as a mastery over the four elements... five? six, I guess. Anyway, each mage has an affinity to one element or another, much like benders in Avatar: The Last Airbender. Chaos mages are the most rare, so of course, the good guys are waiting for the next Chaos mage to come around and be their chosen one, who will defeat the big bad guy.

And, while the story uses the 2 guys and a girl formula for the protagonists, Callum is almost more of a Ron Weasley type - the less popular, less capable, less likable of the two guys, it almost seems he's gonna be a sidekick in his own book. Though as the book reaches it's climax, it becomes clear why that won't be.

All this together makes a book that I really enjoyed, actually. Callum isn't the typical protagonist, but his story kept me engaged. The Magisterium itself is an interesting take on the magic school trope, and I'm curious to learn more about it. And the resolution of the story sets the series in a direction that is interesting and unique enough to make me read the next one.

Week Two - A Book That I Own, But Have Never Read: Doctor Who and the Dinosaur Invasion by Malcolm Hulke

So this week I was gonna finish Let Me In, and when that clearly wasn't gonna happen, I thought "how about a Doctor Who for 'a book i can read in a day'?" And then that didn't happen either. But since I bought it in 2013, I figured it wasn't a total loss, I'll just check off this other goal.

As for the book itself, it's a 140 page novelisation of a sci-fi show from the seventies, so don't expect greatness. It's actually one of the better ones I've read (and I've read 19); good action, a little intrigue, and flippin' dinosaurs.

As for a recommendation, do you like Doctor who? No? Then don't read this.

Yes? ... like, David Tennant Doctor Who? Still don't read this...

You've watched the old show, and actually enjoyed it? Still, you probably don't need to read this...

But, if you're still interested, and you know what you're in for (maybe you've read some of the spin off books, or you're into the Star Wars EU) then give this a shot, 'cause it's a good way to experience old Doctor Who stories without suffering through 1970's BBC production value.

So there we have it! 2 weeks in and still more-or-less on track. For next week, I'm still shooting for Let Me In and as soon as I find a copy of the original Stand, I can dig back in on the Stephen King project.

See ya next time!