The Iron Trial, by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare

Holly Black and Cassandra Clare are both great writers, but when they team up they create something fantastic. The Iron Trial, is the first book in their Magisterium series and I was blown away when I read it. I loved that the main character, Callum, didn’t want anything to do with magic. He tried so very hard to fail the tests that would grant him entry to the Magisterium, that when he was accepted I felt just as scared and angry as he was. Many fantastical stories have a main character that loves their new world and their role in it, at least at first. But Callum always hated the idea of magic and didn’t want to take his place in that world. This is a very refreshing take on traditional fantasy.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loved the Harry Potter and Percy Jackson series. The Iron Trial has a lot of the same elements, but with twists that you won’t see coming and that will keep you interested enough to finish the book in record time.

-Reviewed by Dani

A Game of Thrones, by George R.R. Martin

A Game of Thrones is the first book in the series. I love this novel because it always had me wanting to read more and not wanting to put the book down. The author describes the scenario so clearly that it almost feels as if you were there. The characters' feelings and thoughts are described so thoroughly it makes them seem lifelike. A Game of Thrones is a science fiction book which also includes the political system of lords and lordships. I highly recommend this book to those of you who have liked the books in the Percy Jackson & The Olympians series by Rick Riordan, and the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, and the book Eragon by Christopher Paolini . -Reviewed by Olivia

Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card

Ender’s Game , the first novel of the Ender-verse series, is a futuristic story written by American novelist Orson Scott Card. Andrew “Ender” Wiggin, who may be the military prodigy that Earth exceedingly needs in a war against an alien assailant, competes in a no-gravity game created by the instructors at the Battle School (a large space-school orbiting earth). Yet unknowingly, Ender is involved in something far crueler and desperate. As the story progresses, so do the themes of human atrocity and symbolism, utilized by Orson Scott Card to offer the reader an extraordinary environment entrenched in the science-fiction world. Ender’s Game presents meaningful and lucid imagery that our world does not offer, ethics expressing that there is no right or wrong decisions, and unpredictable plot twists. Orson Scott Card, by writing Ender’s game, displayed many literacy techniques in the universe of Ender Wiggin – creating an entire series of books worth reading. This series is recommende...

Prisoner B-3087, by Alan Gratz

Prisoner B-3087 is a heartbreaking novel about a Jewish boy’s struggle to survive in concentration camps. Yanek Gruener was only 10 years old when Hitler started his war against Jews. Yanek had to learn how to share his apartment flat with several other families and how to work for hours just to get barely enough food. At only 13 years old, Yanek was sent to his first concentration camp. Follow Yanek through 10 painful, murderous, and deadly concentration camps where every minute is a struggle to survive, and every day is a miracle to live through. It is a truly fascinating tale based on a real Jewish man who lived through the dreadful experience of brutal concentration camps that seemed impossible to live through. -Reviewed by Vivienne

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