So, apart from the fact that I'm convinced that the only reason that the kids at these schools are literate is their education before they go to the fancy schmancy magic schools.  It's more College type teaching than ensuring that they have any education and most of it seems to consist of the students being left to their own devices to sink or swim, my father would be appalled.

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 is book 4 in the series that began with The Iron Trial (review here). The series started off closely paralleling the Harry Potter series, but as it continues, it becomes something more and in its own way, better.

The series is full of magic, adventure, danger, heroes & villains, and even friendship & typical teen issues. The story begins with Call in magical prison because of who people think he is. He is rescued and then asked to do the one thing magic hasn't been able to do -- raise the dead.

I am still enjoying this fantastic series and I can't wait to see what comes next.

This latest entry in wonderful MG magic-school series Magisterium balances some seriously dark themes and action with laugh-out-loud lines.

The first book or two's Harry Potter overtones with all the joy of discovering a new magic world were more fun, to be honest, but as the penultimate book, I can see how things are ramping up. I

'd say this is borderline YA - as the kids move on through the school years/grades, they're heading into teen territory, adding kissing and mild romance angst to death, identity crises, and necromancy. I'd recommend for older kids, maybe 10 or even 12+. But the relatively simple language and style of expression are solidly middle grade. Looking forward to the big wrap up in book 5!