Magisterium

About the Magisterium series

Callum Hunt has spent his whole life being warned by his father to avoid the Magisterium, an underground school where mages train students in elemental magic -- so naturally, Call fails the entrance trial on purpose, only to be accepted anyway, and dragged into a magical education his father spent years trying to prevent. As Call trains alongside two other first-year mages, he starts to piece together why his father was so desperate to keep him away, uncovering secrets about a war against an ancient evil sorcerer and his own place in a prophecy nobody bothered to tell him about.

Written by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare together, Magisterium plays deliberately against chosen-one school-story conventions: Call is grumpy, reluctant, and would honestly rather not be magic's last hope, and the series has fun subverting expectations about who the hero, the villain, and the mentor actually turn out to be. It's aimed at a slightly younger readership than either author's other work, a genuine middle-grade entry point into magic-school fantasy from two writers best known for YA.

Five books tell one complete, twist-heavy story about Call's reluctant magical education and the war he's inherited without asking for it.

How to read this series

Read the five novels in publication order: The Iron Trial, The Copper Gauntlet, The Bronze Key, The Silver Mask, The Golden Tower. It's a continuous, twist-driven story that should be read start to finish in sequence -- no other reading from either author is required first.