Author: Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Publication date: September 11, 2018
Pages: 256
Source/format: Hardcover // Library
Rating: ☆☆☆
Synopsis (from goodreads.com):
The final, thrilling installment in this extraordinary series from bestselling authors Holly Black and Cassandra Clare.
A generation ago, powerful mage Constantine Madden came close to achieving what no magician had ever achieved: the ability to bring back the dead. He didn't succeed . . . but he did find a way to keep himself alive, inside a young child named Callum Hunt.
Facing up to what he is, Callum has battled chaos and evil across four years of magical training at the Magisterium, eventually defeating the armies of chaos in an epic battle.
It came at a cost.
Now, triumphant and heartbroken, Callum Hunt has just about had enough, and is ready to complete his training. But the evil Callum faced has not given up just yet...
M Y T H O U G H T S
"We must learn from this lesson that we cannot allow fear to rule us...When fear rules us, we forget who we truly are. We forget the good we are capable of."
The Golden Tower is the fifth installment in the Magisterium and it's the last book in the series. Although the romance of the novel is untimely and it feels out of place, the character development from The Iron Trial to The Golden Tower grew for some characters while stayed the same for others. The pacing of the book was good at the beginning to the middle of the novel but it sped up too quickly from the middle to the end. It felt too rushed. The Golden Tower is a short book to begin with and I felt like the pace was too fast in terms of when Call and his friends were hunting down the four Devoured of Air, Earth, Fire and Water in order to displace the Devoured of Chaos.
The novel depicts some language and actions that are not up to par with what a teenager says or does. Call is about 16 right now and Alex is a little bit older. However, Alex acts much younger demanding things like a child would. He throws temper tantrums. Aaron is definitely the most mature with well thought out ideas. He thinks before he acts and speaks. Tamara will seek out resources if she doesn't know about something. Call relies on his friends in order to make decisions. Jasper grows the most out of all the students. He used to be cruel and bullied Call and his friends at the start of the Magisterium journey. As each year passes, he learns to accept Call and his friends to the point where he is part of their friendship circle. Readers find out what happened to his father which could have added to why he behaved in the past as he did.
Alastair's decision at the end of the book is a surprise but it shows what a parent does for their child in order to save their life no matter what the consequence. It shows that Alastair truly loves Call. Because of spoilers, I won't name who the true enemy is but the enemy could have been a very complex character and the enemy is actually very simple and not very interesting. I was hoping for more character development for the enemy or at least find out more about their backstory.
The Golden Tower sums up the Magisterium series fairly quickly. For those who love fantasy middle grade novels involving boarding schools and magic, this series is one to pick up for a quick read.
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