This review, without spoilers, is for the whole five-book series.

Cassandra Clare is an author who became known as an amateur writer through her Harry Potter fanfiction. When she started writing professionally, she wrote the Shadowhunters series, and many readers who were familiar with her amateur writing felt that she had used a thinly-disguised version of the three main characters of her Draco Dormiens fanfiction trilogy: Jace is her Draco Malfoy, Simon is Harry Potter and Clairy is Hermione Granger (not bookish as Hermione, true, but she plays a similar role in the love triangle).

Anyway, given all the antecedents, it's an odd choice that when she writes a brand new series, in collaboration with Holly Black, she'd choose to write about a boy who finds out he's a wizard, is invited to a wizards' boarding school, finds out his mother was murdered by an evil magician as she tried to protect him as a baby, becomes friends with two other students, a boy and a girl, and finds out that his destiny is linked to that of the evil magician. I mean, it's an odd choice because given her background you'd think that she would prefer to distance herself from more Harry Potter associations. And even if that's not a consideration, when you write a middle grade fantasy series with that premise you are inevitably inviting people to compare with Harry Potter, and that's a tough act to follow.

Having said all that, let me stress that despite the similarities in the premise, this is not at all plagiarism of Harry Potter. The story is original and follows its own path, not Harry Potter's. And I rather enjoyed it for what it is. It is not as good as Harry Potter, but then, J. K. Rowling's series was so wildly successful for a reason.

The whimsical worldbuilding of Harry Potter is not here. The Magisterium series is inferior in that way. Also, one of the reasons Harry Potter was so successful is the characterization, and how easy it is to really get to know those characters, put yourself in their place and live the story from their point of view. Magisterium is not as good as that. I ended up quite fond of Callum, but I don't think I know Tamara and Aaron quite as well as I know Hermione and Ron.

On the other hand, the story is similarly epic, and the character arc Callum goes through is rather interesting and original. Unfortunately, I cannot discuss it without massive spoilers, but it's more morally-ambiguous and less black-and-white than Harry Potter.

The five books are quite thin, little more than 200 pages each. The series does not really go from middle grade to young adult as Harry Potter does, but remains close to middle grade tone all the time, although it can also be enjoyed by older readers.

My favorite book was the fourth, but in general I did enjoy the ride. ( )

Fantasy

The Iron Trial: Spoiler Review I really loved this book. I found it to be a nice throw back to harry potter. I did not see it as a copycat but i book told in similar style.
 
I loved the three lead characters that were developed in this book and I am excited to see where all these relationships go in future books. I loved callum and Aaron a lot but all the character just made me happy. 
 
I loved the twists and turns that were thrown at you in the book and they were so unexpected that they even surprised me. I did not expect the truth about Callum identity at the end and that is why i am so excited for the next book in this series. I want to see where everything goes and what happens to all the character in future books. 
 
I really loved how the world and the magic was created in this world and the focus on nature it is such a cool world and you can tell that holly black put her master touch on this world.
 
Here is my video review below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAQdfIHiXu4
 
 
  ( )

The Iron Trial: Spoiler Review I really loved this book. I found it to be a nice throw back to harry potter. I did not see it as a copycat but i book told in similar style.
 
I loved the three lead characters that were developed in this book and I am excited to see where all these relationships go in future books. I loved callum and Aaron a lot but all the character just made me happy. 
 
I loved the twists and turns that were thrown at you in the book and they were so unexpected that they even surprised me. I did not expect the truth about Callum identity at the end and that is why i am so excited for the next book in this series. I want to see where everything goes and what happens to all the character in future books. 
 
I really loved how the world and the magic was created in this world and the focus on nature it is such a cool world and you can tell that holly black put her master touch on this world.
 
Here is my video review below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAQdfIHiXu4
 
 
  ( )

It's a shortened version of a angry Harry Potter, I wouldn't be continuing if I didn't own the series already. ( )