The Silver Mask by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare

Cover Courtesy of Goodreads

The Silver Mask by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare

Goodreads Synopsis: A generation ago, 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. Now Call is one of the most feared and reviled students in the history of the Magisterium, thought to be responsible for a devastating death and an ever-present threat of war. As a result, Call has been imprisoned and interrogated. Everyone wants to know what Constantine was up to-and how he lives on. But Call has no idea. It is only when he's broken out of prison that the full potential of Constantine's plan is suddenly in his hands . . . and he must decide what to do with his power. In this spellbinding fourth book of Magisterium, bestselling authors Holly Black and Cassandra Clare take us beyond the realm of the living and into the dangers of the dead.

My Review: After a year of waiting, I can finally express my views on this book. Which, if I'm being completely honest, weren't that the book was perfect.

The story was very fast-paced. The authors crammed a lot into a short book, and I really would have appreciated a proper timeline, even if the book ended up being longer. Everything was also not very believable. Call managed to do something in one night that he'd been trying to practice for much longer (and failing). It just wasn't logical, and that has nothing to do with magic. The character's views towards one another were also confusing. I can't reveal anything else about this, but I didn't understand how and why a lot of things had changed since the end of the events of The Bronze Key (like Alex). Finally, the writing style seemed different, and there seemed to be a few grammatical errors (though I'd have to check on that again). Nothing majorly wrong, though, but a few errors irked me. I also thought that the some slang ruined the scenes a bit. I suppose that's why authors don't use those types of phrases that often.

However, though I didn't like it that much after finishing it, it left a hangover on me. I think overall it was a pretty good almost-end (although I'm not sure how the authors will finish off the series, because it seemed a bit like this should be the conclusion without the cliffhangers at the end). I did like some of the character development, that Call gets a bit more confident in himself, and how important friendship is in this story. There were some annoying scenes, but it wasn't half bad. I'd say I liked it almost least of the whole series, but I'd still give it 4 stars. Now is just the wait for the rest of the year for the conclusion...