The Iron Trial

Written by: Holly Black and Cassandra Clare

First line: From a distance, the man struggling up the white face of the glacier might have looked like an ant crawling slowly up the side of a dinner plate.

Why you should read this book: On the one hand, there's a lot about this story that makes it feel like someone threw a copy of Harry Potter into a blender, randomly reassembled the pieces, and set the action in America. On the other hand, it's sufficiently fresh as to not give away all its secrets too quickly, so there are still some surprises even though it's about two boys and a girl at a school for magic, and the girl is very studious and one of the boys is the chosen one and there's a lot of noise about an enemy whose name people don't like to say and the kids constantly break the rules and get away with it in their quest to figure out all the things adults don't want to tell them. I read this with my stepdaughter for school and she found it very exciting.

Why you shouldn't read this book: Holly Black has written so many more original stories.