The Iron Trial by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare

Callum Hunt has been warned by his father that succeeding at the Iron Trial and being accepted to the Magisterium would be the worst thing that could possibly happen to him. Despite Callum's best intentions to NOT succeed, he does and he is welcomed into the school even though he doesn't want to be there. There's a great twist near the end of the book which would spoil things if you knew, so I'm not mentioning it, but does it EVER make you want to read book two!
Some have suggested that this is just a Harry Potter clone. While there are some similarities (such as a perfectionist friend, Tamara, and a second male friend, Aaron), it definitely stands on its own with settings like the Magisterium, with its caves and tunnels and creatures such as Havoc, the Chaos-ridden wolf and Warren the lizard. Can't wait to read book two! Definitely recommend this for Harry Potter fans.

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