Trials of Magic (The Hundred Halls 1) by Thomas K. Carpenter

There are exactly one hundred halls of magic to choose from. Ever since our parents were killed I knew exactly which hall was for me. 

Aurelia "Aurie" Silverthorne is one of the best and brightest to ever apply to the Hundred Halls, the only magical university in the world. To be accepted, she must pass grueling trials that claim the lives of aspirants every year. 

But more than her desire to practice magic is at stake. 


Aurie's little sister has been courting powerful forces in hopes of protecting herself from the beings that killed their parents, but alliances come with complications. As things spiral out of control, and dangerous foes arise at every turn, Aurie knows the only way to protect her sister is to pass the trials—even if it means making a terrible sacrifice.

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My Review:     (Thanks to NetGalley) 

I enjoyed this book. It wasn't anything new or groundbreaking but it was well written and had an enjoyable story line. Things were explained well and an obvious sequel was set up. 

My biggest problem is probably with the blurb. This wasn't a book about Aurie, the chapters alternated between her and her sister Pythia "Pi" and we got to see both of their (different) experiences that ended up helping them make the whole story.  The 'trials' make up perhaps the first quarter of the book and then the rest is about their first year in their respective halls.

The bad guys were everywhere though not always obvious, and I was confused about Pi's patron and who did what considering what we learnt at the end (no spoilers, but people weren't who we thought they were at some earlier points). I'm such a cynical person that I'm still expecting the 'good' mentor to turn out bad in the next book, lol!  

I want to learn more about the fae (Radoslav in particular), more about Hemistad and the Hunger and more about Invictus and how such a powerful mage was killed. Also the girls both owe debts to Radoslav and Hemistad and I want to see how that plays out. 

So all in all, this wasn't anything startling, but it was a good solid read where the bad guys got their comeuppance, the evil guys are still out there plotting evil, and the good guys (or girls in this case) ended up where they should be after facing the necessary challenges. The story was wrapped up nicely with a bunch of loose ends just screaming for a sequel (or two). (Without spoilers: parents, artifacts, impregnable towers, cabals, mysterious deaths, huge amounts of power, mysterious people, why so many students ended up in Arcanium even though it was their last choice, etc, etc)