Magisterium Series: The Golden Tower

***The Golden Tower*** is the fifth and final book in *The Magisterium* series. It was released on September 11, 2018.

## Synopsis

The final, thrilling installment in this extraordinary series from bestselling authors Holly Black and Cassandra Clare.

A generation ago, powerful mage 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.

Facing up to what he is, Callum has battled chaos and evil across four years of magical training at the Magisterium, eventually defeating the armies of chaos in an epic battle.

It came at a cost.

Now, triumphant and heartbroken, Callum Hunt has just about had enough, and is ready to complete his training. But the evil Callum faced has not given up just yet...

## Plot

**SPOILER WARNING: Plot details follow. *Caution is advised.***

With Aaron Stewart living in his head, Call returned to the Magisterium for his Gold Year. Shortly after the school year started, Alex Strike returned from the void as a Devoured of chaos with an army of elementals, freed his stepmother, Anastasia Tarquin, and attacked the Magisterium. He demanded a tower be built for him, and that Jasper deWinter, Tamara Rajavi, and Call, who were critical in his defeat in The Silver Mask, be delivered to him as prisoners.

Looking for a way to defeat Alex, the group went out to meet with Tamara's sister, Ravan, who is a Devoured of fire. Their meeting was interrupted by a group of chaos elementals. Call, desperate to defeat them and Alex, asked Aaron to unlock Constantine's memories. This worked, but completely overwhelmed Call's mind. He spent several days hallucinating as he tried to process the memories he had suddenly received. When he finally came to with the aid of Aaron, he realized that he had not Constantine's soul, but the soul of Maugris, an ancient Makar who had survived for centuries by pushing his soul into the bodies of other Makars.

Maugris' long life and many experiments with chaos had led him to encounter and defeat a Devoured of chaos in the past. This was accomplished by using four other Devoureds, one of each element, to purify it. Once Call recovered enough, he left with his father, Jasper, Tamara and Gwenda Mason, a new addition to their apprentice group, to find a Devoured each of water, earth, and air. Before they left, Ravan agreed to act as their Devoured of fire.

They first went to Nigara Falls, where they met one of Alastair's old classmates, Lucas. After a test of their morals, he agreed to help them and pointed the group towards Greta Kuzminski, a Devoured of earth living in Tampa, Florida. To save time, the group split up, with the apprentices taking the car to find Greta and Alastair going out on his own to find a Devoured of air. The apprentices returned to the Magisterium three days later with Greta's cooperation confirmed to find that Alastair had become their Devoured of air to save his son. After this, the group left to confront Alex.

During this final battle, after the Devoureds had purified Alex, Call pushed Aaron's soul into Alex's body. Unaware that Alex was dead and Aaron had taken his place, Anastasia lied that she had been controlling Alex and claimed that all of his crimes were in fact her own to save her stepson. Master Rufus was able to see through this ruse and get the apprentices to confess the night before "Alex" was supposed to stand trial, although he abstained from making a decision whether or not to support them. At the trial, when it came to vote on whether or not to trust "Alex's" story, there was a tie, as Rufus refused to vote. Instead, he proposed that Call and Alex got through the Gold Year gate, otherwise known as the Gate of Balance, which would be able to assess if they truly intended to put good into the world. Tamara insisted that she pass through as well, which the Assembly agreed to. They were given some time to prepare, during which Call and Tamara confessed their love for each other and resumed their relationship.

The trio were then brought to the gate, where several masters and Tamara's family were waiting. Tamara passed through first and Aaron second. Call was interrupted briefly by Alastair, who gave his son the calm that he needed to pass through. Call then walked through, seeing all the events that had led up to that moment and coming to terms with who he was and what had happened to him. He reunited with Tamara and Aaron on the other side. Together, they promised to be good people.

## Trivia

* One of the working titles shared online was *The Enemy of Death*.