SOLVED. Fantasy. Boy whose family was murdered (they lived in the woods). He eavesdrops on a secret meeting of magicians & copies one of the spells they do, eventually goes to a magic school & for one of his tests he does a super big illusion. [s]

[Jordan]

Book about a boy whos family was murdered (pretty sure they lived in the woods or something). Further in the book he eavesdrops on a secret meeting of magicians/sorcerers and ends up copying one of the spells they do. He does the spell and finds out hes actually really good at magic. He eventually goes to a magic school/academy and for one of his finals/tests he does a super big illusion where the area there in looks like theyre outside

[Elizabeth]

Maybe "The Iron Trial" by Cassandra Clare and Holly Black?

[Jordan]

Sadly that's not it

[Melanie]

This almost reminds me of The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, but it’s been a while since I read it so I’m probably way off. The main character’s family are traveling performers who are murdered, and MC is very good at learning new magics after hearing or seeing it done once.

[Jordan]

Sadly that's not it either. I think the cover had a boy/man on the front with a hood over his face (close up of his face)

[Jordan]

After a month of searching the internet and a day on good reads (without any help from the latter) I finally found it. It's called The Young Magician by Michael Foster

[Kris]

Glad you found your book, Jordan. Here's the link - The Young Magician by Michael Foster.