In The Mummy, the Will, and the Crypt by John Bellairs, there were many many twists and turns throughout the entire story that constantly kept me on my feet wondering what would happen next. The amount of magic in this story really made me wonder how Johnny could overcome. The final chapter was definitely my favorite chapter out of all of the chapters, because I got to learn a lot about the Glomus family and not all of them are bad people.
This novel used lots of dark magic which made me excited and also scared: when I was reading one night, I got so scared I had to lift my eyes from the room and see if there were any monsters, and then I had to immediately jump in mid-air and turn on the lights, breaking into a huge nervous sweat just like the one you get when you take an afternoon nap and wake up at 7 PM and all the lights in the house are out.
In the first book there was an object that would curse Johnny (it’s called The CURSE of the Blue Figurine),
but in the second book, they had magic that would kind of chase Johnny to hurt him. “Mrs. Woodley said a word and it started to glow with a quivering blue light. Strange signs and a picture of a comet with a long flaring tail slowly became visible on the wood.” What could this comet thing possibly be? Could it be the thing that broke the wall above Johnny and the same one that had almost killed Johnny? Or did the Guardian summon something that broke the wall, or, could the guardian possibly be Mrs. Woodley, working with her magic box, sending a little evil part of herself out to roam?
In the second book I learned many new things about Johnny. I learned that when Johnny chose to steal all of his grandparent’s money, just to attempt to save his grandma, that not only does Johnny have a deep love for Gramma, but he is also willing to do anything for Gramma, even if it means he may have to do something illegal. “Then he’d go out to the estate, and somehow, by hook or by crook, he would find the money to get a brain surgeon for Gramma.” I also learned that Johnny is very caring and smart when he leaves a note for his grandparents, so they will at least be reassured that he is at least not kidnapped. “I have to do something very important. It is a life or death matter, and it can’t wait. I’ll be back in a few days, so don’t worry.”
However, this was a very stupid and immature move on Johnny’s end, because he could have died and could have also caused the death of the professor and Fergie. Another immature part was when he took all of his grandparent’s savings. Johnny’s grandparents could have gone into a deep debt of money and possibly died of hunger and grief, if Johnny never returned.
The type of magic at play in the book is dark magic. I know the magic at play was dangerous and significantly dark, because Mrs. Woodley literally sent a comet to attempt to kill Johnny; also a Guardian spirit is protecting the Glomus will, so that nobody can take it, and this incident also almost killed Johnny.
When Chad died, we see that the Guardian and Mrs. Woodley definitely had something to do with it. Could they have used their dark magic together to kill Chad and make sure nobody could steal the will from them (the Guardian and Mrs. Woodley)?
Overall, the second novel was very interesting and exciting with all the cliffhangers, twists, and the astonishing descriptions of everything. Knowing that the final novel is called The Spell of the Sorcerer’s Skull, I infer that it will be about the owner who summoned the spirits in the second book. She is the “Sorcerer”, and because she is dead it will be about her skull, so I think the third novel will be about her skull, and I also infer that the skull is cursed, and will bring a curse to the Glomus family. Lastly, I infer that the third novel will be more fun than the second novel but less fun than the first.
