June 2021 – The Book Monk

Magisterium – The Bronze Key-Book 3
by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare

This review is about the third book in the Magisterium series, ‘The Bronze Key’, by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare. A perfect, magical book in an excellent series.

Call and his friends attend a party hosted in their honour, for helping in recovering the Alkahest, (a metal glove that gives you loads of power), when someone tries to assassinate Call but manages to assassinate another student instead. There is a spy at the Magisterium, and he or she is growing more and more desperate to kill Call. The mages are doing their level best to catch him or her, but none of them are succeeding. A mage of the great Assembly of Mages has tried and failed. It’s up to Call, Aaron, Jasper and Tamara to catch the spy, and to defend the biggest secret of all time (read the first book). A secret that could throw the world in an uproar if they find out. Now, they set up traps, talk to elementals, break into one of the most important and heavily guarded safes in the world. And they find out that things aren’t always what they seem. After many near death adventures, false alarms and cold trails, they stumble onto the truth. A shocking, surprising truth that makes it even harder for them to trust people. One that will blow you away……

Magisterium may sound a bit like a typical magic school story, or a Harry Potter rip off, but I can assure you that it is not. But it is still extremely great. I, personally, actually liked this better than Harry Potter (though both are nice) and thought that this was lighter, funnier and more engaging than Potter. The school, the characters and situations are well defined and leading up to an excellent climax which is both unexpected, intriguing and sad. Predictable end? NOT. This series is just getting better and better! (There are five books, btw). And the school, Magisterium, is so interesting! I wish I could go to such a school, where you learn levitating and fighting rogue monsters like elementals, but I, sadly, have to learn maths and history. It’s still pretty fun to imagine you’re a student in the Magisterium, though. It’s interesting, riveting, cliff-hanger-ing (is that a word?) and basically – it’s an awesome book! My favourite character was definitely Jasper. This is the third book, though, so if you want to read it, you should read the first and second books in the series (The Iron Trial and The Copper Gauntlet). I recommend this series for all ages. It is amazing!!!! It has a great sense of snarky humour which will leave you smiling for more.
I give this book five stars!

The Secret World of Arrietty
by Studio Ghibli

The Secret World of Arrietty is a Studio Ghibli anime film directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi and with music by Cecile Corbel. It is really beautiful with amazing animation, and a great storyline. The movie is based on the famous book by Mary Norton, ‘The Borrowers’. It all happened like this…….

14-yr-old Arrietty is not a normal teenager. For starters, she isn’t human. She belongs to a race of tiny people, who are just like humans except, well, they are tinier. They live in an extremely small and charming house under the floorboards of an old house in the middle of nowhere. For food, they borrow from the occupants of the humans’ house. She and her family thought that they would be safe enough here, as there was almost no one about, except an old caretaker. But then, more human beings come to the previously safe house. An ill human boy named Sho had come to the house for a few days for some peace and quiet. At first, they thought they would be fine if they were careful, but then, he saw Arrietty by mistake. The caretaker of the house firmly believed that little people lived here, and kept trying to find one. After they were seen, Arrietty and her family now have to move from their house in order to avoid getting caught. However, Arrietty wants to know whether Sho is really a threat to them or not. Eventually, they become friends, and Arrietty doesn’t think that they have to be afraid of him anymore. However, the caretaker had become increasingly suspicious and now had set her heart on finding the tiny people. After seeing Sho open the floorboards of Arrietty’s house, she herself takes of the roof of the house and captures Arrietty’s mother. She calls the pest exterminator and is determined to find every single tiny person. Sho and Arrietty catch wind of this plot and are determined to foil it. Can they do it in time?…

The Secret World of Arrietty is a magical story that is just fascinating to watch. A fabulous movie with an excellent storyline and magnificent animation (I loved Arrietty’s house!) and it is a really wholesome and satisfying movie. It has great, ambient music that makes you feel as if you’re in the scene too. I loved this movie because it was really nice and engrossing. My favourite character was definitely Arrietty because she is so brave and adventurous. This is a unique and great story. It is an awesome movie and you should totally see it! With its simplistic, exquisite animation and heart-warming story, it is sure to win you over. It is a great movie to watch if you want something adventurous and interesting. It is an outstanding, engaging movie. It is superb!
I recommend this movie for all ages.