Bartimaeus reveals to the reader the presence of an endless cycle wherein magicians summon spirits, magicians rule over commoners, spirits spread magic throughout a city, some of the commoners gain a resistance to magic, the commoners rebel against the magicians, the magicians are overthrown and the spirits return to the Other Place until another magical empire rises to dominance. This cycle proves to be the main plot, which culminates in the overthrowing of London. Bartimaeus makes references to other magical empires, such as Baghdad, Rome and Egypt, all of which have fallen from dominance as well. Jones, Diana Wynne (13 December 2003). "Review: The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud". The Guardian . Retrieved 7 October 2020. The main problem was that I disliked both of the main characters: one is a wily demon (Bartimaeus), and the other is a 12-year-old kid who is way too smart for his own good (Nathaniel). I think you'd get a similar result if you paired C.S. Lewis's Screwtape with Rowling's Draco Malfoy. Don't get me wrong - I love "The Screwtape Letters," but with nothing enlightening to learn from the demon in question, and having to read a much longer book full of it, the negativism got old. As for Nathaniel... I know he had a miserable childhood and all, but he was whiny at the best of times; at the worst, he was downright treacherous. He used words like "conscience," "justice," and "honor," but it always felt like he was acting out of guilt, ambition, and revenge. I hoped he would change over the course of the book, but I was disappointed. Jonathan Stroud's 2004 Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book acceptance speech". The Horn Book Inc. 1 January 2004 . Retrieved 17 July 2021. We’ll start with the plot. It is well developed and interesting enough on itself, but what makes it really shine is the narrative structure. The story is told from two perspective. One is a third person perspective which focuses on young Nathaniel, a magician apprentice. A very lonely boy, for magicians do not have children, they simply take apprentices (children of commoners and the parents seem not to have much saying in this).Nathaniel’s master cares nothing for him. Not surprisingly, this very intelligent boy can’t stand him but he likes his wife, whom he sees as a substitute mother of sort. That first part of the book was developed perfectly and I really felt for the boy- for most of the novel I quite worried about him even if I knew that it was highly unlikely for the protagonist to get killed. So, the plot is mostly focused on Nathaniel. The way the plot developed was something I quite liked. When another magician Lovelace offends Nathaniel, his mater doesn't stood up for him and Nathaniel is determined to take revenge. He does an unthinkable and summons a jinni on his own. It is an unheard of someone so young to attempt it, but Nathanial does it. Whom does he try to sum up? That brings us to our second narrative.

The Amulet of Samarkand cannot be activated or used consciously by its owner, it can only be borne.

The Amulet of Samarkand is an extremely potent magical artifact of a passively protects its bearer from magic-based assaults, even from the strongest magic and spirits. The commoners, or the people with no magical aptitude, are either stupid or mindless cowards who spend the rest of the book just being told what to do, clueless or cowering in fear from the magicians. But I get that, we must learn to bow down to authorities but they just come off rather too compliant and dull. And if there are actually people who are willing to fight for their rights, they come off too strongly. The demon Bartimaeus is disgusted to be successfully summoned by the ambitious twelve year old and, even more so, when Nathaniel compels him to undertake a dangerous and difficult mission. Their relationship is not cosy, but governed on either side by fear and constraint. The perspective of Bartimaeus, the millennia old demon who relates a great part of the narrative, provides a cynical, humorous and entirely unsentimental view of events. Start Media has optioned the film and TV rights to Jonathan Stroud’s fantasy series The Bartimaeus Sequence.

When he quietly masters one of the most difficult spells in a magician's repertoire, Nathaniel summons Bartimaeus, an ancient djinni (with a rather acerbic wit and a very dry sense of humour), and commands him to steal Lovelace's greatest treasure, The Amulet of Samarkand. Unaware that Lovelace was planning on putting the amulet to use in a treasonous coup to overthrow the government, Nathaniel finds himself trapped in a maelstrom of evil, espionage, murder and magical Royal Rumbles and is now pursued as the object of a merciless manhunt. In Stroud's world, magicians have no power of their own - their power lies in the knowledge of how to summon (and enslave) spirits, like the djinni Bartimaeus, to do their will. These magicians are the proud, arrogant, entitled upperclass that pretty much oppress the commoners who work the city's factories and low-life jobs. They are bred for government, are not allowed to themselves breed, and thus take on apprentices instead to further the magical profession. This really one of those books I would've loved to read and experience as a child, it's not technically and underrated book but I can't believe it's not as hyped as other books. While it bears some resemblance to other narratives of the underdog sorceror's apprentice (Harry Potter leaps to mind), this is different. For while Bartimaeus is to a certain extent an unreliable narrator whose every utterance should not be taken at face value, he does pinpoint the sins, foibles and vanities of the human race and especially of the magical elite, whom he knows intimately from long experience. In this respect, he is similar to C.S. Lewis's demon Screwtape--although Bartimaeus would not care for that particular comparison.

Did we miss something on diversity?

The Amulet of Samarkand is a delicious, fast-paced lightweight reading confection that can be recommended to readers of all ages. I'm off to find a copy of The Golem's Eye.

If you know a boy between 10 and 13 (or younger, if you like reading aloud), give him this book for Christmas. This is not to say that girls will not find it enthralling too; just that the sort of cynical derision Bartimeus displays towards his youthful master, and magicians in general, chimes so well with the mindset of so many boys of around that age that they'll be demanding the next books in the trilogy for their birthdays. Having said that, I can't wait for volume two either. Among his most prominent works are the bestselling Bartimaeus Trilogy. A special feature of these novels compared to others of their genre is that Stroud examines the stereotypes and ethics of the magician class and the enslaved demons. This is done by examining the perspective of the sarcastic and slightly egomaniacal djinni Bartimaeus. The books in this series are The Amulet of Samarkand, The Golem's Eye, and Ptolemy's Gate, his first books to be published in the United States. This has everything, extremely good writing, a fresh, new setting that still hasn´t been assimilated by mainstream, many ideas from classic mythology, an alternative history uchronia setting, and just loads of innuendos and jokes that are definitively aimed at adults and kids alike.

Fantasy Books Of The Year

Now, Stroud's magical rules, the key to success in the genre, are simple, spirits control magic, magicians control spirits. Now, if Krazy Christians thought Harry Potter was warping little kids' minds, then I'm surprised they haven't caught on to this series, with its pentacle circles and summoning "demons."

The series is set in London during the late 1900s or possibly the early 2000s in a parallel universe where trained people can summon demons to do their bidding. Throughout history, various individuals and empires have harnessed these magical forces to obtain great power in the world. The most recent nation to do this is the British Empire (of which London is the capital) that has dominated Europe since the mid-19th century and continues to do so at the time of the story. The UK is a magical oligarchy where a ruling elite of magicians hold almost all the political, economic and cultural power.Bartimaeus mentions that it must contain a demon with equal if not more power than Ramuthra as it is able to easily absorb the magical disturbances created by Ramuthra in this realm.