Book 1 - The Amulet of Samarkand - A Bartimaeus Novel

This book is full of adventure and suspense. Bartimaeus is a witty spirit from the other place that is full to the brim with the wisdom and cocky attitude that comes from thousands of years of being in the company of us lowly and fragile humans. A super AWESOME read!!!

This is easily one of the best young adult fantasy books I have ever read. I have often complained about the 5 star book rating system and how it muddles reviews forcing us to give books 5 stars that were really 4.5. Well, no problem here. Giving The Amulet of Samarkland 5 stars is under-rating it.
The only caution I must give is that the reference to ‘demons’ throughout the book which, I think, might make some of a certain religious bent cringe.

Read literally hundreds of fantasy and crime fiction. BEST book I've read in a very long time. Amusing, likeable and love to hate characters. Serious yet light, faultless writing. I've read a lot if we'll rated novels that had childish unbelievable writing and story lines. This is not one of them. I intend to read every one of this series now. And I may be a little in love with Barty ;)

My husband bought me this book for my birthday, but I quickly began to doubt his good intentions as he snatched it up before I did and devoured it. Then he proceeded to constantly interupt my reading of another book by gaffawing at the constant commentary of Bartimaeus himself and everytime I asked him what was so funny he told me it wouldn't make sense unless I read the book and kept reading. He devoured book one in an evening, continued on through book two and three the next day, and I am sure if Matt were writing this rating, he would give it a five. For me, it was a three.
I'm a character driven reader and character was what this book lacked . . . not character in the sense that the people weren't fully formed or the book didn't hold interest. In that sense the book is full of character. The wise cracking Djinni in the title role can't keep his mouth shut for all the character, and his constant interjections (in the form of foot notes) are hilarious, and in many places more interesting than the text itself. No, it is missing character in two other important senses: A. a protagonist I could like and root for; B. a moral substance or cause for which we (the readers) can root for. Honestly, in this story of a neglected young boy who calls up a magical Djinni to avenge himself on a senior magician who humiliated him, I didn't find either.
The two leads are Nathaniel, the neglected boy, and Bartimaeus, the summoned Djinni. Nathaniel, for most of the book, is young, hurt, and pitiable but never motivated by what I consider a good cause. For the first half of the book he is merely out for revenge and glory, to prove that he can weild powers beyond his age and to ruin one who called this into doubt. When the second half of the book begins and it is revealed that more is at stake than just Nathaniel's pride, we are hardpressed to care because the author makes it clear that the government entities Nathaniel and Bartimaeus rush to protect really aren't worth protecting. It would be rather like learning that Hitler and Stalin were going to go at it and being told you could stop Hitler and let Stalin lead a long and happy life by risking your rear end in many uncomfortable ways. Sure, no one wants Hitler again, so you might do it, but it sure as heck wouldn't be for the love of Stalin. Bartimaeus on the other hand is more interesting, but he doesn't want to be there, is compelled to do things against his will, and really only gives a darn because Nathaniel has threatened him with life imprisonment in a tabacco tin (and life is long for an immortal) if he doesn't behave. For him, victory isn't victory either.
So what are we fighting for? Who knows. None of the characters seem to anyway.
So I kept reading just so I could absorb the footnotes which were hilarious, not really because I gave a darn what was going to happen to the prime minister or the evil villian or even much to good old Nathaniel.
But the action is fierce and the tone is hilarious. I just wish I knew what I was reading for other than that.

Bartimaeus is an engaging character, but this book at least is very macho with women playing your stereotypical subservient nurturing or bimbo roles. There are hints that Jessica and the resistance leader girl Kitty will become strong characters in the next book, but overall I am not impressed with the lack of female characters. Male to female ratio: 25 : 1

I bought this based on some reviews here but after three chapters I didn't feel the urge to go further for these reasons:

1) I didn't know anything about the young boy (and consequently, didn't care)

2) Same for the demon, Bartimaeus

3) Three chapters and he's going after an amulet (god, how original) that I also knew nothing about

4) Each page had some footnote and how this idea seemed brilliant to the author (and his editor) is beyond me. It is a horrible idea for a novel (but great for science articles and textbooks). It breaks the flow of the narrative and if you have bad eyesight, the font size of the footnotes are so small you need a magnifying glass.

Another reviewer here said this: "Get past the first 40 pages or so and you won't be able to put it down until you find out just what evil Lovelace is up to and whether Nathaniel will be able to stop him."

Hmmm. Well, if your first forty pages don't draw me in, why would I trust the author for the next 350?

Maybe it's great. It did inspire me in one sense. If a novel can get published with the first three chapters like this, man, let me fire up my word processor!

At any rate, I gave 3 stars just in case the remaining 350 pages actually said anything interesting. I'll keep it in my bookshelf if I get completely bored.

Tim

I am an avid fantasy reader, in particular I read fantasy series. I had a really hard time getting into this book. It's very slow to start and the plot seemed to drag on. I might read the next book to see if it any better.

I am an avid fantasy reader, in particular I read fantasy series. I had a really hard time getting into this book. It's very slow to start and the plot seemed to drag on. I might read the next book to see if it any better.

Why I Think Boys May Enjoy This

Nathaniel may be the main character in this book. But there is no doubt that Bartimaeus is the real star. Through his snark and sarcasm, he shows why djinni aren’t easy creatures to just boss around (especially by a young summoner like Nathaniel). Stroud uses the “footnote” feature of books in a brilliant way, letting us get an alternate narrative voice (Bartimaeus’s directly) in the middle of the main narrative. The breaks are usually humorous but, at other times, show the depth of the history Stroud would use years later to write the prequel to this trilogy.

Nathaniel is one of my favorite antagonists of magical fantasy stories. His growth throughout the series is fantastic and the conclusion to the third book is one of the most memorable endings of any series I’ve ever read (and that’s saying something!). Don’t worry, I won’t spoil it!

The amount of detail and history in this book is fantastic. In a Harry Potter-esque way, the author pulls from a ton of different history, mythology, and folk stories to put together his world. In the end, he ends up with something that has plenty of familiarity but also something very different as well. I would highly recommend this book to any kids (especially any with a sharp wit that would see themselves in Bartimaeus and, to an extent, Nathaniel).

Content/Appropriateness

The book is more than appropriate, if not a little challenging at times. While Nathaniel is 11, thus making this an appropriate middle grade book with the right aged protagonist, Bartimaeus is far older… and the antagonists are more often adults. This raises the level of intrigue but, fortunately, not the level of appropriateness. There are PG13 levels of violence and suspense but language and sexual content are not issues. Stroud does a good job of creating an adult-level situation but telling the story in a way appropriate for middle grade audiences.

Rating

5/5 Giant Cartoon Mallets from Toonopolis the Blog's Books For Boys Review

I borrowed this Kindle edition of the book for free. All in all, I really enjoyed reading The Amulet of Samarkand. I found Stroud's word choices very refreshing. The author has a great way of making a common phrase unique and interesting, which gives more life to his story-telling. Throughout the story, I had mixed feelings for the boy Nathaniel. He comes across as a little bratty, but he works hard at becoming gifted while others still treat him with great disregard. He doesn't seem to know is limits, however, and is often bested by others -- but he never gives up on himself. In the end he has the chance to show what he is capable of. So, no matter how much others told him he was not good enough he kept on believing in himself.

One thing about the Kindle edition of this story is there are a lot of numbers superscripted here and there, which is a little distracting. I'm not sure what the numbers are for. I did not find many problems with editing (maybe one or two). I also had no problem following which person was speaking -- sometimes bartimaeus would refer to himself in the third person, but usually when he had turned himself into a creature to accomplish a task, and I had no problem following what was going on.

I would love to read the rest of the series.

I've seen this series referenced a couple of times as "If you liked _Harry Potter_ (Series), You Might Like..." compilation lists. I've looked at it a couple of times and passed, even though I rather enjoyed Stroud's _Lockwood_ books. Why? Because Disney Hyperion does not enable text-to-speech on the Kindle editions. While my vision is not bad enough that I rely on t-t-s, I often enjoy using it to free up my hands and take strain of my eyes. I finally decided to give this a shot when I realized this is part of "Prime Reading" (as of 05-17-17) and I could pick up the matching audio book for a really reasonable price. Paying for an audio edition for a "borrowed" book isn't something I plan on doing a lot, but I really rather enjoyed _Lockwood & Co._.

This book is a somewhat dark fantasy about magic, but that's really the only thing it has in common with _Harry Potter_. In this book, magicians aren't, on the whole, a very nice lot at all. These magicians reside in a ery modern modern world that is similar to our own. However, they get their power from djinn and other elemental spirits that they enslave and refer to sweepingly as "demons." The story is told from the dual perspectives of Bartimaeus (a djinn) and Nathaniel (a magician's apprentice). Bartimaeus' sections are told in first-person, while Nathaniel's are told in third-person point of view. Even though, as I've stated in many an the store reviews, I don't really care for first-person narration that much, I found Bartimaeus' sections to be much more dynamic and lively. I think most people coming from Stroud's _Lockwood_ books that loved the Skull-in-the-Jar while revel in Bartimaeus' adventures. One of Stroud's biggest strengths is the ability to mix action and humor and that is certainly on display in this title. It's not every author that can make me laugh-out-loud, but I certainly did that with this audio book. Simon Jones' brilliant narration really helped carry both the action and humor. I'm definitely putting him on my list of favorite narrators.

This young-at-heart listener really had a great time listening to this title. I would definitely like to come back to experience the other three books in this series. However, for that to happen, Disney Hyperion (publisher) would have to start supporting text-to-speech or I'd have to catch a really, really good deal on the rest of the audio books. I think it's really sad that big publishers, especially ones that release youth titles (such as this), do not support text-to-speech. T-T-S technology and Kindle Fires could open up reading to many that cannot otherwise enjoy fantastic worlds and tales such as this. I have been trying not to give the bigger publishers that disable text-to-speech on the Kindle Fire editions my money on principal. Unfortunately, that often means I'm left with second and third tier (or lower) literature.

The plot of The Bartimaeus Trilogy is unique, clever, and filled with incredible characters. In a world where magicians exist and oppress the “commoners”, magicians get all of their power from demons they enslave and abuse. As Nathaniel is given up by his family and trained early on to be a magician, he is given to a callous master who allows Nathaniel to be humiliated and insulted by other top-ranking magicians. Nathaniel plots his revenge against cruel adults using his determination and talent to summon the powerful djinni, Bartimaeus. The two come together over the three books, weaving an incredible story with incredible and memorable character development.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the plot line of the three Bartimaeus books, I feel that the best part of the books is the three main characters. Nathaniel is a misguided young magician prodigy, angry, and striving after a powerful position in the government while struggling with his conscious. Bartimaeus, his first summoned djinn, is kind-hearted, but hides it behind his sassy personality as well as struggling with a history of slavery and cruelty and the hands of humans. Finally, the commoner Kitty is an incredible female character who struggles with strength and weakness, feeling helpless, but with a fierce determination to end the oppression of the common people.

The writing is witty, descriptive, and totally absorbing as it sets scenes from powerful magical show downs to complicated back stories and emotional confrontations. The over-all story and character development through the three novels is amazing, beautiful, and has a conclusion that will stay with me for years to come. I highly recommend this adventurous, powerful, and hilariously sassy story.

Title: The Amulet of Samarkand
Author: Jonathan Stroud
Age Group: Teen/Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Series: The Bartimaeus Sequence, book one
Star Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

I borrowed this book through my local library and reviewed it.

My husband got this book as a recommendation from the lovely, helpful readers on Reddit. (Thanks so much, guys!) And, in true form, he asked me to read it with him, so how could I say no? I watched as he laughed and cringed its way through it, before it made its way into my hands, but that was an experience all its own, and I was really excited when I finally got around to reading it. I'd read it before, way back when it first came out, in eighth grade, but I didn't remember much. What resulted was a rip-roaring, breakneck adventure, full of magic, political intrigue, action, and beautiful, descriptive writing that totally immersed me in Nathaniel's dangerous world. What a series debut! I can't wait for The Golem's Eye and Ptolemy's Gate!

Nathaniel is a young magician, eager to prove his prowess and serve his country. Bartimaeus is an ancient, powerful djinn whose history dates back to the Egyptian ancients. These reluctant allies' worlds collide in an explosion of animosity and half-hatched revenge schemes. Begrudging partners at best, the two work to take revenge on one of Nathaniel's enemies. But what the boy doesn't realize is that his actions cause irrevocable collateral damage, and that his desires may cost him more than he ever imagined, and for Bartimaeus, cooperation, however reluctant, is the only way to gain the freedom he craves again...

This book was wonderful. I was laughing and crying, sometimes in tandem, throughout the story. As far as series starters go, this book was more than solid. I loved the world-building, and the way that magical Britain was reinterpreted. But I think, most of all, what I loved was the characters. Nathaniel, the small human boy who wants greatness, to satisfy his ambitions and rise above mediocrity, and his unwilling partner, the ancient, powerful djinn, Bartimaeus, wily, sly, and full of slightly arrogant humor. I was captivated, especially once the ball really got rolling! I was left longing for more, though, and there were a few questions that were unanswered, but I'm sure that I'll get my fill in the two huge sequels waiting for me! The bottom line: A seductive, magical series debut, I loved The Amulet of Samarkand! What a wonderful book! Thanks Cody, for asking me to read it! Next on deck: By Your Side by Kasie West!

While I found it very well written and clever and the footnotes were hilarious (I’m a big fan of snarky footnotes and it reminded me of Good Omens by Terri Pratchet and Neil Gaiman) I just couldn’t get through this book because not a single character was likable or sympathetic.

The two main characters are vindictive, spiteful, self-centered and loathsome, and they hate each other. The only characters that are even mildly likable are minor and the entire world, which while it is inventive and well developed, is full of awful human beings who are awful to each other for no reason.

I’m all about realism when it comes to human emotions, but come on. They can’t be awful all the time.

I tried very hard to get through this book but a little more than halfway through I had to give up.

Would not recommend.

This is an amazing book! Absolutely and really…

The Amulet of Samarkhand deals with a young magician named Nathaniel, who summons Bartimaeus, a 5000-year-old Djinn, to do his bidding. What Nathaniel wants is for Bartimaeus to steal an amulet from Simon Lovelace, a powerful magician as a revenge for the humiliation that Simon had put Nathaniel through. But what follows is a little more than what Nathaniel and Bartimaeus had bargained for.

Frankly speaking, it took me a few chapters to get into the book. Bartimaeus’s voice is unique and as such it takes some time to get used to. But he is the one with a sense of humour and his wisecracks never failed to put a smile on my face. I suppose when one has lived for 5000 years, taking things with a pinch of salt comes easily. The adventures and life of Nathaniel and Bartimaeus are equally interesting and engaging and I liked the fact that the author gave us alternate POVs of Bartimaeus and Nathaniel which in turn gave us a closer look into both the characters. Nathaniel is really young and so there are times when his age and inexperience shows. But his determination really pulls him through. That is maybe why Nathaniel and Bartimaeus makes such a good duo – one so young and inexperienced coupled with an old soul with thousands of years of experience in the magical world. Secondary characters are given equally important treatment with their development and as such the book becomes even more engaging. Though there are times when the pace seemed to lag a bit, the book never bores you for a second.

I usually do not like to compare books or series and will not start doing so. But if you are a Harry Potter fan looking for something in fantasy genre, do give this series a try. They are, of course very different in many way, but they are both engaging with a fantastic story to tell. And this is a must read for anyone who enjoys the fantasy genre in general.

What is it about?

Nathaniel is an apprentice wizard to a low-level government wizard. (In London, the government is run completely by wizards.) When he is humiliated by one of his master's coworkers he embarks on a dangerous quest of revenge. With the help of Bartimaeus, a djinn or demon depending on your point of view, they cause a lot of trouble and then try to fix it. 

Was it good?

It was interesting, but I thought Bartimaeus was trying too hard to be funny. I ended up skipping some of the footnotes, because I tend to find footnotes distracting and these were mostly just snide side comments. 

If you like reading about London, magicians or wizards, or you enjoy sassy demons, then you might enjoy this book. 

I might keep reading the series if I stumble across it, but I'm not going to go out of my way to follow through on it. 

London. Modern day. With a sweet taste of the better parts of "Harry Potter"- Magic is real. A wide range of imps & demons are enslaved by an upper-class aristocracy of magicians and wizards to rule over commoners, and battle other nations & their magic. A moderately powerful djinni named Bartimaeus is our villainous & humorous anti-hero. Bartimaeus is "summoned" from the "other world" into an ever-so-English twisting tale of adventure and intrigue by a 12-year-old Wizard's apprentice who is a spoiled brat seeking revenge against a cruel adult who is in turn revealed to be a black-hearted super - villain sorcerer plotting some sort of world domination. Wanting to avoid a darned good spanking (which he needs), our apprentice is quickly entwined with his supernatural-slave into a harrowing adventure escaping greater and expanding threats of "treason against the empire" or a fate like that of the "Mad Arab" Abdul Alhazred, author of the "Necronomicon" who was "seized by an invisible monster in broad daylight and devoured horribly before a large number of fright-frozen witnesses." The djinn Bartimaeus is a shape-shifter. He changes from smoke to spiders to birds to gargoyles, but often takes on the form of a young human. A handsome Egyptian boy he calls Ptolemy: "I became a boy I had known once before. Someone I had loved. His dust had floated long ago down the Nile. He was brown skinned, bright eyed, dressed in a white loin cloth. He looked around in that way he had, his head cocked slightly to one side." This can only be a tantalizing reference to the famous boy-king Ptolemy V Epiphanes (204 -181 BC), the fifth ruler of the Ptolemaic Dynasty who sat on the throne at age 5, had a life full of dangerous treachery, revolt, and war. His adult-hood saw the creation of the Rosetta Stone - all, I suppose, with the help of a djinni named Bartimaeus. I bought this book after getting "burned" by too many fantasy novels that seemed "dumbed down" and written for the puerile xenophobic violent and sexist interests of teenaged apes. I looked up "The Best Fantasy Novels Ever Written" and found this book in many top-ten lists. This story is cleaver and fun. It's not filled with vile characters drooling over their bloody gory crimes, I still mourn for the "Best Fantasy Novel of all time" which is "The Hobbit" and I weep over the terrible atrocities that were committed on film in horrific hyper-real CGI in it's flawless innocent and perfect name. Anyways, in the end, things are set right. Evil is vanquished. Things like honor & courage & friendship & love, are again held high and peace reigns over the realm. Simon Jones gives the story a spectacular read. He is a great story teller, and has a truly enchanting "English Accent" which this story requires. "The Amulet of Samrkand" is not "The Hobbit", but it is a darned good post J.R.R. Tolkien fantasy novel that I can recommend.

I read this for free with prime membership. I love a good fantasy and magic filled story...this was told from two points of perspective one is the young boy who's newly trained and every bit an ambitious magician as the dijinni aka a minor demon he summons is an untrustworthy sidekick named Bartimaeus, who is the other main voice of the story...id say 60-70% is from Bart's point of view. It makes the story much more interesting to read with this volley of character voices being used to tell the story. Some of it is very predictable but all in all a good read I could recommend from young adult fans to old farts! Lol quick read too if you're able to, can be read in a weekend.

Partially narrated in 1st person and partially from a limited omniscient 3rd person perspective. Generally this shifting narrative style would be off-putting but it’s handled fairly well here and the book is so entertaining that one hardly notices the shifts. It could have been very interesting if the author had chosen to write two separate 1st person storylines, each from the point of view of the two main characters; that could have allowed him to more clearly display their differences in personality and play around more with conflicting perceptions of the same event. (He already does this a bit as is.) But then, that may have been a challenge to pull off, and the book as written doesn’t suffer too much from the shifts in narrative tone, though the parts in 1st person are much more entertaining than the parts in 3rd person.

Well I really enjoyed this book. To my surprise. Gripping throughout, well written, well edited. All credit to the unusual ploy of having the djinni/ “demon” Bartimaeus write much of the story from his own perspective. I’m also impressed by the backdrop of inner loneliness and longing for affection that drives the main character, the twelve year old apprentice. Like all magical apprentices in this alternate UK he was sold to the state at the age of five by his parents. This abandonment and hurt fuels his fury as he seeks his revenge on those he perceives as having hurt him instead of giving him his due narcissistic recognition. The vehicle for his revenge is the demon Bartimaeus who he summons to do his bidding, a strategy that might be very appealing to many a powerless twelve year old.

I have yet to read any other books by this author, so do not know whether I will enjoy the sequels as much. The action in this episode covers just a few days, so I am unsure how well this alternate reality will hold up to greater exposure. On this reading, this is a somewhat one dimensional magical world grounded in the Goetia, the evocation and control of spirits. Society is divided into the magicians (those with Goetic knowledge and resultant personal and political power), and the despised commoners. The magical tradition, as portrayed here, is made up of shabby shallow self-seeking individuals, and contains no elements of the search for meaning and humanity. However, this book works, it really does. It is a wonderfully amusing and enthralling tale.

I have to say, if you are reading the Bartimaeous trilogy, I recommend reading it at night before bed with only the night lamp on. It gave me a true sense of wonder and made me feel like I was actually in a dark setting from the book with the characters. The cover is simple yet awesome. I really love it when a good book has a cool cover so that I can show off even more when people ask me about what I'm reading. It's your standard fantasy with fantastic creatures, wizards, magic and such, but the plot is actually rather fascinating. I didn't find the fact that wizards are the villains and a demon is a hero interesting as much as the mere existence of people who control evil, lean, deliciously charming demons. The main characters differ very much in my eyes. I find Nathaniel a bit (maybe too) bland and lacking in character. I know he's supposed to be strong, but he looks too much of a wimp in my eyes and the fact that Bart is doing all his dirty work for him doesn't help. I didn't like him and sighed every time I got to his perspectives. Bart, on the other hand is now residing on my "Super hot and epic characters that I wish to marry" list. He is not only badass (not to mention charming, smarter than anyone else in the book in my opinion), but also the kind of guy/demon I would daydream about when I get moody. Seriously, this character is like a deity to me. I absolutely love this character. If he has a love interest somewhere in the other books, I think I'll make a voodoo doll of her and burn it or drown it in boiling oil sine I don't have any acid in my kitchen. When some other characters in other book I've read are just stupid, perfect Disney princes. This is actually a very good thing because then I don't feel so disgustingly jealous and hate filled when he has a love interest. Because Bart is now a permanent addition to my fantasies, I feel like it's a bad thing because I end up hating anyone who opposes him or he becomes attracted to. Those people might actually be nice and pretty good characters, but I will hate them just because I love Bart so much. For example, Kitty, a leader of some street gang (I think) opposed him and now I hate her. She seems like she could have a pretty neat backstory and I believe will be Nathaniel's love interest, but nobody disses Bart. It's like the 11th commandment now! I do not look forward to this character in the other books. The villain was actually pretty cool and the last battle was quite thrilling. Lovelace is an epic name, period. He is a sophisticated gentleman and I like that about him. Even though I wish he could have had a more creative goal to achieve which wouldn't include plotting against the government, but he's still a pretty amusing villain. The plot is original (with a few very minor setbacks). I just didn't like the resistance being named... Well, the Resistance. I wish they could have had a cooler name. Overall, the book is an exciting adventure filled with suspense and dark settings that give you a magical sense of wonder and chills at the same time. Not to mention, it has an epic, demon protagonist. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good fantasy book to read before bed. I loved the part when Bart ran over people with an ambulance and threw them in after doing so. Hilarious.