Amulet of Samarkland, The (Bartimaeus Trilogy) | Jonathan Stroud

Amulet of Samarkland, The (Bartimaeus Trilogy) | Jonathan Stroud | A Fantasy worth reading

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Amulet of Samarkla...

	Amulet of Samarkland, The (Bartimaeus Trilogy) Jonathan Stroud Miramax, 2004 - 480 pages average customer review:based on 327 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Wonderfully Surprised!

I started to read this book expecting it to be Harry Potter-esque and was very surprised to find this book to stand on it's own and never make me feel that it was trying to be a Harry Potter knock-off. The Amulet of Samarkand stands on it's own and I can't wait to read the rest of the Bartimaeus Trilogy!

A Fantasy worth reading

The Amulet of Samarkland is a very fun,dark(yes,they can go together) fantasy. Batimaeus does, responding to another review, really makes the book, with a witty,sarcastic humor that appeals to me. He also is a surprisingly deep character (heck,they all are), and manages to break the old "demon=pure evil" plotline. Very good for teens,intelligent kids, and aduts, all who like fantasy, but thought that Harry Potter could have used a few jokes and an anti-villain.

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Need something to fill that empty space now that Harry Potter is done?

I originally checked this book out from my local library as something to fill that empty spot while awaiting Harry Potter 5. When the second and third books came out and our library chose not to buy the books I was a little disapointed. I found the second book on sale from a library in Memphis and decided to buy it, and was very glad I did so. I really liked the first book, Bartimaeus made it a real page turner, but fell in love with it on the second read. Nathaniel is no Harry Potter in this book, his primary desire is to seek revenge on an adult magician who humilated him (such a bad boy!!). But just wait this story has more twists and turns than you can imagine, and that's just the beginning of why this is a great book for anyone who loves this genre. Be warned that the story builds piece by piece from page one of the first book to the last page of book three. I found myself continually looking back to passages from this book to solve clues in the next two books, especially the third.
This book is also very different from Harry Potter in that Nathaniel and Bartimaeus at first look are not someone you would bring home to your parents, and especially not somone you would want your kids to be around. Nevertheless both have a central core of goodness that keeps peeking through and makes you root for them to succeed. If you have Harry Potter in your library I encourage you to get this series, it still is a story of good vs evil and of good triumphing over evil, but with a very different approach (can't tell more without spoiling the story). Get it you won't be disappointed.

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The Amulet of Samarkand

In Bartimaeus: The Amulet of Samarkand, there is something behind this magic. Demons. Yes, demons. Magicians are powerless without the demons that do their bidding in this book. True, the magician must be powerful in order to control the demon, but as a plus there's more depth to the whole "magic scene." This book adds more than "just the words," adding a whole new twist to the plot of this book. Whenever something happens in the Amulet of Samarkand, it is always having something to do with a demon and a magician.

Nathaniel is a young boy, age 11, who is the apprentice of a magician. He has had a fairly smooth life after the age of six. He had intense studies and lessons for every type of education, including language, math, writing, drawing, etc. Around the age of 9 he had gone to a celebration with his master to see his master's colleagues. During the party Nathaniel's master showed him off to some of his superiors. They questioned him and got answers. They said his master did a bad job. Nathaniel got snooty and was abused for it by the leader of the group, Simon Lovelace. Meanwhile his master sat and watched. After this night Nathaniel sped up his education in order to get revenge. After two years Nathaniel summons a powerful djinn, Bartimaeaus. He then orders Bartimaeaus to go steal a valuable artifact from Simon Lovelace, an object that Nathaniel knew Lovelace had stolen, the Amulet of Samarkand.

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Stuck in the mud

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

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