This book was quite a daring read for me at the time since I was about 12 and it dealt with necromancy, or black magic. It was a fascinating and captivating read. ( )

I enjoyed this book (audio format) - Great Reader! - and I particularly liked the writer's ability to make things "look like" what you'd see if you were watching a movie... very good! ( )

The book is based on the relationship between the teenage magician apprentice Nathaniel and Bartimaeus, the djinn he summons to help him with his plans. Nathaniel is serious and powerful but inexperienced and somewhat naive, while Bartimaeus is the complete opposite: ancient, wisecracking and has seen everything. The two have to cooperate but there's a lot of tension between them because magicians work magic by summoning djinns and making them do their will, and djinns see that as being enslaved, and want to get free.

So the story is told from both points of view in alternating chapters. Bartimaeus chapters are in first person while Nathaniel's are in third-person. Bartimaeus' narration is quite funny, and the dynamics between the two main characters works quite well. While that is the strongest point, the book is well-written and the setting and the adventure interesting, so it's very readable and entertaining. One of the best YA fantasies out there. ( )

Adventure

This series (a trilogy beginning with The Amulet of Samarkand) was just meant to be an HP rebound for me, but I ended up really caring about it. Like the Great Rowling, Stroud's really good at making serious ethical questions exciting by giving them a magical spin; but where Harry is a sympathetic character that has greatness thrust upon him, Nathaniel is a total douche most of the time. It'd be like HP following Draco Malfoy's moral development. Also, in many ways this series is a bit more sophisticated than HP. It's got a lot of that dry British sarcasm going on and the alternative London Stroud imagines is way more unsettling than Rowling's. Imagine a world that's 98% Slytherin and you'll get the idea.

I'm not saying this is better than HP. I'll admit there were times when I thought about putting it down and just rereading Order of the Phoenix, but I'm really glad I finished it. It was worth it. ( )

A bit dark for tweens, better for teens. Story is interesting, but not interesting enough to want to finish reading it. ( )

-interesting world and magic system
-interesting how all the characters more or less were of dubious morality, including both main characters in different ways
-unreliable narration
-different sorts of point of view were used
-corrupt politicians who are magicians but power comes from demons they summon
-interesting conflicts between magicians and 'commoners' and magicians and demons, has some serious themes here
-it did leave some gaps and things i thought could have been done better but overall quite good
-a lot of politics for a kids book and morally dubious characters arent too common in this sort of book, but it definitely is a kids book not young adult and im sure kids can understand that sort of stuff, i didnt think it was generally more challenging than most kids books
- was slightly dense to read in its style but not that much i suspect im just not used to reading anymore ( )

Enjoyable. ( )

-interesting world and magic system
-interesting how all the characters more or less were of dubious morality, including both main characters in different ways
-unreliable narration
-different sorts of point of view were used
-corrupt politicians who are magicians but power comes from demons they summon
-interesting conflicts between magicians and 'commoners' and magicians and demons, has some serious themes here
-it did leave some gaps and things i thought could have been done better but overall quite good
-a lot of politics for a kids book and morally dubious characters arent too common in this sort of book, but it definitely is a kids book not young adult and im sure kids can understand that sort of stuff, i didnt think it was generally more challenging than most kids books
- was slightly dense to read in its style but not that much i suspect im just not used to reading anymore ( )

Top 3 favorite book series. I can't say enough positive things about it. The grade level is definitely middle to high school- not exactly a children's book. It's young adult/adult for a reason. It taught me a few new words when I read this in High School.

Thoroughly thought out premise, intelligent, original, witty, sassy, 4th wall breaking, hilariously anachronic, and the essence of the story and the characters just erupt out onto the page with self-awareness and cast a spell over you to keep turning the pages. A story told with force, respect and doesn't take itself too seriously- it feels more like a relaxing cruise with charismatic entertainment.

It has an alternating writing style, where the story is told from differing points of view from two different characters. I thought this was original, different, unique and added a layer of mental challenge. There has never been another book like the Bartimaeus trilogy and I highly doubt there ever will be to live up to it. I've never read anything else like it.
This is one of the Greats.
For context: This is the series that turned my once non-reader husband into an avid reader. This series single-handedly changed someone's preference for reading just like that.
I just love this series so much, and it doesn't deserve a less wordy review to try to convince someone to read it. Please give it a try.

(Although, I have heard it be compared to the ScrewTape Letters- but quite frankly, I am strongly convinced this trilogy is much better. The Bartimaeus sequence cannot really be compared to anything else as much as it stands out and on its own. Stroud's writing style has some similar characteristics to Terry Pratchett's humor/satire, but has a more serious edge to it.) ( )

I never thought I’d love a djinn, but Bartimaeus won me over! What a great character--funny, snarky, clever, witty, arrogant, sarcastic. He���s a powerful demon at the mercy of a 12-year-old apprentice who only partially knows what he is doing, which is half the fun, of course.

I had less affection for Nathaniel, the apprentice wizard. His one-track personality, which focused strictly on his own desires, made it difficult to care about or cheer for him. Sure he had a bad break in life, getting stuck with a mediocre, cruel, white-haired and bearded wizard with little talent, power, or intelligence, but Nathaniel had an attitude that, aside from his love of Mrs. Underwood, was less than endearing. Only toward the end of the story did I see any redeeming qualities come to the forefront, and by then it was too late.

It is, however, a wonderful world that Jonathan Stroud has placed his characters into. A London with magic. Wizards running the country and doing a pretty poor job of it.

I look forward to the next installment in the series to find out what Bartimaeus is up to.
( )

Sagan um Verndargripinn frá Samarkand er fyrsta bókin í Bartemeus þríleiknum. Hún segir frá djinnanum Bartimeus sem er 4-5000 ára gamall en verður fyrir því óláni að vera neyddur í þjónustu unglingsins Nathaniels sem hyggur á hefndir eftir að öflugur galdramaður hafði niðurlægt hann.
Heimur þeirra Nathaniels og Bartimeusar er nokkuð líkur nútímanum nema að galdramenn geta neytt verur í sína þjónustu og hafa sum staðar tekið öll völd í sínar hendur. Þannig er því háttað í Bretlandi sem herjar nú á nágrannalönd sín og er orðið öflugasta ríki Evrópu eftir að hafa sigrað Hið Heilaga Rómverska Keisaradæmi.
Stroud skiptir sögunni upp á milli sjónarhorna þeirra Bartimeusar og Nathaniels. Ólíkir persónuleikar þeirra takast á og barátta um völd þeirra á millum. Skemmtilegast fannst mér þó húmorinn í sögunni, sérstaklega kaldhæðni andans sem er kjaftfor hrokagikkur. ( )

"Nathaniel gets along tolerably well over the years in the Underwood household until the summer before his eleventh birthday. Everything changes when he is publicly humiliated by the ruthless magician Simon Lovelace and betrayed by his cowardly master who does not defend him.

Nathaniel vows revenge."

Nathaniel is sold to the government by his parents when he is just 5 years old, to be apprenticed to a magician, even if the magician doesn't want an apprentice. Powerful magicians run Britain and apprentices are raised to believe that this is a noble profession, and they should consider themselves lucky to have this chance. And Nathaniel is suitably impressed, but he is much smarter than his master knows, and he begins to experiment on his own without his master's knowledge. When Nathaniel is humiliated by another magician and his master doesn't stand up for him, Nathaniel vows revenge. He summons a very powerful djinn, Bartimaeus, to help him enact this revenge, and let's just say that things don't go quite as planned.

"I am Bartimaeus! I am Sakhr al-Jinni, N'gorso the Mighty, and the Serpent of Silver Plumes! I have rebuilt the walls of Uruk, Karnak, and Prague. I have spoken with Solomon. I have run with the buffalo fathers of the plains. I have watched over Old Zimbabwe till the stones fell and the jackals fed on its people. I am Bartimaeus! I recognize no master. So I charge you in your turn, boy. Who are you to summon me?"

Yeah, Bartimaeus is anything but malleable and willing! But if he wants to be freed eventually, he has to cooperate, and this is where a lot of the humor in this story comes from. Nathaniel is a bit arrogant, but then he's been told since he was 5 that he will one day become a great magician and help run the country, if he's lucky, so you can see where he gets it. The situations that he and Bartimaeus find themselves in are very entertaining, and you start rooting for them even more. The story itself is a fun and easy read, and I'm looking forward to continuing the story in book 2.

In summary, I enjoyed this book very much and highly recommend it.

5/5 stars.

I received a copy of this book free of charge in exchange for my honest opinion. ( )

Ive known about this book for a while and finally got around to reading it. It wasn't quite what I was expecting but I really liked it. The worldbuilding is interesting and distinctive the story was both funny and intriguing. The author has a style that I really enjoy and Im excited to read the rest of the series. ( )

Nathaniel is a magician who summons the irascible 5,000 year old djinni, Bartimaeus, to do his bidding. Nathaniel has an assignment for Bartimaeus: he must steal the powerful Amulet of Samarkand from Simon Lovelace, a master magician. Before long, the two are caught in a flood of magical intrigue, rebellion, and murder. ( )

I enjoyed this series; I found Bartimaeus to be more likeable than the main human character - John/Nathaniel. I liked that the narration went between both of the main characters, I found it really added to the story. However, I think it would have been better had Nathaniel's narration also been in first person like the chapters about Bartimaeus. ( )

Enjoyed this. Has been compared to Harry Potter, but this book has a nastier, more cynical edge to it (I liked that). Bartimaeus is a great character. Intend to read the bext one when I get the chance. ( )

Bartimaeus is a one-of-a-kind character. You won't regret getting to know him by reading this book. It is a spectacular creation on Stroud's part and hopefully it continues in the next book...

From the Review at the top: "Bartimaeus is absolutely hilarious, with a wit that snaps, crackles, and pops. His dryly sarcastic, irreverent asides spill out into copious footnotes that no one in his or her right mind would skip over."

And the best part is... It's totally true! ( )

This turned out to be a fun read. The last few chapters were a blast. And I will read the rest because I fell in lover with a djinni! Bartimaeus. Be still my beating heart *swoons*

Before I start:
I only bought this series because:
A. It was cheap.
B. It was pretty and
C. I vaguely remembered that the writer was supposed to be good.

And now I'm wondering if it isn't a children or young adult book. Genres I normally don't read to relax... ( )

Ich fande das Buch unterhaltsam. Aber es ist auf jeden Fall ein Jugendbuch. Im Fokus steht die Reise von Nathanael und Bartimäus und deren Beziehung. Leider erfährt man jedoch wenig über das Magiesystem und die Welt in der wir uns befinden. ( )

And then, as if written by the hand of a bad novelist, an incredible thing happened.

[b:The Amulet of Samarkand|334123|The Amulet of Samarkand (Bartimaeus, #1)|Jonathan Stroud|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1528705815s/334123.jpg|1121748] is a fun book. It feels someone like a grittier Harry Potter, where instead of the bright and shiny flick of a wand, you summon demons. Instead of a fantastic hidden castle in the woods, you have Arthur Underwood--imagine if Harry was tutored throughout his magical career by a slightly more competent Vernon Dursley. And instead of a dark wizard coming to kill you because of an accident of your birth... well, Nathaniel does a pretty good job of bringing trouble down upon his own head.

That being said, it's actually a fun read--so long as you enjoy a rather snarky sense of humor. In particular, the counterpoint between Nathaniel (eleven year old magician in training, sound familiar?) and Bartimaeus (a relatively powerful djinni he summons to assist him in all manners of trouble) is pretty interesting.

The writing style is different enough that you can always remember whose head you're in. The sheer amount of snark coming out of Bartimaeus directed towards his current master is amusing, especially when you start to get the feeling that the former may actually feel a bit protective of the former. Bartimaeus really is going to be the reason you either love or hate this book.

One thing that I did particularly enjoy about the book was the magic system. The idea is that magicians can do a bit on their own, but most of their power comes from the 'demons' they summon--the more power you want, the more powerful / risky species of demon you have to summon. Seems fairly solid.

That did it. I'd gone through a lot in the past few days. Everyone I met seemed to want a piece of me: djinn, magicians, humans...it made no difference.I'd been summoned, manhandled, shot at, captured, constricted, bossed about and generally taken for granted. And now, to cap it all, this bloke is joining in too, when all I'd been doing was quietly trying to kill him.

( )

All I think about is how the flaw of the main character made an impact to the turn of events in the story. ( )

In an alternate modern day London a young boy, Nathaniel is busy summoning what he would call a demon. Bartimaeus, the being summoned prefers the term djinni (genie), but he’d actually prefer not to be summoned at all. He’ll do anything he can to free himself from his master’s control. Especially when he learns that Nathaniel wants him to steal a very valuable amulet from a powerful amulet. But if Nathaniel remains careful and keeps to the rules then Bartimaeus must obey or face punishment and pain. Obeying also has its own worries, the guardians and security around the amulet. Not to mention the fact that the other djinn might learn that his master is all of eleven years old. Slightly embarrassing when you are a 5,000 year old djinni.

Full review: http://www.susanhatedliterature.net/2006/08/30/the-amulet-of-samarkand/ ( )

[This is a review I wrote in 2010]

** OK, but not as exciting as some of the competition**

Considering the number of 5 star reviews, both for this book as a stand-alone and for the trilogy as a whole, I may be risking some unfavourable feedback for posting my candid views, but here goes anyway.

The plot has been outlined very well in so many reviews - so for this review I will skip the plot summary. Personally I found it to be an 'OK' read, but that's all. I read and enjoy a lot of children's fantasy, amongst many other genres too, but I just didn't seem to click with 'The Amulet of Samarkand'. It started off well with a great beginning - some super descriptive first-person narration from the first main character, the djinni (spirit) Bartimaeus. After a while though I found my interest waning, the plot slowing (or repetetive) and I found it necessary to speed read a few paragraphs to keep it moving, whereas usually when I read novels I like to savour every word and keep my reading at a slower pace.

Bartimaeus begins as a well-drawn, witty, comic, feisty character and there's a lot to like about him initially; Nathaniel, the second main character, is a 12 year old boy with a lot of spirit and courage. Brow-beaten by his adoptive father, who assumes the boy will have the same lacklustre magical skill level as himself, Nathaniel sets out to learn his craft alone from studying the books in Mr Underwood's library. Both characters start with great promise, but I found that as I kept reading they didn't really shine and develop into anything more substantial than I found in the first few pages - more 2D than 3D, and they certainly didn't leap off the page for me. Nathaniel is slightly inconsistent in character and towards the end it's a job to know whether he's extremely naive and oblivious to occurences around him, or if he's turned into a hard-nosed, self-satisfied young magician.

I very quickly found the author's use of footnotes at the bottom of the pages to be an irritation. You don't need to read them for the story to make sense, and whilst the one line notes were okay, some of them are full paragraphs and pretty extensive. By the time you've read these long ones and returned to the story, 9 times out of 10 the plot has lost momentum and you're left feeling a bit cheated at being turned away from the action for a fairly irrelevant snippet of trivia. The alternative chapters - Bartimaeus, Nathaniel, Bartimeus, Nathaniel etc. - work well and provide differing perspectives, but I personally felt that Nathaniel's chapters might have generated more empathy from me if they were written in the first person (they are narrated in the 3rd); whereas Bartimaeus in the first person isn't quite so necessary at all times, since he is a djinni, or demon spirit, and it's perhaps not so important to empathise with the djinni. The format has obviously worked well for so many other readers so I'm hesitant to suggest this, but I might have preferred the book with Nathaniel narrated in the first person to generate more empathy. Who knows, perhaps Jonathan Stroud tried this as he was writing the book and it didn't work out. Either way, it's only my preference.

Perhaps I'll take a look at books 2 and 3 to see how the story develops, but I wasn't gripped by this book in the same way that other's children's fantasy writers have had me turning pages. I can recommend Garth Nix's Abhorsen books, Michael Scott's truly brilliant Nicholas Flamel series, Christopher Paolini's Eragon series, the first Tom Scatterhorn book by Henry Chancellor (but not the 2nd), Robin Hobb's Farseer books (suits adults and younger readers who enjoy long novels), Michelle Paver's Chronicles of Ancient Darkness, Northern Lights, and Harry Potter I loved... only 3 stars for 'The Amulet of Samarkand' though *** ( )

Fun, fun, fun, wonderfully snarky! Read it! ( )