We may feel sympathy for the hero of Bartimaeus; a lonely, friendless young magician, subject to outrageous repression and unkindness by the adults around him, but he is not an overly sympathetic child. Far superior in ability to his mediocre master, he studies advanced magic in solitude and secrecy, for motives that are not pretty, however understandable. For those who didn't get the title, Simon Jones is probably best known by some as the voice of Arthur Dent in the BBC's TV and radio adaptations of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. But he does an excellent job of narrating audiobooks from what I've heard, particularly here. Well i do not usually compare any book with Harry potter but this one here just made me do so. It was an amazing read. Nearly everything about the book is just great. There are a lot of fantastic things about this book. Bartimaeus' hilarious footnotes. The witty style of writing. The changes of style that accompany the change in POV from chapter to chapter. Characters that aren't just flat out good or bad, but rather a more mixed bag. "Real" people, in other words, motivated by ambition, or revenge, or greed. If leaving his parents and erasing his past life isn't tough enough, Nathaniel's master, Arthur Underwood, is a cold, condescending, and cruel middle-ranking magician in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The boy's only saving grace is the master's wife, Martha Underwood, who shows him genuine affection that he rewards with fierce devotion. 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 is still sort of unpleasant in an arrogant elitist sort of way, but he has some personality now, and isn't just a generic kid protagonist. He's a career-focused dandy now, which is an intriguing shift. One of the book's protagonists, Nathaniel, is one such apprentice, to the ineffectual Mr. Underwood. And the book's 2nd protagonist is Nathaniel's djinni of choice. the book's namesake, the delightfully sarcastic, witty, and mischievous Bartimaeus. Within the first few sentences my heart sank. Oh no, I thought, fanciful purple prose attempting to set a magical aura about the opening scene. Bartimaeus is a lovable character--saucy, sardonic, witty, brave, fatalistic, and street-smart. His cheeky comments do not endear himself to his master, but they make for hilarious dialog. He is sagacious, and ever mindful of his limits and the limitations of the magicians.On the other hand, I might be wrong about that last bit. I’m not sure how receptive I would have been to the idea of a “hero” like Nathaniel, who is clearly on the path to the Dark Side, or whatever.

Notable Children's Books". Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC). 30 November 1999 . Retrieved 18 July 2021. I don't know who or what recommended this to me, but I loved it. It is hilarious, adventurous, fast-paced, and creative. In the world of the Bartimaeus triolgy, magicians don't actually have that much power. They have all their control and magic from summoning djinn from If the quality of a book rested solely on its plot, this would be an excellent novel. The general plot is, of course, standard fantasy fare (save the world!) but its details and the world built to drive it is unique. Also, there appears to be a second plot running under the main one which will obviously be continued in the later books, and this plot seems much more promising.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. 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. The boy, Nathaniel, whines all the time about things not going his way, and only thinks to plot revenge on people who've wronged him. The Ring of Solomon revisits the universe created in the Bartimaeus Trilogy, although the setting shifts from modern London to Jerusalem, 950 BC. It follows the djinni's adventures during the reign of King Solomon, who was frequently referenced in the footnotes during the trilogy. It was released in the United Kingdom on 14 October 2010 and in the U.S. on November 2, 2010. The story revolves around the troubles Bartimaeus faces while enslaved to Solomon's magicians, as he gets caught between the plots of his master to overthrow Solomon, and the schemes of Asmira, captain of the guard of the Queen of Sheba, who was sent by her to assassinate Solomon.