THE AMULET OF SAMARKAND: The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book One

The Amulet of Samarkand: The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book One * Jonathan Stroud
2003 * p. 462 * YA Fantasy

The Amulet of Samarkand is written from the 1st person perspective of two characters: Bartimaeus, the anciently cheeky and mischievious demon, and Nathaniel, the revengeful apprentice wizard that has summoned him.

Nathaniel is apprentice to the ridiculous wizard Underwood. Underwood treats him as a burden, and fails to see the amazing potential that Nathaniel possesses to becoming a great wizard. And when Underwood also fails to stick up for Nathaniel against the attacks of the slimy Simon Lovelace, Nathaniel vows to seek revenge on both Lovelace and Underwood. To do so, he must go behind his master's back, dabble into wizardy levels he's too young to know, and summon a great and powerful demon to do his bidding.

Nathaniel summons Bartimaeus. And he is anything but willing. But since he has been summoned and put under an obedience charm, Bartimaeus follows the boy's commands and steals a powerful possession from Simon Lovelace: The Amulet of Samarkand.

But stealing the amulet puts a series of events into motion that Nathaniel did not anticipate.

I thought the book was far too long for what it needed to accomplish. I found myself struggling to just read a chapter each night. Not a good sign usually.

The saving grace of the book was Bartimaeus' witty and funny remarks to those around him and inside his head.

"The boy's mouth hung so low and loosely, a rodent could have used it as a swing"
(428).

Also, much of Bartimaeus' lines are given explanation in footnotes and they are pretty funny.

"1 In both senses. And I can tell you I've been in some sticky places in my time, but for sheer waxy unpleasantness, his earlobe would be hard to beat" (415).

To give the book credit, the last 80 or so pages were suspenseful and entertaining. However, my disappointment with the book on a whole does not have me running out to buy the 2nd and 3rd books.

-Reading level: ages 13 & up
-Completely appropriate
-A New York Times Bestseller
-Themes of revenge, trust, ambition, courage