The Amulet Of Samarkand (The Bartimaeus Sequence)

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I don't usually reread books I didn't care for initially, This would be the first. Before I had any prominence or visibility on Goodreads whatsoever, my first review for this book drew a lot of heated opposition. The djinni, Bartimaeus, is cheeky and smug, but has no admirable qualities. Even helping Nathaniel is rooted in pure self-interest. Nathaniel is a boy magician-in-training, sold to the government by his birth parents at the age of five and sent to live as an apprentice to a master. Powerful magicians rule Britain, and its empire, and Nathaniel is told his is the "ultimate sacrifice" for a "noble destiny." Nathaniel is eleven-years-old and a magician's apprentice, learning the traditional art of magic. All is well until he has a life-changing encounter with Simon Lovelace, a magician of unrivaled ruthlessness and ambition. When Lovelace brutally humiliates Nathaniel in public, Nathaniel decides to speed up his education, teaching himself spells far beyond his years. With revenge on his mind, he masters one of the toughest spells of all and summons Bartimaeus, a five-thousand-year-old djinni, to assist him. But summoning Bartimaeus and controlling him are two different things entirely, and when Nathaniel sends the djinni out to steal Lovelace's greatest treasure, the Amulet of Samarkand, he finds himself caught up in a whirlwind of magical espionage, murder and rebellion.

Recommendations: I loved this book so much, I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to capture the magic of reading as a kid again. It has enough adult elements to make it an ideal crossover series. Make sure to do a physical read, however - the footnotes are everything. The audio version includes the footnotes as part of the main narrative but they blend in too well, taking away half the fun of the series. 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. In May 1999, Stroud published his first children's novel, Buried Fire, which was the first of a line of fantasy/mythology children's books.Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:

Stroud lives in St Albans, Hertfordshire, with his two children, Isabelle and Arthur, and his wife Gina, an illustrator of children's books. The plot works, though between action, it can slow down considerably, but the magical scenes are pretty fantastic, and, while HP has managed to sadden me on occasion, this book was the first that scared me with its monsters. Best Books for Young Adults Top Ten List". Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). 30 July 2007 . Retrieved 18 July 2021. I am really into children's books, YA fantasy, it´s so easy to consume in between, so interesting to see how the same tropes and ideas are used in easier to understand contexts, how humor is executed, and how the characters perform in contrast to the adult comedic fantasy, etc. and what should I say, many of these works are much better than average, not bad, novels just for adults. Because kids and teens don´t like getting bored with bad writing, so everything has to be even more perfected than for older readers.The main protagonist of the book Nathaniel is an apprentice. He is under the surveillance of a scrawny, not-so-powerful mr. Underwood. Soon he gets into enemity with Simon lovelace - a hedious magician thriving on want of power. And in process of seeking revenge he gets intertwined between far large conspiracy than he could ever imagine. so he summons a djinni to help himself. And speaking of the characters, they were completely delightful, even if not always likable. And the demons – omgsh the demons. They start out as these wildly interesting (and dangerous) enigmas that give you even more reason to keep reading. I also loved learning about summoning demons and watching one of the main characters struggle to get it right. The combination of the magic, world-buildings, and mystery plot made for one of the most enjoyable things I’ve read in ages. And that’s across ALL genres, not just middle-grade books.

At the tender age of six years, Nathaniel is taken from his parents and apprenticed as a learning magician to Arthur Underwood, a minor functionary in a dark and fantastical English government. This bleak London's parliamentarians and upper crust are members of a greedy, self-serving ruling class of magicians and everyone else is disparagingly referred to as a "commoner". When Nathaniel encounters Simon Lovelace, a brutal, ruthless magician whose ambition knows no limits, Lovelace chooses to openly display his terrifying power and publicly humiliates Nathaniel while Underwood stands meekly by doing nothing to defend his young charge who has barely begun to learn the rudiments of his magical craft. Angered beyond endurance, Nathaniel decides to secretly accelerate his own learning and begins to plot his revenge against Lovelace. Nathaniel becomes an apprentice Magician after his unknown family forfeit him (at the age of five) as part of a government program which pays parents to give up their children to become part of the ruling class of magicians. His master, Arthur Underwood, is a mediocre magician and the Minister of Internal Affairs. Underwood is unwilling to having an apprentice while his wife, Martha, warmly welcomes Nathaniel. Over the following years, he progresses through his training as a magician which includes an intense academic education as well as lessons in matters relating to magic. The art in this volume really emphasizes Nathaniel's place as an outwardly-unremarkable preteen, boring facial features and all. I particularly liked it when the creators let him be angsty and vulnerable and sad like an actual young kid rather than trying to turn him into a "stoic" or "manly" figure.I read this one as a book group read – it came up during a discussion that none of us had properly read a graphic novel before and we wanted to give it a try. This is a difficult book to rate: It was very well-written, with an intriguing plot and engaging wit. That being said, I must admit that it was more frustrating than enjoyable for me.

Among his most prominent works are the bestselling Bartimaeus Trilogy. A special feature of these novels compared to others of their genre is that Stroud examines the stereotypes and ethics of the magician class and the enslaved demons. This is done by examining the perspective of the sarcastic and slightly egomaniacal djinni Bartimaeus. The books in this series are The Amulet of Samarkand, The Golem's Eye, and Ptolemy's Gate, his first books to be published in the United States. Start Media has optioned the film and TV rights to Jonathan Stroud’s fantasy series The Bartimaeus Sequence. With the look of this tome the standout, this is the best preteen-read-to-graphic-novel book I've yet seen, making it better than the Alex Rider, Charlie Higson young Bond, and even our co-adaptor's Artemis Fowl tie-ins. It's a lengthy book, for it doesn't appear wordy yet contains a satisfying amount of bulk. It reads fine, and looks splendid, and I have no problem recommending it. The Bookbag Of all the odd things to find in a modern, present-set, book, the author goes in hard on who, Disraeli or Gladstone, was the greater Prime Minister. Bartimaeus: The Amulet of Samarkand is a novel which successfully bridges the divide between children’s and adult fiction. The story of an ambitious young demonologist and an ancient and exasperated demon, it is a challenging and sophisticated read for young readers of perhaps 12 years and upwards and a witty entertaining and fast-moving adventure story for adults.I know they were trying to keep it to one book, but I feel like too much was left out, too much was rushed. All the major, important events were kept, but most of Nathanial's story, and a lot of the fun, minor details got left out. For the sake of brevity, I suppose. It was, however, a fine enough book, more like a good overview of the original than an equal to it. Throughout his childhood, noteworthy events embitter Nathaniel towards Underwood. A year or so before the events of the novel Underwood hosts a gathering of magicians in his villa. Upon his presentation to the other magicians, Nathaniel (age 10 at the time) is interviewed by his later antagonist Simon Lovelace who dismisses Nathaniel's obvious powers for magic. Nathaniel retorts impolitely and incurs Lovelace's wrath, in the form of an invisible demon which holds him immobile, allowing Lovelace to deride his helpless condition. Once he is released, Nathaniel sets a fleet of mites upon Lovelace, which he easily destroys, and is punished with a beating from one of Lovelace's imps. Ms. Lutyens, his admired art teacher, attempts to waylay the punishment and is dismissed. The Bartimaeus Trilogy' gets 5 stars for all three books, not only for plot and story, but for Simon Jones' award-winning narration. There is a bad wizard out there. Lovelace is power hungry, greedy, and just a nasty piece of work. He embarrasses this young, powerful wizard and this child is not playing games. He is now out for revenge against Lovelace. His journey of vengeance causes him to lose everything he ever loved...