The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud
Published December 12, 2003
To further prove just how removed I am from literary hipness, let me admit that I enjoy reading fantasy books. To be fair, I am not obsessive about it or anything. It is not a steady part of my reading, but I do enjoy it nonetheless. It started in high school when I needed to read books for book reports. I found to my amazement that authors like J.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Issac Aizmov were on the list. I soaked up a great deal of these author's work, soon doing so without the pressure of a book report being due. After hearing about this interest, a friend of the family recommended some of her favorites. This got me interested in Piers Anthony, Anne McCaffrey, Roger Zelazny & Robert Sheckly, and others. I especially enjoyed the more light hearted side of fantasy as it better avoids the cheese and pathos that epic fantasy can easily fall prey to. Ever since these early years I have enjoyed a good fantasy novel to break up the pace of more serious reading. I even dip into children's and young adult fiction from time to time. Heck, I have read the entire Harry Potter series to date as well as the darker work of Phillip Pullman. I even read Lemmony Snicket (just one).
Which brings me to the point of this ramble, I recently picked up a young adult fantasy book entitled The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud (billing itself as The Bartimaeus Trilogy Part One). Strolling through the bookstore like an alcoholic through the brewery district, the book's cover caught my eye. The plot seemed interesting and I was going on vacation soon . . . So I ended up buying it (one of the useful things about having a book blog is that you can always rationalize your purchases by telling yourself that it will make a good review). So in order to assuage my guilt for buying so many books when I haven't read half the ones I own, here is my review.
The Amulet of Samarkand is about the . . . Amulet of Samarkand, but the story focuses on, and is told from the perspective of, two main characters. The first is Bartimaeus, hence the Bartimaeus Trilogy, a five-thousand-year-old djinni summoned to earth. Nathaniel, an eleven year-old magician apprentice, is the summoner. Nathaniel summons Bartimaeus to steal the, wait for it, Amulet of Samarkand from Simon Lovelace. Lovelace, the book flap tells us, is a magician of un-rivaled ruthlessness and ambition. So when Nathaniel summons a entity of this power and successfully steals a prize possession of an important magician, things get interesting.
- The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud
- Published: December 12, 2003
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- Section: Books
- Filed Under: Books: Children, Books: Fantasy
- Writer: Kevin Holtsberry
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- Kevin Holtsberry's personal site
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Adolf! You've still got that victory psychosis I see which your generals despaired of in the last days of the war
The Bartimaeus Trilogy is the best set of books since Harry Potter. It makes Harry Potter look so insignificant if compared, Jonathan, i absolutly love these books.
CONGRATULATIONS FOR THE BEST SET OF BOOKS EVER!!!
I realy enjoyed the Bartimaeus Trilogy but I strongly diliked the way he ended the last one. But I still realy love the whole trilogy
I think you should contiue the trilogy so your fans find out more about how Nathanial dies and how Kitty goes on with her life. You forshadowed but left us hanging we didn't expect that at all. You are a briliant author but your fans need more information. We all fell in love with Kitty, Nathanial, and Bartimaeus as they became friends and found themselvs. I would be the first in line to buy that book. Please consider my thoughts. thanks.
I think that this book is the best out of the trilogy, as the first books always are. Still, this set of books make Harry Potter sound almost childish. Keep up to good work, Mr. Stroud!! you're my favorite author ever. I'll be looking foward to a second trilogy.
You should write like an epilogue to the third book and can perhaps save Nathanial somehow. It was unfair to kitty..their relationship just started growing, its sad to end it like that. Hope you can consider what everyone says and write up the epilogue to your wonderful books(making the trilogy even more wonderful..but it wouldn't be called a Trilogy actually).
i love the bartimaeus trilogy. it is cool how the magic comes from summoning demons and not just being born with magic like in harry potter. this was obviously a copy of harry potter with quite a few differences made but alot of similarities remain. it is confusing how there are "magicians" (not "wizards") and "commoners" (not "muggles") that do associate with each other and there are even magicians that run the country. there are too many historical footnotes that completely run off subject and become very boring. other than that, all three books ROCK!!!!
PLEASE AN EPILOGUE!!! The third book is amazing but it has such a disapointing ending!!kitty and nathaniel are like totally in love with eachother, please incorporate that someway into an EPILOGUE
He's definatly a better author than any other child authors, if thats what you can call him. The last book was brill but the ending wasnt enough. We need an epilogue or a fourth book to finish the trilogy off.
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This was a awesome book i am your biggest fan theats why im doing my academic fair on you Jonathan Stroud.
AWESOME BOOKS