The Amulet of Samarkand

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• The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud

  When you summon a demon the last thing you want is for you to lose power over it - for the shoe to end up on the other foot. Especially when the demon shifts shape and is currently an eight-legged spider. That's what's happened to young Nathaniel, ha ... (read full critics)

  thebookbag published on Fri, 17 Dec 2010

• The djinni's tale

  The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud 486pp, Doubleday, £12.99 This first volume in a promised trilogy is set in an alternate England - at least, I hope it's not ours - where the ruling classes are cold-hearted, self-centred magicians who derive ... (read full critics)

  guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

7 Reviews

• 3 people find this helpful

  

  Review

  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 wh ... (continue)

  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.

  Stroud has created an interesting world in this book. One where magician’s rule England through the power of the djinn, and other beings, that they summon and control. These beings are never happy about being enslaved, and if they get the chance will kill their masters so that they can return back to where they come from. The magicians are the elites of this world, they have all the power, and the commoners have nothing.

  In the occasional mentions of other countries and past centuries, we learn that not all lands have magicians in control. In some places the magic users have been overthrown, and commoners rule. But in England the magicians are in control. They run the government, they are the politicians, and they care very little for the lives of anybody but themselves.

  But all that is simply backdrop to the story of Bartimaeus and Nathaniel as they both get pulled into intrigue and danger, all arising out of Nathaniel’s childish wish for revenge.

  The narration of the book is divided between the usual, all-knowing narrator and Bartimaeus as a first person narrator, complete with footnotes. He operates on several planes at once you see, footnotes are his way of simplifying matters so that humans can understand. But Bartimaeus’ story is not that straight forward, occasionally it’ll seem as though the third person narrator has taken over, only for the reader to discover that no, it is still Bartimaeus telling the story, he is simply describing the form he has taken, and its actions as though it were someone else.

  At first this switching between perspectives is a little distracting, but you soon get into it and it makes a lot of sense.

  The book is a nice blend of humour, action and magic. Bartimaeus is probably more interesting than the other main protagonist, but Nathaniel is only eleven, it is understandable that he is slightly more straight-forward. I liked the fact that our two heroes don’t really like each other, they certainly don’t trust one another. Like all magician’s Nathaniel has been taught to fear and hate the spirits he summons and controls. And as for Bartimaeus, well it is easy to understand that he might not enjoy being at the back and call of any old human who knows the summoning spells.

  I’ll look forward to the next two books in this trilogy.

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  Dee said on Oct 16, 2006 | Add your feedback

• 1 person find this helpful

  

  I orginally picked this audiobook up to read because the third in the trilogy is one of the books nominated for the JHunt, but I was unable to finish it in time to get the other two read, but did enjoy it anyways and is another I can recommend if someone likes Harry Potter.

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  SheReads said on Mar 6, 2007 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback

• 

  I read it three or four years ago, but I practically didn't remember it at all O_O. I'm very curious about the rest of the series.

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  Mag said on May 31, 2012 about the eBook edition | Add your feedback

• 

  Can't describe how much I adore the author of this series. The narrative style is GENIUS. Read every footnote and if you have anything like my sense of humor you will be laughing out loud and getting weird looks from the people around you. True story.

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  Sarabear135 said on Feb 25, 2010 about the Audio CD edition | Add your feedback

• 

  I've rated this as so-so because the story line was really interesting, but the infernal footnotes drove me to distraction! It's really irritating to have to stop what you're reading and go down and find the right numbered footnote. Not sure if I'll read the second in the trilogy because of that.

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  Heather Landry said on Aug 5, 2009 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback

• 

  http://torreditanabrus.wordpress.com/2009/03/10/the-amu…

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  Gabriele said on Mar 11, 2009 | Add your feedback

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Book Details

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• English Books
• Paperback 480 Pages
• Edition: Reprint
• ISBN-10: 0786852550
• ISBN-13: 9780786852550
• Publisher: Miramax
• Pub date: May 12, 2004
• Dimensions: 1226 mm x 839 mm x 194 mm Just how big is that?
• Also available as: Hardcover, Audio CD, Audio Cassette, School & Library Binding, Others and eBook
• In other languages: other languages 繁體書, 简体书, Livres Français, Deutsche Bücher, Libros en Español, Livros em Português, Libri Italiani

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