Nathaniel is a angry, smart, and somewhat cocky magician’s apprentice bent on revenge. Bartimaeus is a bored, brilliant, and somewhat annoyed ages-old djinn (genie) who’s bent on getting away from Nathaniel. Except that’s impossible. Because young Nat knows the right words to call up and bind Bart, Bart has to do his bidding. Bart, used to being called into service by powerful kings or queens or heads of state, can’t bear the fact that he has to listen to a snot-nosed kid barely into his teens. And Nat can’t stand the fact that Bart won’t take him seriously. And what he wants Bart to seriously do is steal the most powerful object in the alternate land of London: the amulet of Samarkand. Nat wants the amulet so he can lord it over it’s former owner, a powerful and slimy magician who humiliated him when he was just a baby wizard. But, as you may expect, there’s a few snags along the way…Bartimeus’s voice is the funniest voice I’ve heard in fiction in a long while. For a rip-snortingly hilarious read that rivals those books about Hogwarts, give the Amulet of Samarkand a spin.
This is one of the most entertaining books ever. Bartimaeus is a sarcastic, cynical djinni and Nathaniel is a wizard-in-training who surpasses his bumbling master. When another wizard humiliates Nathaniel, he enrolls the help of the powerful demon Bartimaeus to carry out his revenge. Nathaniel’s revenge involves stealing the Amulet of Samarkand, and the aftermath of the theft reveals a devious plot to……………well, i’ll let you read it yourself and find out. 😀
It’s a really great book. though.