The Bartimaeus Trilogy (A Bartimaeus Novel) Paperback – Box set, September 14, 2010

The Bartimaeus Trilogy is one of the best series I have ever read. I was so sad that it finished with three books. It is so well-written and the characters are so well developed... There is unbelievable wit and great plots. I read this set last year sometime, but since it is one of my favorites I wanted to add a review on here.I can't believe some people call this a Harry Potter rip off. The main character is a magician- this one thing in common does NOT make a book a rip off! This especially is true when the young magician is Nathaniel- raised in a completely different atmosphere as Mr. Potter... with a personality that is on the other side of the spectrum. I DO recommend this book to people who do (and do not) like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and other fantasy books such as these.Bartimaeus is the main character and he is a djinni that is 5000 years old. The djinni's in Stroud's world are the slaves of magicians. (Magicians aren't actually powerful- they're demanding things from the djinni that makes them seem to have the power.) The djinni must perform these tasks or they are punished by the wizards and one of the worst forms of punishment is never sending them back to The Other Place from where they are summoned. Because the djinni aren't really from our place, they can shift into almost any shape/disguise.Now Nathaniel, our young 12 year old magician, is very gifted, naive, bitter and power hungry. To begin the first book, "The Amulet of Samarkand," he is the assistant of a crappy magician Arthur Underwood. Arthur treats Nathaniel horridly. He puts up with it though, mostly because Arthur's wife and one of his tutors helps him through it. This all changes when Simon Lovelace completely humiliates Nathaniel and Arthur is too cowardly to help or even stand up for him. Now he isn't just bitter, he is FURIOUS...With all his anger he throws himself into some pretty outrageous goals that seem impossible for a magician as young as he. He wants to summon a powerful middle-ranking djinni to avenge himself. But our amazing djinni, Bartimaeus, is not as docile as Nathaniel had hoped. He is totally hilarious- and REALLY sarcastic. (He narrates, mostly... and leaves us footnotes that really make the book what it is.) Nate eventually avenges himself by attempting to steal the Amulet of Samarkand from Simon Lovelace, his new enemy.In book 2, "The Golem's Eye, Nathaniel (now using his formal wizarding name John Mandrake) has to summon Bartimaeus once again. It is two years later and Nate has risen fast in the government. Nate is put in charge of hunting the source of some disastrous attacks that are devastating the wizarding community. The Prime Minister seems to think the Resistance is the source, but not everyone is so sure. (The Resistance is a team of commoners that rebel against the magicians' unfair government.) While Nate is going about his work, we have Kitty Jones, a leader of the Resistance, searching out magical weapons to use against the magicians' government... They're looking to overthrow them and regain control of London. We get a deeper look into the character of Kitty Jones. We figure out she is immune to magic.Book 3, "Ptolemy's Gate," is THE BEST in the trilogy and is set three years after the previous book. I think that makes Nathaniel 17 years old and one of the most influential magicians in the British cabinet for the Prime Minister. He has tons of djinni as slaves at this point and doesn't treat any of them well, including Bartimaeus. Nate has a lot of problems- the resistance is getting stronger and the foreign war is getting worse. he has also been over using and abusing all his djinni to the point where Bartimaeus almost dies. In an act that surprises Nathaniel and the djinni- he sends Bartimaeus back to the Other Place temporarily to regain his strength. Ah, is Nathaniel's heart not completely black coal just yet?We learn tons about Bartimaeus's past in this book- these are my favorite parts. He served a 14 year old boy named Ptolemy in the past who was very intrigued by The Other Place. Ptolemy wanted to end the slavery of the djinni and was very kind to Bartimaeus. Ptolemy was also the only human to travel to The Other Side and come back to write about his experiences.Kitty has also been very busy in the 3rd book. She studies magic nonstop and has made the decision to try something that has never ever been done by anyone non-magical before.The awesome fates of Kitty, Bartimaeus and Nathaniel are intertwined more than ever... and the government finally begins to crumble like it should. All hopes of magicians and commoners alike lie in the hands of Bartimaeus, Nathaniel and Kitty. The climax is intense and you will find yourself lost in the scene holding your breath until the ending.Without giving away any spoilers, that's all I can say ;] The ending was super emotional for me, I think anyone who gets really into this series will find themselves grabbing a tissue by the end of this book.Overall this series is intense, thrilling and amazingly written. The plots, dialogue and characters blew me away. I can't stop recommending this trilogy. I could read it a million times. I want Bartimaeus to be MY best friend. I have got to pick up some of Stroud's other work.

These books were really cool. It kind of combined growing interests I had in the occult/eastern philosophy and history. As well as the power games that the ministers go through that I have found very interesting in books by robert greene ie.) The 48 Laws of Power.I got these books in an attempt to fill the void after reading the Artemis series. Somewhere said that I should like these as an Artemis fan. It didnt fill the void, and I didnt connect to the characters quite as deeply, yet it still absorbs you into a damp mysterious London atmosphere that I enjoyed, the characters are also unique and interesting. I particularly found the archetype of the rogue female rebel he meets to be an attractive ideal.

For at least the next few decades, I'm thinking, we won't be able to read a book with (a) fantasy content and (b) a teenage protagonist without wondering if we're just going to be subjected to another misbegotten attempt at capitalizing on the Harry Potter craze. I'm so glad to report that this is NOT one of those.The mechanism of magic, for one thing, is really original (I'm sure hardcore fantasy people can contradict me on that and say how so and so wrote a book 100 years ago with the same idea, or whatever), and it adds a tremendous amount to the enjoyability of the book. It's less of a brushed aside handwave and more central to the whole plot. It's significantly more thought-out than other magical mechanisms that I could name (I mean, in some books there is a spell to keep water off your glasses in the rain, and a potion to grow bones back, but nothing to fix your eyes like lasik...what's up with that?).I'm actually on here looking to buy the series because I want to read it again. There's more to it than twists and turns--the characters are believable, imperfect, human (except for the ones that aren't, I guess :) ). It's the kind of book where you want to read it again because you want to re-examine the motivations and development of the characters.In my search for stuff for my boys (all Harry Potter fans) to read, this has been my favorite series.

Demons are very wicked and will hurt you if they can. So Nathaniel, the magician-in-training, was taught and so he believes.Bartimaeus would argue on three points. First, he is not a demon. The term is insulting. He is a djinni. A noble, ancient and powerful entity.Second, he is not wicked--he only wants to go home to his own dimension where his essence doesn't ache from the physical restrictions of this world and where he won't be forced into slavery under threat of torture. The magicians who summon, bind, and control him are the wicked ones.Third, he isn't particularly interested in hurting Nathaniel. What would that achieve? No. He wants to kill him.But in the meantime, he'll settle for irritating the boy, while he follows orders in his own joyous, romping, destructive, cavalier style.*Steal from powerful government magicians? Check.Spy on the same in all imaginable shapes and guises? You've got it.Keep Nathaniel alive? . . . why of course. With gusto.Keep his comments to himself? . . . no. That one's not going to happen.Save England? Honestly, having seen countless civilizations with far greater panache than this one crumble to dust, he can rouse little interest in the matter.Oh, all right if you insist.*Be sure to read the footnotes. Try not to laugh too loudly.

Interesting, unique stories. Narrative bounces between the two main characters; Bartimaeus the 5000 year old Djinn, and the human magician child who summons him. Depending on the perspective it almost reads like two completely different books, but seamlessly alternates for an interesting story. Only complaint is the writing ability seems to out-strip the quality of the story itself, which is only moderately interesting when compared to all the other books in the same category.

Bought for a 13 year old who loved the start of the audio book when he was on a screen ban for bad behaviour!This is a story of a young prodigy of a magician in the times of Gladstone as prime minister. The boy manages to summon a higher level Genie or Djinn before he should have been able to, and they soon find they need to work together despite a mutual loathing. Magicians and their magical servants are popular amongst the haves, but there are also the have nots, the downtrodden of society. The intertwining of all the types of people in a life threatening fight to find an amulet is just the beginning of one of my favourite trilogies. The pace is good and fast, and the reader is kept engrossed. There is a small amount of crime and violence, but easily suitable for any secondary age child right up to pensioner. The trilogy doesnt save you money like some, but does look nice, and this is definately a series worth rereading due to its great detail and humour. Top marks

This is a brilliant story line, written in a very gripping style. Highly recommend it to anyone who wants to read a good humour story with twists and turns and where characters build up and change throughout the different books.

hubby loves harry potter and some terry pratchett and has even read the hunger games trilogy and says that these books are good.well written and enjoyable.worth a read

On the second book not as good as the first

long delivery over priced