The Newest Addition to My Favorite Books List

Don't you just love it when you fall in love with a book only to find out that it's a trilogy? Well, duh, yeah, it said it was a trilogy on the cover. We've gotten past that feeling. But now imagine that you're in the middle of finishing this awesome trilogy, and find out that there's a FOURTH book. Mind blown. Boom.

Yes, of course, this happened to me.

Now, my previous post was doubtful that I'd continue reading the latest book I picked up. But thanks to an unfortunate week of standardized testing, I had ample time on my hands. Therefore, I pushed my was through The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud. By the time I had reached page sixty, I was convinced. This book is awesome. And to my luck, there is not only three books, but four.

It wasn't hard to start to like the series. I know I tend to be a bit hesitant when getting into knew books, but this one became a quick favorite. It wasn't necessarily the plot that led me to becoming a fan, but more so the characters and their development; particularly the star of the show, Bartimaeus.

 Throughout the book, Bartimaeus continually gives witty comments that make the story. Multiple times reading the book I burst out laughing, my friends giving me an odd look. For example, my favorite quote from Bartimaeus:

“That did it. I'd gone through a lot in the past few days. Everyone I met seemed to want a piece of me: djinn, magicians, humans...it made no difference. I'd been summoned, manhandled, shot at, captured, constricted, bossed about and generally taken for granted. And now, to cap it all, this bloke is joining in too, when all I'd been doing was quietly trying to kill him.”
― Jonathan Stroud, The Amulet of Samarkand    

The voice within the book, as you can see, is very strong as well. My favorite chapters were the ones with Bartimaeus narrating, partially for his wit and partially for the adventure. Because Bartimaeus is more of a sly, clever, villainous character, his chapters are full of action and escapes. He would do anything to kill his newest master, Nathaniel, another main character, especially when he has leverage. When Bartimaeus discovers Nathaniel's birth name(he can use it to deflect punishments and such and spread it to other demons so Nathaniel can't control them either) he says,

“I had a chance at him now. Things were a bit more even. He knew my name, I knew his. He had six years' experience, I had five thousand and ten. That was the kind of odds that you could do something with.”
― Jonathan Stroud, The Amulet of Samarkand

So in all, it's an interesting concept with interesting characters. It's neat how Magicians summon demons to do their dirty work, or just to wash the dishes and other chores. So, it's easy to see how this has quickly become on of my favorite books.

 

Check out Bartimaeus's website! Get info on the makings of the books, Jonathan Stroud's blog, and Bartimaeus's own blog(It's hilarious)!

 

http://www.bartimaeusbooks.com/index.html