“PLOT INTRODUCTION:
A young magician's apprentice, Nathaniel, secretly summons the irascible 5,000-year-old djinni, Bartimaeus, to do his bidding. The task is not an easy one-- he must steal the powerful Amulet of Samarkand from Simon Lovelace, a master magician of unrivalled ruthlessness and ambition. Before long, Bartimaeus and Nathaniel are caught up in a terrifying flood of magical intrigue, rebellion and murder.
Set in modern-day London controlled by magicians, this hilarious, bestselling thriller will enthral readers of all ages.
PLOT SUMMARY:
Young apprentice magician, Nathaniel, summons Bartimaeus, a very wise and quite potent djinni to steal the Amulet of Samarkand from the hands of powerful magician Simon Lovelace in order to get revenge for humiliating him in the past. However, what started as a small act of revenge spun webs and webs of trouble and murder, which caused the deaths of Nathaniel's ungrateful master, Mr. Underwood and Mrs. Underwood (whom Nathaniel cared for deeply, almost like a mother). To avenge the death of Mrs. Underwood, Nathaniel, with the help of Bartimaeus, plots against Lovelace only to find out that the magician was planning to unleash an insanely powerful spirit from the Other Place to kill all of the ministers so that he himself would become the sole leader of London (using the Amulet of Samarkand as means of protection). Learning this, Nathaniel sets out to stop him before it's too late.
COMMENTS:
Before you say "Oh no. Not another book about magic?!", think again for The Amulet of Samarkand is nothing quite like the others out there. First and foremost, the magicians here are not as "magical" as the usual figures in literature. In The Bartimaeus trilogy, the magicians' real source of power come from the spirits they summon. You won't be able to see broomsticks or fancy wands conjuring hats or transfiguring rats to squirrels here. Stroud's way of narrating events is a bit of the long-way (in short, lotsa text); however, the content is juicy and interesting enough to make you read the entire text thoroughly. Also, Bartimaeus' side-comments through his famous footnotes are priceless! I absolutely recommend this book for fantasy-sci-fi lovers out there. However, I must say that no matter how good this book is, it'll not make an awesome movie. This is one of those that are better of being books, and left at that. So I hope that they won't make the mistake of adapting this into a film, for the sake of good literature.
”
Eferlein wrote this review Friday, January 11 2008.
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