I first heard of this trilogy, by Jonathan Stroud, last year when the third book (Ptolemy’s Gate) won the Cybil for Science Fiction/Fantasy. I thought that it sounded interesting, then promptly forgot about it. (Such is the story of my life; I’m trying to rectify it. The forgetting, I mean.)
I remembered about it again, when a bunch of people over at the Nook read the trilogy and raved about it, saying that it was better than Harry Potter. I thought, amazing, I ought to read it. And then… well… you know… I forgot about it.
But, when I happened to be at the house of a member of my in-person book group, and was admiring her library (she’s got the floor-to-ceiling shelves that Hubby’s always wanted. The only downside is that there wasn’t a sliding ladder…), I noticed the Bartimaeus trilogy. And I asked to borrow it.
That was back in August.
I’m pathetic, I know.
Because, you know, this is an amazing book. I can only imagine that the trilogy will get better. (I’m going to have to put the other two off, since I have a small pile of “have to” reads that are due at the library…) But this one was a great start. Nathaniel is a 12-year-old magician’s apprentice in London. His master, Arthur Underwood, is a Minister, but an incompetent one, and he severely underestimates Nathaniel’s ability. Simon Lovelace is the magician — young, talented, ambitious, up-and-coming. And ruthless. He embarrasses Nathaniel, for which Nathaniel vows revenge. He learns to summon and control a djinn — Bartimaeus — who then steals the Amulet of Samarkand from Lovelace, setting in motion events beyond Nathaniel’s control.
It had a slow-ish start… I read the first four chapters in August, and picked it up on chapter five two days ago without missing a beat. But once I hit chapter 25, I was hooked. I couldn’t put it down. Literally. I was breezing through all the mom-stuff I had to do (which was made more challenging with Hubby out of town this weekend), just so I could get to the book. It’s funny — Bartimaeus is a very witty narrator — and Stroud writes action superbly. He kept me hanging from chapter to chapter, propelling me — and the story — forward. I was also impressed that the story moved as well as it did, because both Nathaniel and Bartimaeus aren’t exactly sympathetic characters. Nathaniel is prideful, arrogant, ambitious and reckless. He does have a couple of redeeming qualities, but mostly he’s a bit of a jerk. And Bartimaeus spends the whole book loathing Nathaniel and his servitude (which I suppose is reasonable). They’re not exactly what you’d call a happy partnership. Yet, it works. Extremely well. In fact, I think it’s the tension between Bartimaeus and Nathaniel that makes the book as compelling as it does. How do these two solve the problems they keep getting themselves in to, especially when the problems keep escalating? It kept me reading, wanting to know what happens next.
And, yes, the other two books are sitting on my floor calling to me. Maybe I’ll even listen sooner rather than later.
The Book Nut 
Oh, but these are books worth listening to! I read the first one, didn’t LOVE it to death–at least, like you, I thought it started slow, and it was hard for me to figure out the tone and things. But I listened to the last 2 on CD, and the narrator is so great, I really think it doubled my amusement. But either way, these books are way fun.
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This is one I’ve been meaning to read too. Must get to it!
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I’ve had the first book on my piles since, oh, probably a year ago. Thanks for the push! It looks so great, but I often find myself forgetting about it, too.
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I, too, have read the first book, and am anxious to find time for the other two.
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I love these books. They’re far better than anything else Stroud has written and in Bartimaeus he’s created one of the great characters in Children’s Literature of the past decade. I didn’t know they were available as audio. How did they cope with the footnotes?
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I thought the whole trilogy was tremendous. When I read it I was still just about able to read in bed without my spectacles, but the footnotes almost defeated me!
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So glad you finally picked it up! It really is an excellent trilogy, and each book builds on the strength of the one before. I agree with you about the tension between Nathaniel and Bartimaeus–its really the powerhouse of the trilogy. I’m eager to hear what you think of Ptolemy’s Gate. I too listened to part of the trilogy and found it extremely well-done. As for the footnotes, the narrator simply read them as parentheses, and it worked great.
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Sounds interesting, now if only I don’t have the same look, like and promptly forget that you talk about I may actually get to this trilogy. I also have heard of it before and haven’t every gotten around to picking it up.
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