Excellent writing and an interesting different perspectic on magicians and their source of magic.

Ok. This book is GREAT and I truly recomend it. Alright...I am 11 years old, and I read it when I was 10, but it's really great. I am pretty advanced so I say its about a 13+ reading level. I LOVE Bartimaeus with his witty comments. It is hillariously funny and serious at the same time. 5 stars. A must-read for sure!

Nathaniel is a young boy, age 11, who is the apprentice of a magician. He has had a fairly smooth life after the age of six. He had intense studies and lessons for every type of education, including language, math, writing, drawing, etc. Around the age of 9 he had gone to a celebration with his master to see his master’s colleagues. During the party Nathaniel’s master showed him off to some of his superiors. They questioned him and got answers. They said his master did a bad job. Nathaniel got snooty and was abused for it by the leader of the group, Simon Lovelace. Meanwhile his master sat and watched. After this night Nathaniel sped up his education in order to get revenge. After two years Nathaniel summons a powerful djinn, Bartimaeaus. He then orders Bartimaeaus to go steal a valuable artifact from Simon Lovelace, an object that Nathaniel knew Lovelace had stolen, the Amulet of Samarkand. This was a great book with a couple of twists in the plot. It takes place in a futuristic world where magicians rule. During the book there is narration from two points of view: one from Bartimaeus and one from a narrator. This book is intensely unnerving and suspenseful. It has some mystery and a lot of humor. During the time when Bartimaeus is telling the story he puts little footnotes in that really add to the humor of the book. Look out for those! This book has battles with demons where there is no way out by force, but only by mind. This should be a tempting target for any adventure reader and I recommend it to any one of those. I would put this on my top ten list of favorite books. Anyone who appreciates a good adventure, and has any hint of liking for magic and different variations of it, will love this book.

This is one of my favorite books ever. It is set in modern day London and gives a whole new spin on wizardry. You will love the djinni young Nathaniel summons; Bartimaeus is full of wit and humor. There are messages about the greed and power-hungry nature of the magicians, which become more pronounced in the second book. An excellent, page-turner, must-read that will keep you awake late into the night!

This book is superb! I loved it so much! U have to read it!

The entire series was the funniest thing in the world. Bartimaeus would flippantly toss out insults and i would laugh till tears were streaming down my face.this is my number one favorite series, tied with harry potter.

Bartimaeus: An arrogant, yet hilariously flippant and mouthy djinn; Nathaniel: An overconfident and overlooked magician-in-the-making. Put them together, and what do you get? You get an amazing, suspenceful, heartbreaking, funny (I could go on, but I'd only bore you!) trilogy about a boy and his servant out against their rivals. A treasonous magician, Simon Lovelace, attempts a massacre of the great ones of the government. Nathaniel steals Lovelaces's prize posession: The Amulet of Samarkand.. And Lovelace wants it back.. This book was fantastic. Over half of the book, I was rolling around in my seat over Bartimaeus's hilarious comments and his (occasionally) sophisticated air. Nathaniel's reactions to the djinn are purely comical. I also highly recommend the unabridged audio book production of "The Amulet of Samarkand". Simon Jones gives all the characters the personality and spark they need. "The Golem's Eye" and "Ptolomy's Gate" are also great books, and if you liked "The Amulet of Samarkand", I highly recommend them. A "The Bartimaeus Trilogy: The Amulet of Samarkand" review.

Nathaniel is a young boy, age 11, who is the apprentice of a magician. He has had a fairly smooth life after the age of six. He had intense studies and lessons for every type of education, including language, math, writing, drawing, etc. Around the age of 9 he had gone to a celebration with his master to see his master’s colleagues. During the party Nathaniel’s master showed him off to some of his superiors. They questioned him and got answers. They said his master did a bad job. Nathaniel got snooty and was abused for it by the leader of the group, Simon Lovelace. Meanwhile his master sat and watched. After this night Nathaniel sped up his education in order to get revenge. After two years Nathaniel summons a powerful djinn, Bartimaeaus. He then orders Bartimaeaus to go steal a valuable artifact from Simon Lovelace, an object that Nathaniel knew Lovelace had stolen, the Amulet of Samarkand.

This was a great book with a couple of twists in the plot. It takes place in a futuristic world where magicians rule. During the book there is narration from two points of view: one from Bartimaeus and one from a narrator. This book is intensely unnerving and suspenseful. It has some mystery and a lot of humor. During the time when Bartimaeus is telling the story he puts little footnotes in that really add to the humor of the book. Look out for those! This book has battles with demons where there is no way out by force, but only by mind. This should be a tempting target for any adventure reader and I recommend it to any one of those. I would put this on my top ten list of favorite books. Anyone who appreciates a good adventure, and has any hint of liking for magic and different variations of it, will love this book.