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.

Rich english language, full of action, funny. Love It!

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