Bartimaeus (1) - The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud
And now to the extra-ordinary funny series of a djinn and a boy and a whole bunch of problems. Bartimaeus - The Amulet of Samakand by Jonathan Stroud, part one of four. (in German Bartimäus und das Armulet von Samarkand). I read it in German, where it contains 540 pages. Age: 8 - Death. Originally published 2003.
Bartimaeus can't believe what he sees. A boy. A boy has summoned the mighty Bartimaeus, the builder of the second wall of Jericho… okay, maybe that wasn't exactly his best work. But he did other far cooler things! Well, now this idiot summoned him out of his wonderful, save world – and for what? To take revenge on a man who probably only treated him like he deserved it. And who has to take the blame? Bartimaeus. Who has to take the risks? Well, now it gets complicated. Because in his strive for revenge, Nathanael looses far more than he thought… and stumbles over a plot he has to stop.
This book is bound to make you laugh. The sense of humour is wonderful, especially the footnotes! And Bartimaeus with this funny version of arrogance. He manages to talk himself out of almost any situation, and if he can't he has a few dirty tricks that do the job. He takes few things – least of them himself – seriously and loves to get on Nathanaels nerves. Plus, he has a refreshing view on the events… and gorgeous similes.
The Point-of-Views in this book are something original. Bartimaeus tells his story in first, Nathanael his in third person singular. This way, their personalities are shown quite well. Bartimaeus, the self-ironic and slightly self-centred djinn who takes time for a good joke or an anecdote and a sideways explanation, and Nathanael, who's puffed up and fond of whining.
I guess you can imagine that I have a favourite person in this book… and that it's not the young wizard. His PoV's tend to be long sometimes.
But their different views complement each other, they're important. You need Bartimaeus because he's a) the one the reader ultimately falls for and b) the one who explains everything, who gives us the opportunity to understand the world this plays in. And you need Nathanael to understand the other side of all of this, the side of the wizards, the society, the history that led up to this.
Apart from the protagonists, there aren't that many characters… or there are, but you don't really get to know them.
Bartimaeus djinn frenemies are cool. I'm kinda sorry for them. I get that Bartimaeus probably really gets on their nerves, but having to work against him has to be frustrating. He's resourceful.
Nathanael's adoptive father is a little stiff, but seems nice enough, his mother is very kind.
And that's basically all I can say about the characters.
Apart from that, the story is well written, tense and full of innovative ideas – the world itself is very interesting, and full of details.
I like this book.
In brief:
I give a star for style, characters, content, ideas and the PoVs. Because this was really innovative. Additionally, the book gets the SoGH.