The first volume in the brilliant Bartimaeus Trilogy; a gripping fantasy centred on the relationship between a magician`s apprentice and a djinni, with humorous undertones of satire.
Jonathan Stroud was born in Bedford in 1970. After studying English Literature at York University, he moved to London, where he worked as an editor in a publishing firm. He is the author of the best-selling BARTIMAEUS sequence, which is published in 35 languages and has sold 6 million copies worldwide. As well as four other novels: HEROES OF THE VALLEY, THE LAST SIEGE, THE LEAP and BURIED FIRE, Jonathan is now writing a chilling new series called LOCKWOOD & CO. He lives in Hertfordshire with his family.
Drama, humour and hypnotically engaging storytelling
*Independent*
The truly original touch is the way Stroud alternates Nathaniel's
story with the djinni's own knowing and irascible first-person
narrative
*Guardian*
The narrative slips skilfully from first person to third and back
and Bartimaeus's voice is laugh-out-loud sassy, while Nathaniel's
story has an engaging poignancy as he tries to prove himself in a
world in which he has always been despised
*The Sunday Times*
Not since Gulliver's Travels has a children's writer managed to
combine a thrilling tale of magic and adventure with such
deliciously pointed comedy
*The Times*
Terrific stuff
*Mail on Sunday*
Often described as the anti-Harry Potter, The Amulet of Samarkand also stars a boy wizard in a magical modern-day London. Nathaniel is a snot-nosed apprentice seeking revenge on the magician who humiliated him. To that end, he summons a 5000-year-old djinni, Bartimaeus, and forces him to steal a powerful amulet. Listen Up: Jones is a past winner of Audiofile magazine's Golden Voice Award and played Bridey in the famed PBS miniseries Brideshead Revisited. The story alternates between third- and first-person narration, with delightful asides from the not-so-easily-controlled Bartimaeus. In the text, these asides take the form of footnotes, which can interrupt the flow on the page. Jones's skillful reading smoothes out the bumps and makes this first book in a complex trilogy even more fun to listen to than it is to read.-Angelina Benedetti, King Cty. Lib. Syst., WA Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.
Gr 4 Up-This graphic-novel adaptation of the first volume in the popular trilogy concerns Nathaniel, a young apprentice in an alternate-world England run by wizards. When he summons the djinni Bartimaeus to steal the powerful Amulet of Samarkand, he finds himself involved in a traitorous plot that reaches the highest levels of power. Inevitably, some of the original story is lost or minimized, yet the essence is retained, something that is sure to please fans of the prose novel. As well, the full-color artwork does an adequate job of depicting the characters and settings of the novel. Unfortunately, both the images and lettering are quite small, cramping a story that begs for a bigger, splashier treatment.-Douglas P. Davey, Halton Hills Public Library, Ontario, Canada (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Drama, humour and hypnotically engaging storytelling * Independent
*
The truly original touch is the way Stroud alternates Nathaniel's
story with the djinni's own knowing and irascible first-person
narrative * Guardian *
The narrative slips skilfully from first person to third and back
and Bartimaeus's voice is laugh-out-loud sassy, while Nathaniel's
story has an engaging poignancy as he tries to prove himself in a
world in which he has always been despised * The Sunday Times *
Not since Gulliver's Travels has a children's writer managed
to combine a thrilling tale of magic and adventure with such
deliciously pointed comedy * The Times *
Terrific stuff * Mail on Sunday *
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