Empowering Bright & Gifted Children

 

Author: Jonathon Stroud

Interest Level: Middle Grades (4-8)
ATOS Reading Level: 5.9
AR Points: 19.0
Publisher Recommended Age: 9-12
Publisher: HarperCollins/Hyperion
Book Type: Paperback

 

 

A magician's young apprentice, Nathaniel, secretly summons the irascible 5,000-year-old djinni, Bartimaeus, to do his bidding. The task for Bartimaeus is an interesting mission: he must steal the powerful Amulet of Samarkand from Simon Lovelace, a master magician of unrivalled ruthlessness and ambition.

 

Before long, Bartimaeus and Nathaniel are caught up in a terrifying flood of magical intrigue, rebellion and murder. Nathaniel learns quickly that he may have gotten into a plot much more in depth than he and his djinni can cope with.

 

This is the first book in a series of 3 books. An overview of the series is below. A list of the follow-on books is under the "Learn More" tab.

 

 

Booklist: "A dynamic, inventive beginning to a new trilogy."

 

New York Times Book Review: “…colorful…the witty, shape-shifting Bartimaeus is the main show. How can books two and three possibly top the adventures here? Well, you’d need to steal a scrying glass, or crystal, to find out.”

 

Publishers Weekly (Starred Review): “A darkly tantalizing tale…Readers will eagerly anticipate the next two volumes.”

 

 

 

The title character, Bartimaeus, is a five-thousand year old djinni, a spirit of approximately mid-level power. There are five basic levels of spirits, in order of increasing power: imps, foliots, djinni, afrits and marids. There also exists a variety of subclasses in each level. Above these levels exist even more powerful entities, who are rarely summoned. Most notable of these entities are Ramuthra and Nouda.

 

The story is told through the viewpoint of three characters, the magician Nathaniel (or John Mandrake), the djinni Bartimaeus, and the commoner Kitty Jones. There is also one short chapter featuring the viewpoint of a foliot called Simpkin. The three novels are set in an alternate history to our own, though many countries, cities, events, and people are from actual history.

 

The books presume the idea that magic, magicians, and demons have been active throughout history, thus radically altering it. In particular these changes are reflected in various contrasts between modern aspects (such as electricity and cars) and older ones (colonial-era weapons including muskets). The current time is never directly given.

 

 

Jonathon Stroud was born in 1970 in Bedford, England and began to write stories at a very young age. He grew up in St Albans where he enjoyed reading books, drawing pictures, and writing stories. Between the ages seven and nine he was often ill, so he spent most of his days in the hospital or in his bed at home. To escape boredom he would occupy himself with books and stories. After he completed his studies of English literature at the University of York, he worked in London as an editor for the Walker Books store. He worked with different types of books there and this soon led to the writing of his own books. During the 1990s, he started publishing his own works and quickly gained success.

 

In May 1999, Stroud published his first children's novel, Buried Fire, which was the first of a line of fantasy/mythology children's books.

 

Among his most prominent works are the bestselling Bartimaeus Trilogy. A special feature of these novels compared to others of their genre is that Stroud examines the stereotypes and ethics of the magician class and the enslaved demons. This is done by examining the perspective of the sarcastic and slightly egomaniacal djinni Bartimaeus. The books in this series are The Amulet of Samarkand, The Golem's Eye, and Ptolemy's Gate, his first books to be published in the United States. An Amulet of Samarkand movie is being made for release in 2009.

 

Stroud lives in St Albans, Hertfordshire, with his two children, Isabelle and Arthur, and his wife Gina, an illustrator of children's books.

 

Stroud occasionally visits the Bartimaeus Trilogy Forum to answer frequently asked questions. He is currently in the editing stage of a new novel slated for release in the UK and US in January 2009. The title is currently "Heroes of the Valley", although Stroud notes in his journal that this may change before publication.