Wednesday, March 11, 2009

The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud


"The Amulet of Samarkand" is book one in the Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud. This is a childrens/young adults book, but I thought it was a great read anyway! I've found that I'm enjoying going and reading some of the new young adult books that are out there. It's so much fun! I think they have a better selection of the type of books that I like now than they did when I was young. Ah well, I'll always be young at heart, so I'll keep reading them!

In "The Amulet of Samarkand" we meet a young magician named Nathaniel. Nathaniel has a burning desire for revenge, and that has driven him to study many things with out the knowledge of the magician he studies under. Now he feels he's ready to take his revenge, and so he summons up Bartimaeus, a 5,000 year old Djinni. His revenge doesn't quite go as planned and he spends most of the book scrambling to figure out what to do next!

The book alternates between narrative that's focused more on Nathanial, and seeing the world through the eyes of Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus has very definite opinions about magicians, other djinni and spirits, and just about everything he comes in contact with! I enjoyed the parts of the book told from his point of view the most because I laughed my way through all of them!

1 comment:

Michelle said...

I recognise the name Stroud, but can't remember what it was I read by him. :-\

Here's those Etsy links I promised you. Feel free to delete this message after saving htem, since it is kind of off topic!

Rima (she sells clocks too, but I think they're on commision or maybe thru her blog)

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5195715

Vita (I bought a necklace from her last year for my birthday :-) )
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5376404
And she's on Twitter!
http://twitter.com/vusova

Silver Eagle Dreamer - dreamcatchers. :-) I have one of hers. It was a gift another friend bought me. :-)
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6726753