In fact, at the end he is placed under the tutelage of another evil magician, and we wonder whether any flashes of conscience will redeem him in the future. Nathaniel’s character doesn’t seem to change as the plot develops. Flashes of conscience, coming from who knows where, lead him to own up to stealing the amulet, but don’t keep him from seeking revenge. In the process Nathaniel does plenty of lying and stealing. Then Lovelace sets out to kill all the magicians in the government.

In fact, revenge appears to be Nathaniel’s primary motivator throughout the book.Īs a result of Nathaniel’s theft of Lovelace’s amulet, Lovelace kills Nathaniel’s master and his wife. Into this mix comes Nathaniel, age 12, a boy genius who mouths off and is disciplined by his master’s magician acquaintance Simon Lovelace. They just learn incantations while they are apprentices. So the magicians don’t have special powers of their own. Using special glasses or contact lenses, they can see the demons.

Everyone is jockeying for power, including non-magicians.īut in fact all the magicians’ powers depend on their ability to control demons. It is ruled by powerful evil magicians, who take in apprentices rather than producing children of their own. This fantasy world contains a version of London that is vaguely familiar but still very different. It is told from two points of view: the Djinn (genie) Bartimaeus (apparently just a coincidence that this is a Biblical name) and the young magician’s apprentice Nathaniel. This book is a well-written high-action story that appeals to boys. In a world where moral behavior is nearly unknown, the protagonist and his genie occasionally demonstrate moral behavior.

The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroudīook One, The Amulet of Samarkand, Hyperion Books for Children, 2003, 462 pages.

The bartimaeus series