{"id":283,"date":"2006-07-14T16:44:25","date_gmt":"2006-07-14T23:44:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=283"},"modified":"2021-06-02T18:44:00","modified_gmt":"2021-06-02T22:44:00","slug":"the-amulet-of-samarkand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/283","title":{"rendered":"The Amulet of Samarkand"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Amulet of Samarkand<\/a><\/i> The Bartimaeus Trilogy (2003) Jonathan Stroud<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Bartimaeus is a djinni who has been around for thousands of years. He even spent time in Ancient Egypt, a culture that he seems to have some slight fondness for. However, when he’s called this time, his Master is an eleven year old apprentice with revenge on his mind.<\/p>\n

I loved how this story was primarily written from the point of view of Bartimaeus. Although this book is for children\/young adults, Nathaniel, the boy, is the secondary character, and our initial image of him is less than flattering, as we’re seeing it through Bartimaeus’s eyes. <\/p>\n

This switch in the expected point of view set the tone for the book. The humans–or at least the human magicians–aren’t very impressive, and so Bartimaeus becomes the sympathetic figure–and he’s not necessarily that sympathetic (especially when it comes to his opinion of humans.)<\/p>\n

This book was a lot of fun to read. Bartimaeus is an interesting characters, and although he doesn’t have a very high opinion of humans (with good reason) you quickly see why he doesn’t care much for humans. After all, being enslaved and forced to do another’s bidding would hardly make you think well of a group.<\/p>\n

Although this is a young adult book, the writing doesn’t feel like a children’s book–in fact the only thing that feels like a kids’ book is the fact that Nathaniel is eleven years old–so adults should enjoy this book, despite it’s young adult\/child classification. <\/p>\n

I have to say that one of the advantages of shopping on-line is that I get recommendations for books that I normally wouldn’t notice because I never go into the young adult\/kid’s section of the book store. I don’t think I would have picked up this book in a bookstore–most likely I wouldn’t have come across it. (I don’t care much for the kid’s section, because there are kids there.)<\/p>\n

If you like fantasy, then I highly recommend The Amulet of Samarkand<\/i>. I’ve already ordered the second book in the series, and can’t wait to read it.
\nRating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Amulet of Samarkand The Bartimaeus Trilogy (2003) Jonathan Stroud Bartimaeus is a djinni who has been around for thousands of years. He even spent time in Ancient Egypt, a culture that he seems to have some slight fondness for. However, when he’s called this time, his Master is an eleven year old apprentice with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,3,291,20],"tags":[337],"class_list":["post-283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fantasy","category-kids","category-paper","category-young-adult","tag-jonathan-stroud"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-4z","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":287,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/287","url_meta":{"origin":283,"position":0},"title":"The Golem’s Eye","author":"Michelle","date":"July 24, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The Golem's Eye (2004) Jonathan Stroud The second book in the Bartimaeus Trilogy starts two years after the end of The Amulet of Samarkand. Nathaniel\/John Mandrake has been the apprentice of Jessica Whitwell, and has become a member of the Department of Internal Affairs, and put in charge of learning\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Golems-Eye.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":292,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/292","url_meta":{"origin":283,"position":1},"title":"Ptolemy’s Gate","author":"Michelle","date":"August 4, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Ptolemy's Gate (2006) Jonathan Stroud The final book of the Bartimaeus trilogy, in Ptolemy's Gate Bartimaeus and Nathaniel discover the conspiracy that has been plotting to overthrow the government. We also discover what Kitty Jones has been doing since we last saw her. John Mandrake may have risen in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/08\/Ptolemys-Gate.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4134,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/4134","url_meta":{"origin":283,"position":2},"title":"Books for Kids: Part III","author":"Michelle","date":"October 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Here are books for middle grade readers and older kids. A lot of these I can recommend for adult readers, they're really very good (and with online ordering, you don't have to skulk into the kids section, feeling like a creep who doesn't belong). Part I - Toddlers and Pre-Schoolers\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Kids"","block_context":{"text":"Kids","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/kids"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/The-Old-Man-Mad-About-Drawing.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9031,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/9031","url_meta":{"origin":283,"position":3},"title":"The Last Watch","author":"Michelle","date":"April 14, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The Last Watch (2009) Sergei Lukyanenko translated by Andrew Bromfield This text is acceptable to the forces of Light. THE NIGHT WATCH This text is acceptable to the forces of Darkness. THE DAY WATCH This is the 4th book in the Night Watch series. As with the previous books, it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Lastwatch.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13514,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13514","url_meta":{"origin":283,"position":4},"title":"Last Watch, Audio Edition","author":"Michelle","date":"October 19, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Last Watch, Audio Edition (2009\/2010) Sergei Lukyanenko translated by Andrew Bromfield narrated by Paul Michael As with the previous book, there are three intertwined stories. These stories take place over a relatively short period of time. Common Cause Anton is sent to Edinburgh, Scotland to look into the death of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Last Watch","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Lastwatch-e1511017917692.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24633,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/24633","url_meta":{"origin":283,"position":5},"title":"Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories","author":"Michelle","date":"June 3, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories (1985) Agatha Christie The Thirteen Problems (1932) 1. The Tuesday Night Club (1927) 2. The Idol House of Astarte (1928) 3. Ingots of Gold (1928) 4. The Bloodstained Pavement (1928) 5. Motive v. Opportunity (1928) 6. The Thumbmark of St. Peter (1928) 7. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "10\/10"","block_context":{"text":"10\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/10-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Miss Marple The Complete Short Stories","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Miss-Marple-The-Complete-Short-Stories.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}