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li3an1na4 's review for:
The Amulet of Samarkand
by Jonathan Stroud
An alternate reality magical fantasy book that takes place in the UK. Magicians are taken in as apprentices to a master at a young age. Some children with magical inclinations can be forfeited by their parents in return for some money. The masters hire tutors for the child while also guiding them and protecting them. Nathaniel, the main character for this book, has a strained relationship with his master Arthur Underwood after Underwood failed to protect him from Simon Lovelace, a high powered wizard. As a way to seek revenge, Nathaniel eventually summons Bartimaeus to steal the Amulet of Samarkand from Lovelace and frame Underwood. Things then spiral beyond any sort of control when a whole conspiracy is unveiled and Nathaniel is in over his head.
The book alternates between a first "person" POV from Bartimaeus and a third person POV for Nathaniel. Bartimaeus' chapters tend to have many footnotes. Though they were used to give the reader more information or just snarky asides, I ended up skipping a lot of them. I felt that the footnotes brought the flow of the book to an abrupt halt at the wrong times. Maybe it'd be something to read during a re-read.
A 3.8star book. Nathaniel's chapters were definitely lacking some depth, being from the third person POV, they could have offered the readers more information.
The book alternates between a first "person" POV from Bartimaeus and a third person POV for Nathaniel. Bartimaeus' chapters tend to have many footnotes. Though they were used to give the reader more information or just snarky asides, I ended up skipping a lot of them. I felt that the footnotes brought the flow of the book to an abrupt halt at the wrong times. Maybe it'd be something to read during a re-read.
A 3.8star book. Nathaniel's chapters were definitely lacking some depth, being from the third person POV, they could have offered the readers more information.