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A review by mollymortensen
The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud
5.0
My sister loved this book as a kid. She totally owes me an I told you so! I should've listened to her back then.
This was a hard book to review, because I loved the Bartimaeus chapters, but disliked the Nathaniel chapters. Bartimaeus is hilarious and endlessly interesting, but Nathaniel is a smug little know it all. I don't hate him, I wasn't hoping he'd die, (Like I often do with characters) but his chapters just got in the way until we got back to Bartimaeus. I liked Nathaniel's moments of genius, but he was too often an idiot. (Of course, Bartimaeus always called him on it.)
It took me a week to read this book. Yes, it was a bit longer than the usual mg/ya book, but it was still not a quick read. I really liked it so I'm not sure why. (I blame Nathaniel.)
The concept of summoning demons has been done many times, but Stroud managed to create a unique and interesting world. How magician's don't really have magic, they just trap djinn (demons) to do magic for them.
There's more than one plotline going on. (But then again, magician's are always plotting something.) And it doesn't feel dumbed down at all.
The action scenes were well done and sprinkled throughout. It wasn't all action or all boring. And I couldn't predict what was going to happen next.
I'm trying to think of any negatives (other than Nathaniel) and I can't. I've already started book one!
This was a hard book to review, because I loved the Bartimaeus chapters, but disliked the Nathaniel chapters. Bartimaeus is hilarious and endlessly interesting, but Nathaniel is a smug little know it all. I don't hate him, I wasn't hoping he'd die, (Like I often do with characters) but his chapters just got in the way until we got back to Bartimaeus. I liked Nathaniel's moments of genius, but he was too often an idiot. (Of course, Bartimaeus always called him on it.)
It took me a week to read this book. Yes, it was a bit longer than the usual mg/ya book, but it was still not a quick read. I really liked it so I'm not sure why. (I blame Nathaniel.)
The concept of summoning demons has been done many times, but Stroud managed to create a unique and interesting world. How magician's don't really have magic, they just trap djinn (demons) to do magic for them.
There's more than one plotline going on. (But then again, magician's are always plotting something.) And it doesn't feel dumbed down at all.
The action scenes were well done and sprinkled throughout. It wasn't all action or all boring. And I couldn't predict what was going to happen next.
I'm trying to think of any negatives (other than Nathaniel) and I can't. I've already started book one!