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mairiairi 's review for:
The Amulet of Samarkand
by Jonathan Stroud
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The .5 is for the humor. It's a fun book, if you turn off your brain. The two star is because it was ok - not the worst book I've ever read, but I did want to dnf it about a quarter of the way in.
Funny in parts, easy to read and follow (switches pov but it's very clear when it does), and despite being part of a series, it wraps up at the end, no cliffhangers, which I appreciate.
However, everything else about this book was mid.
Magicians look down on commoners and don't see them as real people. The commoners who are fighting back are part of the Resistance and magicians hate their guts. You'd think, the mmc being downtrodden and abused by these very magicians, he'd see their side and understand why they're fighting back, since he's also oppressed in his own way.
Yet as soon as he gains any bit of power, he becomes just as arrogant as the magicians. There's no character arc, either - he is exactly the way he was at the beginning of the story, except possibly worse.
I don't want to give anything away, so read this with caution - I don't think it'll spoil anything but if you want zero information, don't read this:
at the end of the book, after fighting against powerful magic, he more or less becomes a magician in his own right (he's already a magician's apprentice the entire book, he's still one by the end. But has displayed his power and people are starting to realize he's a formidable force), and having gained the status and respect, having gained some authority and power with which he can implement change...
you'd think he'd want to change things from the inside out, right? The entire book talks about how corrupt and shallow and two-faced and untrustworthy magicians are, how they're basically the scum of the earth while they go about treating everyone <I>else</I> like the scum of the earth...Nathaniel sees this, he knows this, and yet the change he's going to pursue is...stomping down the Resistance, and cracking down on the lowlife commoners. He is in full support of the corrupt government and their corrupt magicians - is even being taught by one of them throughout the entire book, all the way up to the end.
He just goes along with it when it suits his purposes. As soon as he gets a taste of what it's like, he doesn't want to give it up or change the status quo.
Which I get, because even adults have a hard time with this, and Nathaniel is TWELVE. Which brings me to my next complaint.
Another problem I have: you're telling me I'm supposed to think a twelve-year-old could pull off stunts like these? Mostly without the help of his side-demon (sorry, *djinn)? Yeah right.
I wish he'd been a little bit older. I know the story is about magic, so if I can suspend my disbelief with magic why can't I suspend my disbelief with age? Because every other aspect of this book is supposed to be realistic - set in London, with cars, there's a day cycle, weather, humans, etc. If you add a fantastical element to the story, that doesn't mean you can throw out gravity and say "magicians lived in modern-day London except they floated because gravity doesn't exist". There has to be SOME rules to this world, and 12-year-olds are 12-year-olds no matter what fantasy elements you decide to include in your story.
Another complaint: I don't think it had an editor. Two instances in the book where it says "so-and-so speeded up". It's "sped", not speeded. Another part where the word "banknotes" was hyphenated incorrectly. It appeared at the end of the page, and usually would look like this:
Funny in parts, easy to read and follow (switches pov but it's very clear when it does), and despite being part of a series, it wraps up at the end, no cliffhangers, which I appreciate.
However, everything else about this book was mid.
Magicians look down on commoners and don't see them as real people. The commoners who are fighting back are part of the Resistance and magicians hate their guts. You'd think, the mmc being downtrodden and abused by these very magicians, he'd see their side and understand why they're fighting back, since he's also oppressed in his own way.
Yet as soon as he gains any bit of power, he becomes just as arrogant as the magicians. There's no character arc, either - he is exactly the way he was at the beginning of the story, except possibly worse.
I don't want to give anything away, so read this with caution - I don't think it'll spoil anything but if you want zero information, don't read this:
you'd think he'd want to change things from the inside out, right? The entire book talks about how corrupt and shallow and two-faced and untrustworthy magicians are, how they're basically the scum of the earth while they go about treating everyone <I>else</I> like the scum of the earth...Nathaniel sees this, he knows this, and yet the change he's going to pursue is...stomping down the Resistance, and cracking down on the lowlife commoners. He is in full support of the corrupt government and their corrupt magicians - is even being taught by one of them throughout the entire book, all the way up to the end.
He just goes along with it when it suits his purposes. As soon as he gets a taste of what it's like, he doesn't want to give it up or change the status quo.
Which I get, because even adults have a hard time with this, and Nathaniel is TWELVE. Which brings me to my next complaint.
Another problem I have: you're telling me I'm supposed to think a twelve-year-old could pull off stunts like these? Mostly without the help of his side-demon (sorry, *djinn)? Yeah right.
I wish he'd been a little bit older. I know the story is about magic, so if I can suspend my disbelief with magic why can't I suspend my disbelief with age? Because every other aspect of this book is supposed to be realistic - set in London, with cars, there's a day cycle, weather, humans, etc. If you add a fantastical element to the story, that doesn't mean you can throw out gravity and say "magicians lived in modern-day London except they floated because gravity doesn't exist". There has to be SOME rules to this world, and 12-year-olds are 12-year-olds no matter what fantasy elements you decide to include in your story.
Another complaint: I don't think it had an editor. Two instances in the book where it says "so-and-so speeded up". It's "sped", not speeded. Another part where the word "banknotes" was hyphenated incorrectly. It appeared at the end of the page, and usually would look like this:
He decided he would take the <b>bank-
notes</b> and flush them down the toilet.
and instead the book did this:
He decided he would take the <b>ban-
knotes</b> and flush them down the toilet.
So incorrect it causes confusion. With half the words in this book made-up, I was trying so hard to make sense of what he had just introduced to the story - "ban-knotes"? What are those. I had to reread it twice before I realized it was just an incorrect hyphenation, and they should have hired an editor.
Third example:
Third example:
The boy stepped back and released Nathaniel's shoulder.
Again, poor English. You can't step back if you're grasping someone's shoulder. Well, you <I>can</I>, it's just awkward and not the way people move. You'd release, then step back. Otherwise it's this weird, extend your arm as you step back and then let go. The only scenario I could imagine this being normal would be if it's an old person who has trouble walking without support. But this is a 12-year-old boy talking to another 12-year-old boy. The only thing that needs support in this case is the writing.
All in all, I thought the social commentary would be interesting and instead the main character seems pretty blinded by power and doesn't want to do anything with all the information he was given about the societal structure of his community. Found it all really meaningless in the end, why did you even bother telling me about it if nothing was going to change, and the person we're rooting for ends up falling for the same vices? (Which would be interesting if that was the point, or if that was part of the theme, or another commentary in and of itself...but it's not. The book doesn't make a point or a stance or anything. It's mostly the plot we're supposed to focus on, and I'm not sure why the author thought he should bring in a magician form of classism and then not change anything about it.)
It's not just classism that is mentioned and then perpetuated. It's also sexism, and it makes me wonder if the author actually isn't against it at all, just thinks that this is what society is, and should be. I assumed it was commentary, but then realized most of the powerful magicians are men, most of the characters are men (only four women are mentioned the entire book - all of whom have very secondary roles and none of whom makes any significant contributions to the plot. I don't want to spoil anything bc there's a nice plot twist at the end, but again none of the women contributes anything. If you've read the story:Amanda isn't not a woman, so what she contributes doesn't count as a woman being significant to the plot ). The women are very much side characters without any power, all at the whim of the men. The wife of the magician master is a magician herself - she says so. But she never gets invited to magicians' get togethers, she never contributes to Nathaniel's teaching, she never uses her powers. She's a magician in name only, and when her husband is invited to important events, she is invited as his plus-one. Not as a magician herself. And when he has magicians over to show off his protegy, she stays outside and asks Nathaniel how it went - so even when the get-togethers take place in her home she's not invited. And yet she's a magician.
There is also a lot of ordering her around, and she is constantly at fault for something - Nathaniel feels a sense of connection because they're both bullied and neglected by the master of the house. She is just as much a controlled character, a servant to her husband, as Nathaniel is. And yet, despite these glaringly obvious injustices, nothing is ever said or commented on about this. Does Nathaniel want to change her station in life, or change the way women are treated in the magician world? Nope. Does he want to break her out of that house and leave? Nope. He just has big dreams for himself, and will turn around and continue the cycle of oppression and uphold the societal inequities because now he benefits from it.
There's not much point including classism and sexism in your book if you're not going to talk about it, acknowledge it, point out the problems with it, etc. Otherwise you're condoning it and acting like this is just the way of the world and there's no issue with it.
side note: If you're looking for diversity, you probably won't find it here without using your imagination. There's no mention of anyone's race, other than someone's face being described as pale, and the demon transforming into an Egyptian.
Those are my thoughts, I thought I'd give the second book a shot if it had different characters, but it doesn't, and the entire premise of the second book is him tryna stop the Resistance - which is kind of a surprise. Maybe the book is old, but wow that's a horrible social commentary ("if you're oppressed, just rise to power so you can benefit off of the oppression that you used to suffer from!"). I hated all of them except for the demon, because he at the very least was incredibly honest and comfortable with how unlikeable he was - everyone else pretends they're better than what they actually are. I'll leave you with a quote that sums up more or less everyone in this book:
All in all, I thought the social commentary would be interesting and instead the main character seems pretty blinded by power and doesn't want to do anything with all the information he was given about the societal structure of his community. Found it all really meaningless in the end, why did you even bother telling me about it if nothing was going to change, and the person we're rooting for ends up falling for the same vices? (Which would be interesting if that was the point, or if that was part of the theme, or another commentary in and of itself...but it's not. The book doesn't make a point or a stance or anything. It's mostly the plot we're supposed to focus on, and I'm not sure why the author thought he should bring in a magician form of classism and then not change anything about it.)
It's not just classism that is mentioned and then perpetuated. It's also sexism, and it makes me wonder if the author actually isn't against it at all, just thinks that this is what society is, and should be. I assumed it was commentary, but then realized most of the powerful magicians are men, most of the characters are men (only four women are mentioned the entire book - all of whom have very secondary roles and none of whom makes any significant contributions to the plot. I don't want to spoil anything bc there's a nice plot twist at the end, but again none of the women contributes anything. If you've read the story:
There is also a lot of ordering her around, and she is constantly at fault for something - Nathaniel feels a sense of connection because they're both bullied and neglected by the master of the house. She is just as much a controlled character, a servant to her husband, as Nathaniel is. And yet, despite these glaringly obvious injustices, nothing is ever said or commented on about this. Does Nathaniel want to change her station in life, or change the way women are treated in the magician world? Nope. Does he want to break her out of that house and leave? Nope. He just has big dreams for himself, and will turn around and continue the cycle of oppression and uphold the societal inequities because now he benefits from it.
There's not much point including classism and sexism in your book if you're not going to talk about it, acknowledge it, point out the problems with it, etc. Otherwise you're condoning it and acting like this is just the way of the world and there's no issue with it.
side note: If you're looking for diversity, you probably won't find it here without using your imagination. There's no mention of anyone's race, other than someone's face being described as pale, and the demon transforming into an Egyptian.
Those are my thoughts, I thought I'd give the second book a shot if it had different characters, but it doesn't, and the entire premise of the second book is him tryna stop the Resistance - which is kind of a surprise. Maybe the book is old, but wow that's a horrible social commentary ("if you're oppressed, just rise to power so you can benefit off of the oppression that you used to suffer from!"). I hated all of them except for the demon, because he at the very least was incredibly honest and comfortable with how unlikeable he was - everyone else pretends they're better than what they actually are. I'll leave you with a quote that sums up more or less everyone in this book:
"You believed in the notion of the honorable magician, who takes responsibility for his actions. Mere propaganda. Such a thing does not exist. There is no honor, no nobility, no justice. Every magician acts only for himself, seizing each opportunity he can. When he is weak, he avoids danger - which is why second-raters plod away within the system."