The Amulet of Samarkand: The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book 1

By: Jonathan Stroud

Narrated by: Simon Jones

The first audiobook in a thrilling new trilogy about an apprentice magician and the powerful djinni he summons.

Nathaniel is a young magician with only one thing on his mind: revenge.

As an apprentice to the great magician Underwood, Nathaniel is gradually being schooled in the traditional art of magic. All is well until he has a life-changing encounter with Simon Lovelace, a rising, star magician. When Simon brutally humiliates Nathaniel in front of everyone he knows, Nathaniel decides to speed up his magical education, teaching himself spells way beyond his years. Eventually, he masters one of the most difficult spells of all: summoning the all-powerful djinni, Bartimeus.

But summoning Bartimeus and controlling him are two very different things--and Nathaniel may be in way over his head.©2003 Jonathan Stroud; (P)2003 Random House, Inc., Listening Library, an Imprint of the Random House Audio Publishing Group

entertaining

While the story was predictable, the telling of it was fun to listen to and I found it quite entertaining. I especially enjoyed the character creations. I found Bartemaeus to be a delightfully sarcastic demon. I could almost envision Robin Williams' Djinni from the movie 'Aladdins Lamp' as I was listening. I was a bit disappointed with Nathanials development however. I didn't care for his pompousness and disregard for other people, but at least you know that deep down he does have a good heart.
I was also a bit confused by the chronolgy of the book. In one section they are talking about the War with the American colonies, and then later make references to people like Stalin, Lincoln and Churchill. In alot of ways the author was all over the place.
But; like I said, all of that aside, I still found it to be very entertaining and all in all I gave it four out of five stars.

Excellent story, brilliant narration

After listening to dozens of audiobooks, Simon Jones has quickly become my favorite reader. With an easy-to-understand British accent, excellent vocal range and pacing, perfect enunciation and terrific character voices, he does yet another outstanding job with this book.

The book itself is something kids and adults will enjoy. The main characters, Nathaniel (a young magician's apprentice), and Bartimaeus (a demon conjured by Nathaniel and forced unwillingly to do his his bidding) are well-developed and brought engagingly to life by the reader. Bartimaeus's wry comments about Nathaniel and life in general will have the listener chuckling quite often.

Nathaniel is somewhat of an anti-hero at first; he's deceitful, proud, arrogant, and above all impatient to prove and test his abilities, which of course causes all kinds of tragedy, mayhem and suspense.

The author's style of writing several chapters first from the demon's viewpoint and then the boy's keeps things quite interesting and engaging. We get to see what's motivating both of them from different vantage points, and it works well to keep the story flowing smoothly and provides a cliff-hanger or two when we switch from one to the other.

Simon Jones also reads book 2, which is every bit as good as this one. Both are well-worth repeated listenings. Here's hoping he reads book 3 as well.

A winner

I've just finished listening to this title for the second time; I loved The Amulet... the first time for its engrossing tale and wonderfully quirky characters, and the second for its sly wit and clever narration. Stroud has written a book that appeals to both my inner ten year old and the literary snob in me, and Simon Jones gives the book the narration it deserves. This is worth your listening time and your money.

Amulet of Samarkand

This is SUCH an excellent book! The reader makes it fun to listen to and I am looking forward to the next book!

Masterful entertainment - Simon Jones is terrific

I picked this book up by accident at a friend's house because their 12-year-old was reading it. I loved LOTR but have never been interested in Harry Potter. Couldn't put the book down and when I got home immediately ordered it on Audible. Simon Jones makes it twice as fun with his terrific characters. Buy it!!