Amberly Media Center

The Amulet of Samarkand
The Golem’s Eye
Ptolemy’s Gate

It’s a real treat to be able to read a trilogy straight through from start to finish. If you like Harry Potter…. if you like Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy…..you’ll love Bartimaeus. Nathaniel starts off a bit like Harry, a young talented apprentice magician in London, but Nathaniel isn’t trained very well, and a combination of ambition and a desire for vengence lead him to summon the smart-mouthed djinni Bartimaeus. His task is to steal the Amulet of Samarkand which has recently been aquired by shady means by Simon Lovelace, a magician who humiliated Nathaniel. In the process, the plan for revenge entangles Nathaniel and Bartimaeus in the political intrigues of the magicians that rule Great Britain.

Interestingly, as the series goes on, most readers will become less interested in Nathaniel who has become John Mandrake, a member of the ruling elite, and more involved in the adventures of Bartimaeus and a third character, Kitty Jones, who is a commoner (i.e. non-magician) and a member of the resistence movement that is trying to free Great Britain from the rule of the magicians. She may remind you a little bit of Lyra from His Dark Materials.