The Amulet of Samarkand: The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book 1

By: Jonathan Stroud

Narrated by: Simon Jones

Length: 13 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

Nathaniel is eleven-years-old and a magician's apprentice, learning the traditional art of magic. All is well until he has a life-changing encounter with Simon Lovelace, a magician of unrivaled ruthlessness and ambition. When Lovelace brutally humiliates Nathaniel in public, Nathaniel decides to speed up his education, teaching himself spells far beyond his years. With revenge on his mind, he masters one of the toughest spells of all and summons Bartimaeus, a five-thousand-year-old djinni, to assist him. But summoning Bartimaeus and controlling him are two different things entirely, and when Nathaniel sends the djinni out to steal Lovelace's greatest treasure, the Amulet of Samarkand, he finds himself caught up in a whirlwind of magical espionage, murder and rebellion.

Set in a modern-day London spiced with magicians and mystery, The Amulet of Samarkand is an extraordinary, edge-of-your-seat thriller with many unexpected twists. Following Bartimaeus and Nathaniel in turn, the story introduces us to two wonderfully memorable characters destined to go through many adventures together and bound by a spell that is nearly impossible to break.

©2010 Johnathan Stroud (P)2010 Listening Library

Critic reviews

"One of the liveliest and most inventive fantasies of recent years." ( Booklist)

"Spun into surprisingly colorful cloth." ( The New York Times Book Review)

Very fun!

Good for ages 12 to adult. The story keeps you engaged, and the performance is perfectly perfect.

Great narration

Love the story telling. I read the paper book before so I wasn’t sure how the footnotes would translate in audio form but it was great!

What a fun ride claymation Mark

(As posted in Goodreads)
I bought this book years ago upon my baby sister's recommendation ("baby sister" of over 50…). I finally got around to it a couple days ago…
I'm really glad I read it! What a fun trip involving magic, integrity, deceit, and more. You go in thinking that magic is good, Jins and imps, are bad, and all the stereotypical mythological creatures and beliefs are set in stone and totally immutable. Of course, the fact that their only mythology and imaginary things to start with, should clue you in to the flexibility of uses in fiction.
The main character is human and believable – well, other than the fact that he is a magician and a member of a totally non-real world… The reader is in for a fun and exhilarating trip!

Different voices!

Loved the reading!! Really made it come alive!!
Can’t wait to listen to the next book in the series!

Good plot and great narration!

I had read the book before purchasing the audio CD, and I was skeptical about how well any narrator would be able to capture all the voices (and footnotes!) in the book. Simon Jones has done a great job with the narration on this, and his rendition has caused me to think about several of the characters in new ways.

LOVE it

What made the experience of listening to The Amulet of Samarkand: The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book 1 the most enjoyable?

Wow... what a world Stroud invented here. Vivedly brought to life, with an internally consistent set of rules of how

What other book might you compare The Amulet of Samarkand: The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book 1 to and why?

I started out thinking it would be sort of a Harry Potter style world. However, this was... different. Stylistically, and the whole philosophy of magic here - are very different from the Harry Potter. It's rather darker, and - different. Still very enjoyable, but don't expect Hogwarts v2.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The ending was very moving. Keep listening, it really wraps up the story well.

Great story, great reading

This is a really terrific reading. The story is funny and quite suitable for adults. I can't wait for the rest of the trilogy, and I hope Simon Jones will read the rest of them for us.

I loved it

What did you love best about The Amulet of Samarkand: The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book 1?

The way Simon Jones brought Bartimaeus' sarcasm and attitude to life.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Bartimaeus' personality wins it out for him. His narration and his casual references to his past were great.

Which scene was your favorite?

I very much enjoyed scenes with Farqual in them. Seeing someone as proud as Bartimaeus squirm was great. Farqual and Jabor were both great.

excellent for the whole family

This book kept the whole family enthralled the entire drive from Wyoming to Texas! It was a little hard to follow at first for my 7 yr old because of some time-jumping and switching of character narration, but before long he was as interested as his 9 yr old brother and parents.

This book is for magic lovers, based mainly in a London world where magicians rule the country by summoning demons (such as the Jin-ies) to do their bidding. The hero is 12 year old Nathaniel, unusually talented in magic but treated poorly by his surrogate parent (remind you of any other famous magic boys?). His impatience to prove himself leads him to get way in over his head in the wizarding world, but we are glad he does when he summons the wise-cracking Bartimaeus from the other side. He is the perfect comic relief for Nathaniel's brooding and all of the death, destruction, and intrigue. Those uncomfortable with talk of summoning demons, pentagrams, and incense might not enjoy it, but for everyone else I highly recommend it!

The narration is excellent as well.

Really, really good but not great.

Would you listen to The Amulet of Samarkand: The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book 1 again? Why?

I may, though I've got plenty of other audiobooks to listen to still.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Bartimaeus was by far my favorite character. His personality was really well written and portrayed.

What does Simon Jones bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The characters were really well read. Personalities were enhanced by his performance.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Not in particular, which sort of leads to my additional comments.

Any additional comments?

While the story was good, the one thing I didn't like is 90% of the characters written are jerks. Including the co-star Nathaniel. I was ok with it for Bartimaeus because it seemed just what Djinni did. However, it did kind of hurt my connecting with any character other than Bartimaeus or a few other Djinni.