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)

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.

Good book, some of the narration is annoying

I liked the book, but found myself annoyed with the boy character (as I think the author intended). But I was more annoyed than usual because the voice the narrator gave the boy was too squeaky. It seemed like he was narrating the part of a mouse, not a boy. I got used to it, and it was fine, but I also lost track of who’s head I was supposed to be in at times because aside from the dialogue, the way the story was read didn’t vary from perspective to perspective. I suppose that’s hard to do anyway, but it threw me off a few times despite the fact that Nathaniel’s parts were all third person and Bartemeaus‘ were all first. I still think it was an entertaining story, just needed some fine tuning on the narrator’s end.

Good read

A bit of a slow start, but quickly picks up. The characters are great, and story very interesting.

Very fun listen

I really enjoyed this book. It was very amusing. I love it when an author can write a good story and also make it funny. I’m just so much happier when I’m listening to it.

Entertaining!

This is an entertaining listen. The magically gifted boy and the laid back demon are an amusing combination. The narrator did a fine job! It made me want to hear the next book.

Amazing!

Such a great story. I enjoyed it from the beginning. It is not one of those stories that starts boring and becomes good, but one of those that keeps you on the edge of your toes the whole time. I loved it and can't wait to start the next book. Also, awesome narrator!

I love this book!

The narrator is brilliant.

I have read and listened to this book over and over. It’s clever and funny with just the right about of snark and imagination.

Great Detail

Very entertaining listen. The story had lots of details and memorable characters. It led me to the second book.

Well Read and Written

Loved this series. Well read, and well written. The first 3 books are continuous and flesh out the characters piece by piece. The 4th book focuses on bartimaeus’ history, and is well worth the listen.

Fantastic narrator!!!

Simon Jones is what makes this book so great. He is one of the very best narrators I have ever listened to