First in the Bartimaeus Trilogy was pretty good
Since I went on yesterday about Not the end of the world, I thought I should mention briefly that the book that Sub-Evil Boy and I just finished (thereby opening up the option of reading Not the end of the world) was pretty good.
The book in question was The amulet of Samarkand, the first in the Bartimaeus Trilogy. Bartimaeus is a fiesty djinni summoned by Nathaniel, a young magician-in-training in an alternate universe London. Unlike the Harry Potter universe, where the ability to use magic is a gift one is born with (or not, for us muggles), here magicians are trained by taking/buying young children from their families and raising/training them in magician households. The governmental structure is vaguely similar to the current system (Ministers of departments and the Prime Minister at the top), but with magicians in all the ministerial positions going well back in time (Disraeli and Gladstone were magicians, apparently). This creates a strong social class system, where the magicians are “the Good and the Great” and the rest are (just) “commoners”, and I suspect that much of the second (and perhaps third) book will hinge on that tension.
Nathaniel is a high precocious fellow, and summons a very powerful djinni in a fit of spite. They then have many exciting adventures before winning the day (in a manner of speaking) and setting the stage for the next book. It’s not high art, but it’s fun and addresses some significant issues without beating you about the head and shoulders with them. Probably more substantive than the Artemis Fowl books (which are major faves of Sub-Evil, and which I also enjoyed), but hard to say at this point how they’d compare in terms of depth and development to the Harry Potter books.
The second in this series (The Golem’s eye) is out, but still in hardback, and the third is yet to be published. Sub-Evil’s keen to read more, though, and I look forward to it.
Also, it’s pretty clear that Sub-Evil isn’t going to press on with Not the end of the world. I’m quite taken with it, though, and will read it on my own.
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