#amulet of samarkand

[nadiajustbe]

Five-year old Nathaniel, looking out the window of his attic — standing on a stool, because otherwise he is too small to reach the view — marvelling at the distant silhouette of the Crystal Palace.

Johnatan Stroud what have you done.

[jutenium]

“Sholto's bruised immensity made the woman alongside him seem even thinner than she actually was. A stooping heron of a creature, she was dressed in a gray top and a long black skirt, with straight white hair chopped short abruptly behind her ears. Her face was all cheekbones and eyes, and entirely colorless—even her eyes were washed out, two dull marbles the color of rainwater sitting in her head. Long- nailed fingers like scalpels jutted from her frilly sleeves. She carried the odor of au- thority and danger: the utukku clicked their heels and saluted as she passed, and with a snap of her too-sharp nails, the portal behind her closed into nothing”.

[nikihawkes]

Book Review: The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud

Title: Amulet of Samarkand Author: Jonathan Stroud Series: Bartimaeus #1 Genre: Middle Grade + Rating: 4.5/5 stars The Overview: Nathaniel is a boy magician-in-training, sold to the government by his birth parents at the age of five and sent to live as an apprentice to a master. Powerful magicians rule Britain, and its empire, and Nathaniel is told his is the “ultimate sacrifice” for a…

[lejay-the-impossible]

The memory of Ptolemy

[winter-wise]

Nathaniel aged 12:

[bobbys-not-that-small]

Bartimaeus fandom can you help a gal out?? What would you say is a recognisable symbol/symbols of the trilogy as a whole? Like Lockwood & Co would be a rapier/lavender/cup of tea, and Scarlett & Browne would be… a gun?? A hat?? Actually, S&B fandom help me out too

[silverfeatheredserpent]

а disgruntled Bartimaeus

[brave-symphonia]

I also really like how the footnotes make Bartimaeus seem larger, is that the right word?

Like, you can feel his experience as something that's been around and knows all kinds of things, has met all kinds of powerful people, knows all about his side of the world.

Like, that first footnote, he mentions that most of the time apprentices just get nightmares, but sometimes they step outside of their circle, and even mentions how it's risky because they may grow up and get revenge.

Like, that tells that he knows about other demons, tells you a bit about the functions of the summoning, and a bit of why a demon like him may want to be a bit cautious.

I just really like how you get insights into his thoughts like that without needing to distract from the story.

[kathea]

A birthday gift for my friend @yonetee ❤

She got me to read the Amulet of Samarkand and then she asked for fanart of it. :D So I drew the djinn Bartimaeus in his favourite form.

I've never really heard anyone else mention this book (other than Yone), and it's a pity because it's such a great book! I love how both the main characters are arrogant and mostly following their own goals instead of being the cliché perfect heroes who save everyone. XD

[soufpawk]

hey do any of you remember the bartimaeus trilogy

[deadiez]

books I read in april 2024

[nadiajustbe]

Six years old. This is the age Nathaniel was when the Underwood's studyroom incident happened.

To put it into perspective. Six years old is the age most of the children across the world start their first school year. Six years old is the age people learn to read written texts. Six years old is the age children sing silly little nursery rhymes and play rock-paper-scissors. Six year old is the age where one's main worry is warm milk and whether is there cartoons running on TV. Six years old is the age children sleep with teddy bears and let their parents wrap them in a blanket. Six years old is the age in which Nathaniel — even If he was permitted to do so — wouldn't be able to write his own birth name, as it is to complex for such a young kid to spell.

Six years is the age children are most scared of monsters and their beds (completely imaginable, as they are kids, living in their fantasies). Six years old is the age they wake their parents in the verge of the night, so they would check safe them from this monster. Six years old is the age any respectable caretaker should view through the lenses of empathy, ensure the child that they're safe, kiss them goodnight abd let the nightlight on.

Six years old. This the age Nathaniel was when Arthur Underwood found him on the floor, curled up, crying for twenty minutes straight. And he was satisfied with the result.

[jutenium]

"You're our hero", that's what Mr. Devereaux said

Oh, little naive Natty boy... Haha and little naive Mr. Devereaux too. They have this common foolish...ness. Devereaux is a bad role model for kids. Especially for this one.

[e-b-reads]

Books of the month: March + April 2023

Failed to do any post like this for March, so now I am catching up all at once! For new followers/those who do not know, I am both a part-time PhD student and work at a summer camp (which is a retreat center in the off-season, but summer is the really busy time of year). Anyway, between the end of the semester and getting prepped for camp, the busy season has started earlier for me than usual. Doesn't mean I'm not reading! Just means I'm posting less about it. Here's books I read in March and April that I would recommend:

The Amulet of Samarkand (Jonathan Stroud): Had one of those impulses to use inter-library loan and reread a series I last read sometime in middle or high school. This time it's the Bartimaeus triology. (I also reread The Golem's Eye in the past two months; waiting on the third.) Anyway, I remember the books as engaging and funny, which they are; this time around I'm spending more time thinking about all the political and ethical questions raised by this fantasy society that's like our world except magicians rule everything. (i.e. I'm spending more time admiring Stroud's worldbuilding.) A series worth reading/rereading!

The Best American Mystery Stories 2020 (C.J. Box, Ed.): These were fun and fascinating, sometimes at the same time and sometimes by turns. When busy, it can be nice to have some short stories to dip into, and I always like mysteries. I especially spent time considering what exactly makes a "mystery" - some of these are more whodunnits (occasionally with a twist), others are mysterious but the reader knows what happened, others have crime and/or action but no one's solving anything. All good in different ways!

A Free Man of Color or One Extra Corpse (Barbara Hambly): Right, so I have already written about my love of the Benjamin January mystery series at least in passing. A Free Man of Color is the first in that series: 1830s New Orleans, very focused on the slave/free colored (the term at the time) community, murder mystery. I keep hesitating to recommend the series outright because it is 19 books long and, at this point, full of my blorbos, so I'm not sure I'm totally objective about it. However! One Extra Corpse is the second in a new historical murder mystery series by the same author, this one set in inter-war Hollywood but with a transplanted English protagonist. Reading this one, full of likeable characters but not the ones I feel unreasonably affectionate about, I realized: actually, I do think that Hambly's attention to historical detail, flawed but human characters, sense of humor, detail-driven mystery plots, etc., make for good books. So I do recommend either of these mystery series to anyone who likes that kind of thing! They are not flawless, but they are lots of fun.

[lejay-the-impossible]

𝑵𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒆𝒍...

𝑺𝒂𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒐 𝒕𝒐 𝑲𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒆.

A perfect ending that manages to break me every time. I recently finished my Bartimaeus reread and that day I decided to go somewhere nice and quiet. I went to a park near the sea, found myself a perfect tree to climb on, brought my backpack with disgusting bitter tea and some cookies to make it more bearable and proceeded with reading. I think I was on that tree for about three hours. When the ending finally hit I cried a little bit and felt a small emptiness but also a grand satisfaction.

Now it's time to reread Ring of Solomon to finish off the sequence and leave Bartimaeus on a nice humorous note.