About this title: Set in modern-day London, this first book in a gripping new trilogy introduces young magician's apprentice Nathaniel. Humiliated by a hotshot wizard, Nathaniel summons the not-so-tame djinni, Bartimaeus, and sends him to steal the Amulet of Samarkand. Accelerated Reader: Reading Level 5.9, 19 Points.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Miramax
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780786852550ISBN:0786852550
Description: Very Good. {VG-} Paperback. Faint spine crease; upper corner cover creases; and light edgewear. Page edges beginning to tan due to age. read more
Description: Very Good. 0786852550 Good looking trade sized paperback book! FIRST EDITION! Some creasing of the spine & wear on cover/corners--nothing major. SMOKE FREE HOME! Do not settle for worn, torn, throwaways. Pay a few pennies more for a book that looks nice! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Miramax
Date Published: 2003-09
ISBN-13:9780786818594ISBN:078681859X
Description: Good. Format: Hardcover. Year: 2003. The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book 1. Hardcover Book. No Jacket. Gift inscription inside front cover. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780786852550ISBN:0786852550
Description: Good. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 462 p. Bartimaeus Trilogy (Paperback), 1. Intended for a juvenile audience. Intended for a young adult/teenage audience. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780786852550ISBN:0786852550
Description: Good. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 462 p. Bartimaeus Trilogy (Paperback), 1. Intended for a juvenile audience. Intended for a young adult/teenage audience. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780786852550ISBN:0786852550
Description: Good. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 462 p. Bartimaeus Trilogy (Paperback), 1. Intended for a juvenile audience. Intended for a young adult/teenage audience. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780786852550ISBN:0786852550
Description: Very good. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 462 p. Bartimaeus Trilogy (Paperback), 1. Intended for a juvenile audience. Intended for a young adult/teenage audience. Very good read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780786852550ISBN:0786852550
Description: Good. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 462 p. Bartimaeus Trilogy (Paperback), 1. Intended for a juvenile audience. Intended for a young adult/teenage audience. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780786852550ISBN:0786852550
Description: Good. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 462 p. Bartimaeus Trilogy (Paperback), 1. Intended for a juvenile audience. Intended for a young adult/teenage audience. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780786852550ISBN:0786852550
Description: Good. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 462 p. Bartimaeus Trilogy (Paperback), 1. Intended for a juvenile audience. Intended for a young adult/teenage audience. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780786852550ISBN:0786852550
Description: Good. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 462 p. Bartimaeus Trilogy (Paperback), 1. Intended for a juvenile audience. Intended for a young adult/teenage audience. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780786852550ISBN:0786852550
Description: Good. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 462 p. Bartimaeus Trilogy (Paperback), 1. Intended for a juvenile audience. Intended for a young adult/teenage audience. read more
"Imagine that there is a world ruled by magicians. This story takes place in Britain. There are two kinds of people in this world, Magicians, treated to rank, and commoners. There are seven planes of the earth, the first is the one we see, the others let you see magical threats. Magician lenses, which they wear all the lime, let you see planes 1-4, getting blurrier as you go. All the power of magicians are because of demons or spirits. You would summon a demon by drawing a pentacle(a star with 2 circles around it) with special runes on the ground, and surounding it with special candles and herbs. You would then say the summoning spell along with the demons name. A name is very important in this world, as explained later. A demon would then be sommoned from the Other Place. If the demon finds one mistake in your penticle, it will instantly escape and tear you to shreads, and then will disinigrate to the Other Place. The same will happen if you attempt a complex demon with spells and powers to great for you. Demons can live forever, unless they get killed, the book didn't tell what would happen then. There are five levels of demons. Here is a list going from least powerful to most powerful: imps, foliots, djinn, afrits, and marids. There are things much more powerful than any of these catagories things, but they have few times been summoned because it takes an amazing amount of will power, and in most cases, have caused disasters, just look what happened to Atlantis, they sommoned one of these greater entities to take over the world and boom! The great and powerful thriving city disinigrated. There are also demons far weaker than any of these; but they could be defeated by an disabled child of 1, mind you, that is horrible. Only higher ranking demons, middle ranking djinn and up can see all seven planes. For lower demons, they can see only the lower planes and maybe even some very blurry higher planes. Demons is actually a bit offending, so I will use the word spirit from now on. Spirits have a thing called essence, it slowly dissolves when staying on earth, even faster when fighting on earth. The less essense the weaker they are and the more they suffer from staying on earth. Spirits can change forms of every plane except the seventh, which is where they have a form situated to their personalities. Essences are healed in Other World. Rosamary, Iron, and silver hurt them.Lets stop with the spirits. A magicians name is an important thing. They have 2 names, their true name and their common name. The true name is very dangerous in others hands and must be forgotton and disposed, and only extremely trusted people can know it. If somebody knows your true name, and he is not the best of friends, well lets just say that you won't be reading this, because your probably dead by now. Lets get on to a brief "hooking" section. Aurthor Underwood is a medium weak quick-tempered magician. And it is his turn for getting an apprentice. He and his wife get a scared looking 3 year old. His parents are gone and dead. Nathaniel, 10, and smart is publicly humiliated when at a adult party with Mr.Underwood by Mr.Simon Lovelace, a powerful snotty magician, full of charm and deciet. He decides to get even. With out his master's notice he starts to read Mr.Underwood's library of book about magic, he goes into subjects even some adults cant do. Almost 11, he's more powerful than his master, who still thinks that he is a imbecil. Nathaniel summons a high-level djinn, Bartameus. Bartameus is suprised at being summoned by an 11 year old. Nathaniel sends the demon to find the Amulet of Samarkand, an extremely powerful charm in possession of Lovelace. Bartameus finds out Nathaniels name, you get your common name at 12. Nathaniel finds a way to counteract this and is very clever about this, is Bartameus reveals his name, he is sent to a ciggarret canister full of rosamery, very painful herb,at the bottom of the murky thames river, for when he is sommoned. Soon bartameus and nathaniel find themselves in an interesting and dangerous magical web of events when Lovelace wants revenge, and summons something nobody expects him to, Ramathura, one of those greater entities I was talking about. I also wanted to say that this swiches between Bartimaus and Nathaniel every chapter, and switches between first and third person every paragraph. Bartameus is funny and uses footnotes; for example: (Bartameus) My hated mole form hit a pebble five times when burrowing through the ground. (endnote)Mind you, they were different pebbles, you humans are such idiots."
"Such a wise-cracking djinn, such a tiny, jerkish upstart. You will absolutely devour this book. It's hilarious. Told from the very different viewpoints of Bartimaeus ( a smart-aleck djinn who has lived thousands of years and has nothing to show for it but an I rock you don't attitude) and Nathaniel (12 year old jerkwad apprentice whose lifelong dream is to be a huge im portant government official and have millions of obedient djinn slaves at his fingertips. Bartimaeus isn't making it easy for him) this book is a full of humor and helps us to know the true meaning of friendship a little better. Even if the friends sometimes hate each other for a while. This unlikeliest of pairs will do their best to undermine a conspiracy against the fat, lazy, corrupt government and share a few moments that will make you laugh out loud in the process."
"An extremely action-packed, high-stakes adventure featuring a downtrodden young magician and the arrogant but likeable djinn who serves him. Stroud does a good job of making his main characters Nathanael and Bartimaeus flawed and allowing them to make some serious mistakes while still keeping them at least potentially likeable. I did find that the near-constant action wore on me after a while and that some episodes felt a bit like padding, but it all paid off in the end. Some intriguing loose threads to follow into Book 2 of the series."
"It was interesting to have this slightly different viewpoint of the world of magic and the authors wit is enjoyable. I had the added advantage of listening to the audiobook and the narrator, Simon Jones, was wonderful (he sounded just like Sebastian Cabot)."
We guarantee every item's condition, as described on Alibris. If you are not satisfied that an item is as described, return your purchase for a refund.