The Amulet of Samarkand book review

The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud
Series: Bartimaeus #1
Published by Corgi Childrens on October 7, 2004
Genres: YA
Pages: 480
Format: Paperback
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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 "noble destiny."
If leaving his parents and erasing his past life isn't tough enough, Nathaniel's master, Arthur Underwood, is a cold, condescending, and cruel middle-ranking magician in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The boy's only saving grace is the master's wife, Martha Underwood, who shows him genuine affection that he rewards with fierce devotion. Nathaniel gets along tolerably well over the years in the Underwood household until the summer before his eleventh birthday. Everything changes when he is publicly humiliated by the ruthless magician Simon Lovelace and betrayed by his cowardly master who does not defend him.
Nathaniel vows revenge. In a Faustian fever, he devours magical texts and hones his magic skills, all the while trying to appear subservient to his master. When he musters the strength to summon the 5,000-year-old djinni Bartimaeus to avenge Lovelace by stealing the powerful Amulet of Samarkand, the boy magician plunges into a situation more dangerous and deadly than anything he could ever imagine.

This was a nostalgia read for me, I read The Amulet of Samarkand back when I was in secondary school and when The Works had the complete series for ridiculous cheap I had to pick it up.

We follow Nathaniel as a magician’s apprentice in a world where magic is not only revered but magicians also run London. He has spent so much of his childhood being overlooked and humiliated by the world around him that he summons a djinni to help him wreak revenge. I was so hopeful for this book, I am always looking for good YA/Middle Grade series to act as a break between some of the heavier books I’m reading. However, I struggled all the way through the story, Nathaniel didn’t sit well with me, there was nothing developed about his character and his motivations were lacking. Bartimaeus on the other hand was brilliant and if the entire book had been told from his perspective I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more. The footnotes in his chapters were always funny, informative and well timed, I never felt as though they detracted from the plot or the pacing and the information shared was always enjoyable.

There is a great look at politicking and the use of children within that. I think watching the way each of the adults dealt with inner workings of a government and outside forces. I enjoyed the look at commoners and magicians being seen as a saviour of the people, it felt as though a well worn idea had been made new and I appreciated seeing a child’s perspective on that. Nathaniel’s emotions all the way through this were very realistic and felt very childlike, and watching him struggle with rage, jealousy, ambition and rejection was very well done.

The further you get into The Amulet of Samarkand it seems to lose its way a little. I think there were so many characters and subplots and none of it was really developed. It was kind of like a run to the finish line, no matter what the cost, which was a little frustrating. It almost felt as though there were two books into one and I think there needed to be a focus on just the one. I would have loved for the original plot of stealing The Amulet of Samarkand to have taken a little longer and the consequences of all of that to have been deeper and more developed.

Maybe I am asking a lot of a YA/Middle Grade book but I could see so much potential, and where there could be such a great story, and it was so frustrating that we didn’t get that. I will say that the sassiness of Bartimaeus was some of my favourite, and I was tempted to carry on the series just to see more of that. But I am unfortunately saying goodbye to the books, I enjoyed this one but not enough to put off all the other books on my TBR.