The Resistance was the most interesting part of the first book for me, so I was pleased to get a look inside their “organization” (which, as we see in this book, definitely requires quotes). I’m intrigued by the story of ordinary people fighting back against the totalitarian rule of the magicians, all the more so because the freedom fighters aren’t the sort of people I’d want running my government, either.

It’s a good thing these books are funny, because if they weren’t, they’d be damned depressing. I’m looking forward to making time for Ptolemy’s Gate!

Also reviewed at: Reading Matters, Grumpy Old Bookman, and Seasonal Plume.

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Anyway, Nathaniel is eleven, supposedly not ready to summon even the lowliest of demons — but of course he summons one anyway, a powerful (and entertainingly snarky) djinni named Bartimaeus, thus setting in motion a destructive chain of events.

Boy learning magic, corrupt government, scorn for non-magic-wielders… it will be impossible to review this book without comparing it to Harry Potter, so let’s get that out of the way right now. This is a very different book. It’s far darker, far more claustrophobic. Nathaniel leads an isolated life with no access to friends, in a world full of back-stabbing, cold adults — his magical training doesn’t save him from his misery, it causes it.

Even more notably, Nathaniel is a pretty unlikeable character. He’s so full of hubris that he can’t see the mistakes he makes, and can’t figure out any way to solve his problems other than to pile on more magic.* What’s more, none of this changes much by the end of the book. It’s a trilogy, so I imagine his emotional growth will be a continuing theme, but he’s starting from a much darker place than most YA fantasy protagonists.

The big win is Bartimaeus’s voice. The story is narrated in turn by Nathaniel and Bartimaeus, and what the former lacks in engaging personality, the latter makes up for and then some. Bartimaeus’s snide, world-weary tone — with footnotes! (man, I love footnotes) — made the book for me. Unfortunately, that meant that Nathaniel’s chapters were a harder slog. Maybe that’s partly because Nathaniel’s chapters are in the third person; not sure why Stroud made that decision, but it makes Nathaniel seem even less a match for Bartimaeus.

Also reviewed at She Reads Books and The Christian Fantasy Review.

*Thankfully with no drug metaphors, Buffy fans.

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