The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud
September 23rd 2006 03:00
Jonathan Stroud shamelessly pinches the aura and mystique associated with the name of Samarkand while his novel has nothing to do with it; the amulet in question could have come from anywhere. Like all novels of its kind, it was promoted by the Brotherhood as the antidote to Harry Potter we have been waiting for so long. For once they are true. It is not Harry Potter. Not even close. Nevertheless, Stroud's uneven trilogy of novels starting with The Amulet of Samarkand, is marginally better than those other Harry Potter antidotes that have been thrust on us.
It is nineteenth century London and England is ruled by an aristocracy of magicians. The use of magic for the machinations of the empire is a premise shared by Susanna Clarke, Trudi Canavan and many others. Here, the magician class self-perpetuates by raising orphans and teaching them magic tricks and after they qualify, setting them in the bureaucracy somewhere. The commoners don't stand a chance of course.
Nathaniel is an orphan brought up in the house of a mediocre magician who does not realize that he has a precocious charge on his hands and gives him a lackadaisical upbringing. Unknown to him, Nathaniel has been learning far more than he could ever imagine. He is not just a precocious boy but an arrogant wretch whose belief in his own powers is beyond hubris.
The novel opens when Nathaniel invokes a djinni called Bartimaeus and bids him to steal the Amulet of Samarkand from a prominent magician. Stroud's magic world is a hybrid combination of Jewish mysticism and alchemy and his spirits, and there are many of them, are actively hostile to humans. The human magicians invoke them from their spirit world and make them do their stuff after spiritually binding them, which the spirits resent. They represent the Other.
Where there are artistocracies, there are subversives trying to undermine them and the novel's heroine Kitty is a member one such ruthless gang which is trying to overthrow the government like all good subversives.
Nathaniel wants the amulet for reasons of his own but he does not know that there is a big conspiracy afoot to seize power , which hinges on this amulet. So, when Bartimaeus goes to steal the amulet, he sets in motion a melee of clashing wills all bent usurping power and the whole thing gets bigger and bigger than Nathaniel had ever imagined in his innocence. But, Nathaniel is made for big things.
Bartimaeus is a cantankerous spirit and Nathaniel an insufferable master and it is their clash of egos that's the most appealing part of the series. Otherwise the rest of the plot is based on the subversive fantasy that by trying hard, the whole house of cards that is called state will come crumbling down. For the fantasy to work the author has to construct the house of cards which can be pulled apart easily by his subversives and it is this premise that nearly undoes the series because the plotting is at once frenetic and messy.
Fortunately, the brashness of young Nathaniel and the rudeness of Bartimaeus save the day
It is nineteenth century London and England is ruled by an aristocracy of magicians. The use of magic for the machinations of the empire is a premise shared by Susanna Clarke, Trudi Canavan and many others. Here, the magician class self-perpetuates by raising orphans and teaching them magic tricks and after they qualify, setting them in the bureaucracy somewhere. The commoners don't stand a chance of course.
Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud
Nathaniel is an orphan brought up in the house of a mediocre magician who does not realize that he has a precocious charge on his hands and gives him a lackadaisical upbringing. Unknown to him, Nathaniel has been learning far more than he could ever imagine. He is not just a precocious boy but an arrogant wretch whose belief in his own powers is beyond hubris.
The novel opens when Nathaniel invokes a djinni called Bartimaeus and bids him to steal the Amulet of Samarkand from a prominent magician. Stroud's magic world is a hybrid combination of Jewish mysticism and alchemy and his spirits, and there are many of them, are actively hostile to humans. The human magicians invoke them from their spirit world and make them do their stuff after spiritually binding them, which the spirits resent. They represent the Other.
Where there are artistocracies, there are subversives trying to undermine them and the novel's heroine Kitty is a member one such ruthless gang which is trying to overthrow the government like all good subversives.
Nathaniel wants the amulet for reasons of his own but he does not know that there is a big conspiracy afoot to seize power , which hinges on this amulet. So, when Bartimaeus goes to steal the amulet, he sets in motion a melee of clashing wills all bent usurping power and the whole thing gets bigger and bigger than Nathaniel had ever imagined in his innocence. But, Nathaniel is made for big things.
Bartimaeus is a cantankerous spirit and Nathaniel an insufferable master and it is their clash of egos that's the most appealing part of the series. Otherwise the rest of the plot is based on the subversive fantasy that by trying hard, the whole house of cards that is called state will come crumbling down. For the fantasy to work the author has to construct the house of cards which can be pulled apart easily by his subversives and it is this premise that nearly undoes the series because the plotting is at once frenetic and messy.
Fortunately, the brashness of young Nathaniel and the rudeness of Bartimaeus save the day
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Comment by Luke
Old Movies
Cane Toad Warrior
I was under the impression it was modern-day London though, don't they mention cars and stuff like that?