Bartimaeus: The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathon Stroud

The main characters of the book are Nathaniel and Bartimaeus. Nathaniel is an apprentice to a minor magician. Nathaniel wants to seek revenge on Simon Lovelace, because Simon humiliated him in public by spanking him in front of a bunch of important magicians. Nathaniel summons Bartimaeus, a djinni, to go and steal the Amulet of Samarkand. Bartimaeus succeeds and gives the amulet to Nathaniel. Nathaniel hides the amulet in his master’s study. Later, Bartimaeus rescues Nathaniel when Simon tries to kill everybody in the house to get the amulet back. Nathaniel finds out about Simon’s plot to kill most of the major magicians and become the prime minister of the magicians. Nathaniel has to find a way to save all the magicians.

I give this book a four out of five stars because it has good plot and many surprising twists. I like how Bartimaeus is a funny character and how he always finds a way out of sticky situations. Bartimaeus also has a huge ego and tricks people. I think the book is sometimes a little boring when it is talking about Nathaniel but other than that I thought this was a pretty good book.