The Bartimaeus Trilogy | Jonathan Stroud

The Bartimaeus Trilogy
By Jonathan Stroud
Pub: Miramax

It’s hard to explain the things that are really brilliant about Stroud’s books without giving too much away so if I meander and am vague then forgive me.

First of all, I want to point out just what a beautiful thing this is to own. I have the boxed set of hardbacks with their foil images on the front. They are gorgeous and feel wonderfully substantial to read.






At around 500 pages each they may seem a little intimidating to less confident readers, especially as they are children’s books, but they are not hard to read. In fact I was quickly sucked into the alternate history. The British class system is twisted to replace the aristocracy with magicians, but otherwise works in largely the same way. It’s a wonderfully clever device that gives the reader a strong sense of reality and normalcy from the beginning. Historical figures like Gladstone are simply credited with magic and otherwise little is changed. America is still warring for independence, the Empire is battling on multiple fronts and in Britain there is a low murmmering of civil unrest among the magicless.

The other bit of pure brilliance is the magic system. All magic is produced through demons, so the magic system is based around summoning and controlling the demons or djinni of various levels, preferably without getting killed. It’s a wonderfully logical and consistent system which allows a fair amount of flexibility while maintaining plausibility.

Then there are the characters. There are three main characters throughout all three books, the djinn, Bartimaeus, who is funny, obnoxious and cunning, is really the character the reader will read for. The trilogy is centred around Bartimaeus’ relationship with the magician who summons him so each books takes place at a point where he is in servitude. The magician is the boy Nathanial who starts off a little whiny and obnoxious and doesn’t improve. It’s an odd balance, he has the potential a number of times to make the right decision but the times are so ingrained in him that he continues to get it wrong. He’s not particularly likeable but it creates the perfect interplay with Bartimaeus. Finally, there is the girl, Kitty, who again is not always likeable but has a cause and develops as a character much more quickly and sympathetically than Nathanial. Kitty also manages to be a constant thorn in Nathanial’s side which endears her to the reader.

I am not going to say anything much about the plot because it’s such a joy to read for the first time and I’d hate to spoiler it. Suffice to say these are among the best children’s book out there and easily make the transition to adult readers. I wish I could read them for the first time again.