The Amulet of Samarkand

I enjoyed the story very much. Good mixture of bravery,enthusiasm, sarcasm, and willpower. Bartimaeus is funny ,intelligent, and witty for his own good.

This novel is beyond perfection in the fantasy genre.Be it the interweaving narratives from the perspectives of Nathaniel and Bartimaeus, or the pacing and uproarious hilarity of Bartimaeus' comedic footnotes - I'm blessed to have been exposed to this book when I was but a wee teen.Yet, I was in for a rather rude shock when I sought to buy another copy to gift my cousin - the new cover of the paperbacks.For some reason, the current publishing authority of this excellent novel series decided that the previous cover (pic 1, left) needed to be replaced by the unimpressive, generic-themed, front cover (Pic 2, right), as if believing that making the novel's cover appear like something from a movie would garner you more readers.I'd like to impress upon such designers that when readers love a book, they seek to show its iconic value to those around them. The old cover design was iconic - tells you nothing, and with the title, gives the entire book itself an air of occult mystery, which is a fine thing considering its primary premise being centered about demons.The new one makes me feel embarrassed, for a new reader in his late teens will interpret from its design that the contents of the book itself is some weak generic story having to do with demons and mystical quests and similar supernatural phenomena - the kind of media that most young adults today are tired to watching in their remade and rehashed forms.Because, in short, even though the opposite is advised, people do judge books by their covers. The current iteration of the cover - when compared to its predecessor - is a pure artistic travesty.Suffice to say that whoever approved this changed, had they been a spirit, I would have wished them to suffer eternally from the Shriveling Fire while shut inside a silver box at the bottom of the Thames.

The fantasy world the books sets up is amazing. It keeps you interested all the time. The whole footnotes style is good. The book is great and will make you read the next book in this series.

Bartimaeus is the most witty, sharp tongued djinn I’ve come across. The footnotes are a treasure trouble of further insights into the highly colorful and accomplished working of Bartimaeus.

Have bought it three times, as gifts and for self. Yeah, it's great.Witty, no page is boring. The footnotes do it all.

Loved Bartimaeus . The footnotes the quips, they are funny. It's like the book is about the Djinn having fun despite the danger and his predicament

Okay, I am not a fantasy freak or geek; the only other fantasy I read was ASoIaF and I was excited by it and thought I'd try some other fantasy. I saw this book for a low prize, less number of books in the series, so I thought I'll go n try this though I got other fantasy series on my to-read list.Coming to this book, I found it as a Harry Potter meeting mystery novel like narrative. Figuratively. The story is original, developed, but less convincing. People who read HP may like it, love it. They might also hate it. I just liked it. I found no fault with this one, it being a children fantasy, not epic, it was magnificent.The narrative is simple, story too. Swift narrative. You never get bored. The scenes towards the climax seem more in the lines of a typical cinematic style, a spy novel type.If you are a fantasy freak go for it, you are gonna freak out.4/5...there is a sequel too, Im gonna read it too, that shows how I liked this one.

Very humorous fantasy book, the lore is interesting as well. Excellent

The Amulet of Samarkand is one of the best books ever made. I was reading Happy Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone to my class and remembered reading this book from my youth. If you like magic and djinni, and want a little bit more than Harry Potter, read this book.Bartimaeus is hysterical. I was I was as funny as he.

Les adjunto foto de la diferencia del libro clon y uno original

I bought this book as I'd enjoyed the lockwood series. So far so good. Loving the characters and the story had great pace and was engaging. Going to get the next one now to see what happens next!

I read fantasy since I was a child and now I'm in my fifties. This is an enchanting writing, a fantasy tale whose main character, Barthimeus, is an ancient genius apparently unfortunate but really clever in reality. You'll laugh a lot reading his adventures, I guarantee. I read the whole series of 4 books and then read also the Scarlett and Browne first book and Lockwood & co. whole series, of the same author. Jonathan Stroud is with no doubt my favourite fantasy author, he's simply fenomenal!

My husband said it's a funny, well written book