The Amulet of Samarkand

The Amulet of Samarkand follows a young magician, Nathaniel, who gets over his head by summoning a mid-level demon, Bartimaeus, to steal the Amulet of Samarkand from one of the most powerful (and evil) magicians in his country. He uncovers a plot deeper and more sinister than he could ever have imagined and must team up with Bartimaeus to save his government.

The storytelling switches from Nathaniel's point of view to Bartimaeus and both are unique, lovable story-tellers. Bartimaeus especially is a funny narrator, and the magical world that Nathaniel and Bartimaeus inhabit is extremely interesting. The story is great, this novel having a satisfying self-contained story, while still setting up the overarching plot of the trilogy. I feel that often trilogy's are just one really long book, where really, they are three separate stories, joined by one over-arching story (Take note Christopher Paolini!). The Bartimaeus Trilogy is a real trilogy, thankfully and all of the interweaving plots are excellent.

As a side note, I'm not sure when I will be reading the rest of the trilogy, for two reasons. One, I bought the book, but it is at my parent's house in Virginia and I live in California now. Two, the second book switches between three points of view: Nathaniel, Bartimaeus, and a girl who only briefly showed up in the first book, but who I hated. I'm sure if i give her a chance, she'll be great, because I love Jonathon Stroud as a writer, but I really don't want to give her that chance because she pissed me off like Julie Cooper in the first book.