The first audiobook in a thrilling new trilogy about an apprentice magician and the powerful djinni he summons. Nathaniel is a young magician with only one thing on his mind: revenge. As an apprentice to the great magician Underwood, Nathaniel is gradually being schooled in the traditional art of magic. All is well until he has a life-changing encounter with Simon Lovelace, a rising, star magician. When Simon brutally humiliates Nathaniel in front of everyone he knows, Nathaniel decides to speed up his magical education, teaching himself spells way beyond his years. Eventually, he masters one of the most difficult spells of all: summoning the all-powerful djinni, Bartimeus. But summoning Bartimeus and controlling him are two very different things--and Nathaniel may be in way over his head.
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"This is my favorite book of ALL times !!! I would say its even better than Harry Potter. Love it so much that I can read it over and over again and never get bored. I would recommend everyone to read it. It's witty and the main character Bartimeus is the most awesome jinn everrrr...!!!"
— Sabeeka (5 out of 5 stars)
" Had picked this up at an airport bookstore, looking for something to read. Cover looked interesting as the summary. Wasn't sure if I was going to like this. Didn't like Nat and Kitty at first. The genie was interesting. Writing was pretty good. "
— Nidah, 2/19/2014" Childish and a little immature, the plot is good but drags on occassion. The sarcastic slapstick humour however is worth it. Couldn't stop myself buying the 2nd and 3rd book, though, jut to see where it goes! "
— Alaric, 2/18/2014" A solid, quick, and entertaining read. Bartimaeus is delightfully clever and well realized. For me, the major weakness of the book is Nathaniel. He is so petulant and I suppose he's not supposed to be liked, but there are times when he's just an insufferable protagonist. Were it not for him, I would have rated this four stars for sure. I hope he's not back in the next books. "
— Sofia, 2/13/2014" Fun story and enjoyed reading it. once it came to reading the second book in the series I stopped, i had no investment into the characters so I moved on to bigger and better books. "
— Daniel, 2/4/2014" interesting story, but took me time to really get into it. I'm hoping that now that I am familiar with the story background and magical world the second book will be a quicker and more interesting to me more! The best part was the ending, that's when I finally couldn't put it down!! "
— Ashley, 1/25/2014" Great book!! One of the main characters was very frustrating becuase he was a reckloose and yoiu could jst see all the trouble he was going to get into, but then at the same time the other main character was very level headed and senseable.... "
— Colin, 1/21/2014" I haven't wanted to strangle a main character so thoroughly in a long, long time. Cheers to Stroud for creating an obnoxious human you want to punch, and an "evil" djinn you want to, well, hang out with. Bartimaeus is unlikeable in a likeable way, and at least has some roundness, humor and personality to him. Nathaniel was simply tedious to read about, and, despite the writing in this book being a little basic, I still found myself slogging through the sections narrated by him. Overall a fun enough quick read with an interesting "magic" system (although Furies of Calderon has a similar system in which magicians are only as powerful as the creatures they can summon, but is a much better book)--but I won't eagerly pass this on to others, and I won't pick up the next in the series. "
— Al, 1/18/2014" Overall a decent book, but not great. I enjoyed Bartimaeus's perspective and the writing when it was him, but the kid was just flat annoying. The story was passable, so I'll probably be reading the rest of the series at some point. "
— Jared, 1/17/2014" Great book! Bartimaeus is just too funny. I love the back and forth between him and Nathaniel. "
— Lena, 1/15/2014Jonathan Stroud is the author of the New York Times bestselling Bartimaeus Trilogy, as well as The Leap, The Last Siege, Buried Fire, and Heroes of the Valley. He lives in England with his family.
Simon Jones is an English actor and award-winning audiobook narrator. Besides winning many AudioFile Earphones Awards for narration, he has won the prestigious Audie Award for best narration, including for top prize of Audiobook of the Year. He was named a “Golden Voice” by AudioFile magazine and as “Narrator of the Year” in 2005 by Publishers Weekly. As an actor, he has been featured in numerous Broadway productions and has appeared in the films The Devil’s Own, Twelve Monkeys, For Love or Money, Green Card, Brazil, Monty Python’s Meaning of Life, and Miracle on 34th Street remake. His television appearances include a role in The Cosby Mysteries and Murder She Wrote. He studied at Cambridge University and the legendary Cambridge Footlights Dramatic Club.