Customer Reviews

Ptolemy's Gate (The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book 3)

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

He's back! But this time around, the smart-mouthed djinni, Bartimaeus, is exhausted from too much work and not enough time to recover in his netherworld home. It's like they always say, "All work and no play makes Bartimaeus a dull supernatural being." Although, in this case, he's anything but dull. He's tired, weak, sharp-tongued, homicidal, and insulting. But definitely not dull.

In this third installment of THE BARTIMAEUS TRILOGY, the hero is again a djinni who has little respect for humans and even less interest in their petty wars and government squabbles. The magicians who rule England in this series of books insist on summoning Bartimaeus and scores of other demons to fight their wars, provide magical assistance of all sorts, and generally do their bidding. The demons see this treatment as slavery, and for good reason. What would you call forced servitude for no pay under threat of intense pain?

PTOLEMY'S GATE opens to find poor Bartimaeus stretched to the breaking point by his magician master, Nathaniel. A war in America is going poorly, the commoners of London are growing tired of the ruling class of magicians, and young Nathaniel is looked upon with jealousy and mistrust by his co-workers. As a result of all of these threats, Nathaniel rationalizes the need to keep Bartimaeus around to help him deal with the many problems that he faces. After a long association with the djinni, it is almost as if Nathaniel trusts his reluctant servant. And it is almost as if Bartimaeus has a shred of concern for human dealings. Almost.

PTOLEMY'S GATE is an excellent capstone to the extraordinary Bartimaeus series. I enjoyed all of these books immensely and recommend them to anyone who enjoys young adult fantasy. Like the first two books, The Amulet of Samarkand (The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book 1) and The Golem's Eye (The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book 2), this one is filled with humor and excitement. These books also offer some social commentary for those who want to pay attention to such things. For example, the ruling class of magicians in these books take extreme measures to maintain their own positions, while claiming that they are really just interested in keeping the masses safe. There are resistance groups that oppose the government, and they engage in acts of terrorism to free themselves from the magicians' oppressive yoke.

The entiretrilogy is a fun-filled pleasure to read. Doubtless it would be possible to read PTOLEMY'S GATE without having read the previous two books, but I would not recommend it. There is quite a bit of background that would be missed, and the story would definitely suffer. While the first book in the series, The Amulet of Samarkand (The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book 1), could probably stand alone, the second two (The Golem's Eye (The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book 2) and PTOLEMY'S GATE) should be read together. And once the last page of PTOLEMY'S GATE is turned, readers will undoubtedly wish they could summon Bartimaeus back for more.

Reviewed by: K. Osborn Sullivan

Jonathan Stroud was the author I opted to present in my fiction author assignment because I felt that he had a great story to tell. And I, as a hunter of great stories in the science fiction and fantasy genre of wizards and magic, had found a priceless treasure in his trilogy of the fast mouthed djinni, Bartimaeus, and the boy magician, Nathaniel. But wait, it is also the story of the commoner, Kitty Jones. The triumvirate has proven to be the strongest focal point from which the story has been able to twist and turn more than a winding road. Stroud is an OUTSTANDING storyteller. But most of all, he wrote this story with his heart. The book covers a lot of world issues in the guise of magicians versus commoners. Social injustice, government oppression (reminded me of the oppressive regimes in society which smite the rights of the masses) and social classes were some issues that Stroud was able to imply as important in his stories. The ending surprised me so much that I was in denial of the prediction that I was making, the direction the story was taking as the last book. But in the end, after ten minutes of quiet thinking and acceptance, I put the book away and wrote this review immediately. This will be the first book that I will be recommending to everyone aside from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. It is a MUST READ for all sci-fi and fantasy book lovers! If you love these kinds of stories, it is a crime not to read the stories. I dare you not to fall in love with Bartimaeus.

One of the best books I've had the pleasure of reading. While I originally was a little hesitant to buy the book because of the recommended age and section, I will always be happy I did. This story, while rated for younger audiences, is definitely for everyone and anyone who enjoys a complete and intriguing fantasy tale that will have you hoping and worrying about each character you meet.

Highly recommended.

Lupus

This is a trilogy I reread. I first read it in print, then downloaded it from Audible, then recommended it to my sister, whom despite reluctance loved it too. In short, I keep coming back. I look forward to listening/reading it again on my next roadtrip, and this is no small perk. Perhaps I'm simple minded but I like books that have someone that's likeable from the beginning, this is recreational reading afterall. You don't like anyone at the start of this series, and you may have serious reservations by the end but the art of this series is that you are allowed to come to love them. This is so rare. Too often in modern fiction writing we are subjected to horrible people behaving horribly devastating everyone around them and somehow we are told to understand, and support them because of their unfortunate beginnings. This is every infant's insistance, that every deprivation is an emergency, and deserves immediate repair. Well, good luck, welcome to the human condition.

Is it any wonder that non fiction is more interesting?

This series is one of the few that acknowleges that humans can change, perhaps too little, perhaps too late, but ernestly and with consequence.

I recommend it unreservedly,
ACI

Stroud's conclusion to his outstanding Bartimaeus trilogy has all the elements that made the series great. As a capstone book should, it also ties together all the loose ends and follows up all the unresolved clues from the earlier books, while remaining true to the spirit of the series. The signature element of an Orwellian understanding of power cloaked in a humorous and dramatic tale of magicians and demons is fully realized. While I was reading this series with my son, I was separately reading [...] and [...] on my own, and the truth is that it was always hard to turn from Bartimaeus back to my adult books, and the Bartimaeus Trilogy is the one I finished with regret.

The final installment makes the whole journey worth it. PTOLEMY'S GATE, the third part of the BARTIMAEUS TRILOGY, wraps things up in a satisfying, exhilarating way that won't leave Jonathan Stroud fans disappointed.

A new character is introduced in this novel. Sure, we've still got Nathaniel -- A.K.A. John Mandrake, youthful magician and Information Minister, Kitty -- outcast rebel of the Resistance, Bartimaeus - fun-loving demon of sarcasm who is stuck as Nathaniel's servant, but now our story jumps back to Alexandria, Egypt in 125 B.C. to weave the necessary backstory of Ptolemy and his legendary gate between the Other Place and Earth. The connection between the past and present is the infamous Bartimaeus.

We soon learn that the relationship Bartimaeus and Ptolemy had was incredibly close, filled with trust and loyalty, something Nathaniel knows nothing about. Kitty, however, has been studying magic with the hope of learning more about Ptolemy. Even though commoners aren't supposed to be able to, she hopes to summon Bartimaeus and learn about Ptolemy's Gate. Her theory is that the Gate is the way to bridge the gap between demons and humans, somehow ending the forced servitude and hatred between them and creating peace and equality.

The tensions really get going in this one. The overseas war with America is going poorly. The Resistance is still at large. A traitor high up in government is plotting an inconceivable takeover of the country. Bartimaeus has been on Earth so long his essence is fading and he's close to death. If Nathaniel doesn't squelch the Resistance, his job and prestige will all be lost. And if Kitty's plan doesn't work, she just might disappear into the spirit world forever like Ptolemy. So much is at stake. And none of the players even know about the "rebellious faction of demons"!

Get ready for an intoxicating end to the ride. What THE AMULET OF SAMARKAND began in the first book, PTOLEMY'S GATE finishes up gloriously. Go Bartimaeus!

--- Reviewed by Jonathan Stephens

Ptolemy's Gate, by Jonathan Strout or Book Three in The Bartimaeus Trilogy

Three years have passed since the magician John Mandrake (Nathaniel) helped prevent a cataclysmic attack on London, Now, as the Information Minister, he faces unprecedented problems: The war in the American colonies is going badly, and he is supposed to encourage the commoners to join in the fight by creating government propaganda posters to encourage recruitment, even though the war is being lost. He also faces a rebellion among the commoners, led by Katherine (Kitty) Jones who was thought dead by the government and has assumed two false identities: under Lizzy Jones she is the assistant to Mr. Harold Button, a magician who does not care about politics, and instead loves knowledge and is teaching Kitty magic. The other identity is Clara Bell, who works at a pub.

Nathaniel is afraid that other magicians will summon Bartimaeus, who knows Mr. Mandrakes REAL name, and has kept him a slave for too long, thus making him very weak. Finally as Bartimaeus is almost losing his essence, Nathaniel allows Bartimaeus to go to "The Other Side" to recover.

Kitty, aided by Mr. Harold Button, has learned the secret relationship between Ptolemy and Bartimaeus, and how to summon him from the other side. She summons successfully Bartimaeus, as Mandrake gives him a break to recover, and with his help, she has a daring plan, not seen since Ptolemy's time--by crossing to "The Other Side," she hopes to break the endless cycle of conflict between djinn and humans, just like Ptolemy first proposed centuries before.

But in the meantime, Quentin Makepiece, a playwright and leader of a plan to overthrow the government, has develop a formula to summon the demons from "The Other Side" and fuse them with the magicians. What Mr, Mandrake does not realize is that this is a planned revenge by the demons to take over the world and control over the magicians and cause havoc.

in this glorious conclusion to the Bartimaeus trilogy, the destinies of Bartimaeus, Nathaniel, and Kitty converge in a dramatic way, We learn the secrets of Bartimaeus history and get a glimpse of "The Other Side," and the threesome faces the treacherous magicians led by Quentin Makepiece, the complex conspiracy the demons have created and the possible destruction of their world.

I thought this was the best of the three books and it was a wonderful read!

I will admit to not having read this book in a little while, but I have read it multiple times because of how much I liked it. The whole book struck me as a bit sad as the trilogy came to a close and the problems that the characters were facing did as well. Stroud's narative was as ingenious in this book as it was in the first as it switched back and forth between three very different personalities. Bartimaeus did a good job of lightening up what could have otherwise been an overly serious story. His characters continued to grow and I felt that they had gotten much farther along as individuals by the end. I thought that this was an entertaining original book that gripped and surprised me long after the last page was turned.

A fantastic last book for a fantastic trilogy. After joining the adventures of Bartimaeus and Nathaniel's (and Kitty's after the second book), it was high time to say goodbye. But this book was more than a goodbye. Every page from the start is full of mystery and agony and finally they come to the climax. This time , we see a softer side of Nathaniel and his try to help others while Kitty decides to follow Ptolemy's dream and complete it. Bartimaeus is again in the middle of a great battle to come but he willfully decides to help without being ordered to. His most important moments of his past are revealed so to understand him deeper and is managable. The last scene takes everyone by surprise but after thinking, it's understandable that it was inevitable and so a great ending to Bartimaeus trilogy. Want to know what happened? Buy the book and discover it!

No spoilers or summaries here...just want to say that this is a very satisfying ending to a terrific and very original trilogy. As an adult (42) who has read a lot of fantasy over the years I have to say this is a good deal better than most of the 'adult' (as in not written for children) fantasy out there. I look forward with pleasure to Stroud's next creation. Bartimaeus is a fine addition to the list of unforgettable fantasy characters.