Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(111)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The third and final installment of the Bartimaeus Trilogy (*1) picks up three years after the "The Golem's Eye" with Nathaniel a.k.a. John Mandrake now the Information Minister, and spending his time making up propaganda pamphlets about the supposed successes of the war in America (*2) He has been increasingly mistreating Bartimaeus, not allowing him to return to the "other place" until his essence is so severely weakened that the puns stop flowing. (*3) Mandrake is now cold and unfeeling, totally absorbed in his work and his own self importance, and has few friends. In order to hang on to whatever little favor he has left with the Prime Minister, he maintains cordial relations with Quentin Makepeace, who has composed a must-see (*4) musical about the life of the Prime Minister.

Things aren't going so well for the government either, and the commoners are revolting. (*5) Some have learned to spot magical beings, and some have developed magical resistance, and this book sees the return of Kitty Jones, who is sneakily learning about the other world, and especially Bartimaeus' past. (*6) Through Kitty's research we learn the secret behind the whole Ptolemy thing, and get a look into Bartimaeus' domain.

When a sinister plot (*7) unleashes the most powerful beings who ever existed to wreak havoc and cause mass destruction, Mandrake, Kitty and Bartimaeus team up in ways none of the three would have before this thought possible, and using the magical artifacts from the first two books, they represent the last line of defense of the human race. After a heart-stopping and pulse-racing (*8) last quarter, the grand finale may not be to everyone's liking, but the redemption of Nathaniel more than makes up for it.

A bit lengthy and somewhat plodding at the start, but never-the-less a totally gratifying conclusion to a great series.



(*1) - Yes, yes - trilogies often mean three stories - get on with it!

(*2) - Mostly rubbish, I might add

(*3) - Egads!

(*4) - If you wanted to keep your job, that is

(*5) - Most of the magicians would agree whole heartedly

(*6) - Trust a woman to have an enquiring mind

(*7) - What other kind is there?

(*8) - Desirable yet unhealthy conditions I would think




Amanda Richards, June 19, 2006

I couldn't have asked for anything more. This was indeed a worthy finale to the trilogy. The character development just went into no-holds-barred mode, giving you such insight on the main characters, and, finally, a revelation on Bartimaeus' past with Ptolemy. What was it that made this djinn love the little Egyptian boy so? We finally find out.

The past two books ensnared me, but this one completely held me captive. There were times when I'd be tired all day from working, my eyes forcing themselves shut, and my body aching for rest. Yet, I fought against its cries for sleep just so I could continue reading Bartimaeus' tale.

Ptolemy's Gate is so well written that you will find yourself getting so involved with the characters throughout the story. I shared Bartimaeus' disappointment with Nathaniel so much that I yearned to jump in there and slap some sense into him myself. Not to mention that I was feeling sorry for Bartimaeus as well, while he goes into his own style of [justifyable] self-pity. Kitty, who I admit did not interest me so much in the past, played such a crucial part here that I could not help but develop a fondness for her as well.

Each turn of the page willed me to go on, and the excitement just seem to build up and up. And the ending.. Oh, the ending. I released the breath I wasn't aware I was holding, as I stare into space dumbfounded; mouth slightly open, as I play that final scene again and again in my head.

I hope to see Bartimaeus again in the future. Even with a completely different cast of characters, I would be happy!

Warning - do not read the reviews below mine - they contain major spoilers!!

All in all - a great finale for a captivating series. (I didn't get out of my pajamas today - read straight through!)

Imaginative and compelling - entertaining for adults and children as well. Heartfelt thanks to Jonathan Stroud!

Ptolemy's Gate is the final (sob) instalment of the Bartimaeus Trilogy and by far the best! Taking place about three years later than the Golem's Eye, all is not well in London. Nathaniel is under increasing stress with the American war and (another) threat to the government both from magicians and the protesting commoners, Bartimaeus the wonderful djinni has been stuck on Earth for two years now and barely has the strength to lift a paintbrush, while Kitty Jones the commoner is currently hiding in London learning all she can about magic.

Bartimaeus is (as always) charming, witty and utterly loveable but now we learn about some of his history with Ptolemy giving even more depth to his (already) fabulous character.
Nathaniel has definitely grown up and while still determined, ambitious and arrogance is starting to learn some of his own faults and correct them, making him a much more likeable character than in the previous books.
I must admit that I didn't think a lot of Kitty in the last book and mostly ended up skimming through her parts but in Ptolemy's Gate she's definitely grown up and become much more interesting and not quite as depressing as before. I found myself looking forward to reading her parts almost as much as Bartimaeus'!

Ptolemy's Gate is just (if not more) fast paced and exciting as the last two but with added bonuses of more character development and many ends tied up, with a couple of plot twists thrown in too. I enjoyed every moment (except perhaps the very ending, and the fact that it did). Mr. Stroud, you have outdone yourself!

If you've not read the Trilogy yet, I strongly recommend it for anyone who likes fantasy and magical type stories with a bit of bite and a GREAT lead character (I'm talking about Bartimaeus here!). If you've already read the first two but not Ptolemy's Gate, what are you doing hanging around reading reviews?? Go and buy it!

Having read and absolutely loved The Amulet Of Samarkand and The Golem's Eye, I was delighted when Ptolemy's Gate was released, particularly as Simon Jones was still the narrator. Stroud's fascinating trilogy is definitely one of the most original modern fantasies around today. The story is told from the multiple view points of the young magician Nathaniel, the feisty commoner Kitty, and of course everyone's favourite djinny Bartimaeus. In these creations Stroud has given his readers three delightful, strong and deeply human (even though one is a spirit) characters. Right from the opening sentence Stroud draws you in with his wonderful, atmospheric language, and you are not released until the end, and perhaps not even then. I haven't been so utterly unable to put a book down since Harry Potter. Perhaps the author's greatest talent though, and the thing that for me makes the books such a joy to read, is Stroud's superb use of dialogue. Every word is just so perfectly chosen, timed and placed, and the book is shot through with the author's dry, sardonic humour. Even sentimental moments have a certain sharp-tongued charm, which, far from ruining the effect, makes it even more poignant, and no more so than during Bartimaeus and Nathaniel's final conversation.
Ptolemy's Gate has everything it's predecessors had and more. Intrigue, suspense, twists and turns, plots within plots, and of course the warmly delightful narration of Bartimaeus. His wit is as keen as ever, even when he himself is in pretty bad shape. And if you've been sitting there awaiting your copy, smugly satisfied that you've got it all worked out, then think again!
Simon Jones once more gives a perfect narration. The cynical, dry tone he adopts for Bartimaeus fits him perfectly. If they ever do movies of these books (and what books don't they try and film these days) then Simon Jones should definitely go for the part.
The only downside is that this was a trilogy, so we probably won't ever see the characters again. I'm missing them already.

This, as almost everybody who hasn't been living under a rock for the past couple of years knows, is the third and final book in the Bartimaeus Trilogy. For those who don't know, here's a quick plot summary of the prior books before I get on to the review itself. WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Nathaniel [last name not known] is one of the many children apprenticed to a magician, they learn all the master's secrets and the art of gaining power. In this world, there are three social classes. Magicians, the ruling class, who rule not by wands or potions but with their ability to summon demons from the chaotic other place. These demons are extremely powerful, and they are the ones who do everything the magician seemingly does. If the magician slips up on a summoning or on a command, the demon in question will tear them to shreds. The second and third classes are, respectively, commoners and prosperous commoners. Both perform services for the magicians, but the latter does a more skilled trade, like book creating and is generally slightly wealthy. Fine so far? Good. It gets more complicated. Nathaniel is apprenticed to a magician named Underwood, who treats Nathaniel so cruelly Nathaniel summons an extremely high level Djinni [third highest class of demon] named Bartimaeus. However, after Nathaniel uncovers a plot by the powerful magician Simon Lovelace to overthrow the government using the titular Amulet of Samarkand, he [and the slightly more relucdant Bartimaeus] go to stop him. I'll stop before I give away anything totally major in that book, and move on to #2, "The Golem's Eye".

Two years after the Simon Lovelace incident, Nathaniel, now known as John Mandrake, is a rising star in the magicians' world and a favorite of the Prime Minister ever since he saved the government from Simon Lovelace in the first book. But he has a bit of a problem. The resistance, a group of commoners with a resillience to magic and hatred of all magicians, are wreaking havoc in London and unfortunately it's Nathaniel's job to stop the attackers. The problem is, all of Nathaniel's other demons have failed and, even though he hates Bartimaeus, he is forced to summon him again. However, a golem is loose in London, for no one can seem to stop it, and the resistance is gearing up for an atttack that will shake London to its core. Toss in the tremendously powerful Gladstone's Staff and an afrit trapped in a skeleton on the loose, and you've got the amazing novel that is "The Golem's Eye". Finally, on to the review of "Ptolemy's Gate".

Three years after the events that take place in "The Golem's Eye", Nathaniel is seventeen and one of the most powerful magicians in the government. Since destroying the golem, he has become information minister for the state, which means that it is his job to spread propaganda throughout the empire, mainly dealing with the American wars that were mentioned in the second book. Bartimaeus has been in his service for two years now, and his essence is growing thin and weak. No longer powerful as before, Bartimaeus is tired of his constant service to Nathaniel, whom he dislikes with a passion. Kitty Jones, the young ex-resistance member, was deeply affected by Bartimaeus's words about the repeating of the downfall of civilizations. But she aims to put a stop to that. Bartimaeus's past is revealed and all the zig-zagging plot twists come to a head in this last, best, truly awe inspiring volume of one of the greatest fantasy series in the past decade. Up there with Harry Potter and His Dark Materials. A must read with anyonw with patience, spare time, and a sense for good, imaginative children's fantasy.

A+

Kudos To Jonathan Stroud for creating this series. He deserves every penny [or pence] of the royalties.

"Ptolemy's Gate", the final novel of The Bartimaeus Trilogy - introduced in "The Amulet of Samarkand" and continued with "The Golem's Eye" - completes the tale of John Mandrake, the magician and now Information Minister in the corrupt government of a downtrodden, dystopian England. The dominant theme of "The Golem's Eye" - the corrupting influences of power, ambition and greed - left the reader mourning a flawed Mandrake's fall from grace and wondering whether he could find the moral strength and intestinal fortitude to re-assert himself as the fine young man left far behind in "The Amulet of Samarkand". His one-time resistance foe, Kitty Jones, narrowly escaped from her encounter with the Golem three years earlier, has slipped under the radar entirely and is quietly learning the craft of magic herself. Bartimaeus, the witty motor-mouth djinni, is feeling weak, wan, sickly and near death as his essence or spirit has badly deteriorated as a result of his almost non-stop presence in the human's world subservient to his summoner, John Mandrake.

If "The Amulet of Samarkand" was a light-hearted, childlike (and definitely hilarious) romp through Mandrake's early education as a young magician and if "The Golem's Eye" was a richer, more gothic telling of Mandrake's succumbing to the siren calls of power, corruption and wealth as a member of England's ruling government, then "Ptolemy's Gate" is certainly the darkest of the three novels. Mandrake, Kitty and Bartimaeus, each with their own ambitions and motives, are all on a desperate life-or-death hunt for the perpetrators of a coup that threatens to topple the government and throw their world into a dark demon-ruled chaos.

In "Ptolemy's Gate", Stroud has treated us to a much more sophisticated, adult examination of motives such as cruelty and selfishness along with their mirror images, kindness and altruistic selflessness. The ending feels good, warm, cozy and satisfying in a way that is not entirely unexpected for a young adult novel but Stroud has also added the much more adult elements of sadness, death and loss.

Despite this darker approach to the story than its predecessor, readers need not worry that Stroud has lost his flair for comedy. Footnotes, while not quite as plentiful as in the first two novels, are still a veritable fountain of wit. They also introduce the character of Ptolemy and take us 5000 years into the past to build the character of Bartimaeus and provide the readers with an understanding of what it means to be a djinni painfully subservient to the beck and call of a summoning magician.

A highly recommended addition to the bookshelves of fantasy lovers and young adult readers.

Paul Weiss

Stroud really excels as a writer in Ptolemy's Gate, the third installment of the Bartimaeus Trilogy. It has twice the excitement of the first two, which is saying a lot because the first two were some of the most suspenseful and thrilling books I have read in years. Ptolemy's Gate takes it up a notch. The story weaves all the characters together in a complex web, much like Holes, by Louis Sachar. This is definitely a page-turner. When I finished, I was left wanting more. It all comes together in a superb conclusion. Way to go, Stroud.

I just finished this book last night and I deffinitely thought that it was one of the best books I have read. The plot has so many twists and turns that you will never quite figure out how it ends. The final one hundred or so pages build up to one of the best (and more tragic) endings of any book I have ever read. Jonathan Stroud really pulls this series to a spectacutular close in this book.

One part of this book that I really enjoy are the footnotes at the bottom of the pages in the chapteres narrated by the wisecracking djinni Bartimaeus. These footnotes really gave a great touch of humor to this fantasy book.

The story covers the adventures of Nathaniel, Kitty and Bartimaeus, which we have been introduced to in earlier books. As Nathaniel gets steadilly greedier, and more like a common magician, Kitty delves deeper into the forbiddin realm of magic, and Bartimaeus is being severely overworked by his master. Meanwhile, a group of commoners (non-magical people, like Harry Potter's Muggles) are planning a revolt, a revolt that will go terribly wrong...

I highly recomend this book and the series to anyone looking for a book to read while waiting for Harry Potter 7, or anyone else for that matter. I believe that this series might be better than the Potter books.

After reading Ptolemy's Gate, it really makes me look back on the Bartimaeus trilogy and become a little disappointed with the series as a whole. The only reason I say that is because Ptolemy's Gate is such an amazing book, that it makes me wish the other two books were as good as it is.

Ptolemy's Gate follows the exploits of the same characters we have come to know: Nathaniel, Bartimaeus, and Kitty. This novel starts about 3 years after The Golem's Eye, with all the characters having changed quite a bit from the previous novels. Nathaniel is now a high-up within the government, Bartimaeus is as weak and inefficient as he has ever been, and Kitty Jones, known as Clara Bell, is living in hiding, not really involved with what is left of the Resistance. In fact, Ptolemy's Gate really starts out with no plot at all. We are just re-introduced to all the character, and the story sort of fleshes itself out as the book progresses, with new, shocking developments at every turn.

Ptolemy's Gate is by far the most powerful book of the trilogy, and it might be one of the most powerful books I've ever read. Nathaniel and Bartimaeus's relationship is really fleshed out in this book, with some of Bartimaeus's past being revealed in tasty, small chapters at the beginning of the book's five parts. The bond formed between the 3 main characters is one of the best relationships in any book I've ever read, as well. Kitty supplies the reason for the bickering master and slave combo that we have come to love. And let's just say that Nathaniel and Bartimaeus become a lot closer during the final chapters, and this part is the best of the trilogy.

The ending to the book is absolutely perfect. Jonathan Stroud could not have written a better ending if he had tried a thousand more times. I found myself sitting there speechless after the final paragraph, which closes the book out in amazing, profoundly emotional fashion. I wish there were more of these books coming out, but I guess I will just have to look forward to Stroud's works outside this trilogy...