The Amulet of Samarkand

In this instance magic is spells, potions and artifacts in a modern day London where magicians are in charge - in public life, in industry and the arts, and in the government. Nathaniel is a precocious young trainee magician who calls a demon to help him get revenge on a senior magician who has humiliated him. Bartimaeus, the ancient demon, proves to be an irreverent and unruly servant.

This, their first adventure together, is to disgrace the said senior magician by stealing the powerful Amulet of Samarkand he has hidden away for treasonable purposes.

Of the two main characters neither is particularly likeable, although the demon is somewhat humorous, and, with his centuries of experience could be far more interesting. I did not feel engaged by them or their ensuing predicament but find it difficult to determine why this should have been. There are some irritating things - the footnotes are in too small print and often too long, Bartimaeus speaks in both the first and third person, the Amulet is merely a threat playing no magical part in the tale, Bartimaeus' powers are ill defined and Nathaniel swings between cool and capable and petrified and sniveling with bewildering speed.

For the sake of Bartimaeus, and because of the number of copies this book has sold, I will persevere with the second volume of the trilogy with fingers crossed.