Every once in a while, something you intend to do gets away from you. Back in 2006, I picked up and read The Amulet of Samarkand and I really enjoyed it. Like a grim and gritty version of other books about magic with a kid for a main character, it just felt more… real… than things like the Harry Potter books. Later that year I did read the second book in the series, The Golem’s Eye, and I enjoyed it as well. I even picked up the third book, but somehow, for some reason, I never got around to reading it.
Well, I finally did. Ptolemy’s Gate is the final third of the Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud. In this tale we find ourselves back with Nathaniel, a few years older and stronger, but perhaps not wiser. He’s kept poor Bartimaeus enslaved and trapped on Earth so that his essence has become quite weak. Meanwhile, Kitty has gone into hiding and taken up learning magic because she desperately wants to talk to Bartimaeus and the only way she can think to do so is to learn to summon him herself. War rages in the Americas and the commoners of England are beginning to get out of control. The magicians are losing their grip…
And I won’t go any further, because it would spoil everything. This book makes for a perfect end to the trilogy, wrapping everything up quite satisfactorily… for me as the reader, some of the characters don’t make out so well in the end. The three books together make up 1500 pages of excellent storytelling. I look forward to new works from Mr. Stroud in the future.