The Amulet of Samarkand

An interesting novel that took me a little while to read. The Amulet of Samarkand was one part hilarious and one part dry. Unfortunately I found my self hating Nathaniel, who was the main character, so that when it came time for a chapter or two to be told from his perspective I did not feel motivated to read at all. Bartimeus, the lovely Gollum looking fellow pictured on the cover, often left me in stitches. His character was witty and had excellent footnotes on a lot of the pages that just added to the general hilarity of the chapters he voiced.

As the demonic servant to Nathaniel, Bartimeus was charged with obtaining a trinket from a wizard who had jaded young Nathaniel in the past. Leading to some trouble, including the death of the only mother figure Nathaniel had ever known, this dynamic duo succeed in thwarting an evil plan to create mass chaos across England by eliminating all of parliament.
Jonathan Stroud