All right, I admit that I am always reluctant to dive into one of these sorts of books. They're always so fat and imposing, with bizarre titles and artwork, an overarchingly serious tone, and sure to have the phrase "part of a trilogy"on the cover somplace. So, it was with a sigh of resignation that I picked up Jonathan Stroud's "The Amulet of Samarkand" as my third book of the challenge. Yet, it only took about three pages of Bartimeaus' world-weary, snarky narrative to change my mind about my decision. Young Nathaniel's precocious and precarious career as a magician, with its fits and starts of bravery, insight, doubt and regret, are well-drawn. The developing relationship between Bartimaeus and his young master is also surprising. And I appreciated a world where the evil being done was mainly confined to magical powers against another of their own. Sure some of the passages get a little over the top with the elaborately described fight scenes, endless mocking footnotes, and long litanies of magical beings, and there's no sense of closure on the last page (remember "trilogy" being featured prominently on the cover!). But darn it all, if Stroud hasn't now gotten me wondering about the rest of his trilogy and whether Nat's new master is really someone to be trusted, and if Bartimaeus may have to be recalled, and whether the next book might provide more insight into the members of the Resistance.......
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