The
Ring of Solomon (Bartimaeus 0.5)
by
Jonathan Stroud
Publication
Date: November 2nd 2010
Publisher:
Hyperion
Source: Bought
Source: Bought
Find
This Book: The Ring of Solomon
Rating:
5/5
I read The Amulet of Samarkand years ago and absolutely loved how witty
Bartimaeus was. The original trilogy is one of my most beloved book series and
I was so excited to buy the prequel! (I was also pretty excited because I got
to meet Jonathan Stroud and had him sign this book and The Screaming Staircase
for me). I remember driving home from the book tour just over a year ago and
imagining all the adventures I would have with Bartimaeus like it was just yesterday.
Unfortunately, getting a signed copy meant it became my most treasured
possession and I never wanted to take it to the beach or to the pool in case
someone ruined it (thise locations are where I do the majority of my reading).
That being said, it took me a very long time to start this book because I
wouldn’t let it leave my room. That being said, I can’t believe it took song
long for me to read this book!
This novel immediately brought to the forefront of my mind everything I
had loved about the original series. Those characteristics being the magic and
demons, historical references, and humanly flawed characters. You don’t need to
read the series to enjoy this spectacular book, however the world-building was
done in the original trilogy so Stroud doesn’t explain about the demon
summoning and pentacles much in this prequel. What you find instead is a snarky
character telling about his fast-paced adventure in 250 B.C. Jerusalem with his
additional commentary in the footnotes. While is does switch to a human
perspective occasionally, Asmira was quite interesting unlike Nathaniel and
Kitty in the originals. Asmira is a hereditary guard for the Queen of Sheba and
is sent to Jerusalem to assassinate King Solomon in order to try and save her
country from an invasion from Solomon’s army. Being sent on basically a suicide
mission, she is being used just as much as the djinni being summoned around
her. While she refuses to acknowledge this fact, Bartimaeus and Asmira are a
bit similar in that regard and the book brings up a thought provoking
perspective on philosophy and psychological slavery. Not so bad for the
typically shallow YA book, right?
While the reader knows that Bartimeaus can’t meet a gruesome end due to
the fact that he is alive and well during Victorian England, the book was
detailed and suspenseful enough to make me forget about those other books.
While this wasn’t the prequel I wanted (I was looking forward to a book about
Bartimeaus’s time with Ptolemy) this not only met all of my high expectations,
but also went even further. 250 B.C. was a great setting and the book seemed
well researched. To sum up; the plot was quite simple overall, it was your
typical “girl meets boy who is actually a shape-shifting djinni who is in
servitude to an evil magician who is one of the 19 powerful magicians who works
for the King of Solomon who said girl is trying to assassinate to steal the
most powerful object EVER”. Did I forget to mention the hippo wearing a skirt?
This is definitely a book that everyone would look into if they enjoy humor,
sass and a bit of history!
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| Throwback to my Selfie with Jonathan Stroud (2013) |
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