The
Bartimaeus Trilogy is a "young adult" fantasy series by British author Jonathan Stroud. Book one,
The Amulet of Samarkand, was published in September 2003, and book two,
The Golem's Eye, was published in September of this year. I have no information on when book three will be published. In this review I plan to focus mainly on the setting, which I think has potential for use in a role-playing campaign. Plot spoilers will be minimal.
The trilogy clearly caters to Harry Potter fans, though it would be unfair to say that the author is merely riding J. K. Rowling's coat-tails. Like the Potter stories, it has a young protagonist and is set in a world like ours, but with magic. However, the setting actually has more in common with the world of the "Chrestomanci" books by Diana Wynne Jones, in that the magic is out in the open. In fact, it's a lot like what that world might become if there was nobody keeping the magicians in check.
The books are set mostly in and around London, apparently in the modern day, although that's never really stated outright (the only explicit indicator of the time period is a comment in book two that Gladstone is "a hundred and ten years dead"1). The technology seems fairly modern; they have cars, planes, electric lights and computers. On the other hand, sailing ships still seem to be the dominant form of sea travel, with "ironclads" being the most advanced naval technology. Also, aside from rifles carried by soldiers in Prague, there are no references to guns in either book that I can recall (then again, this is London, not New York City).
The England of this world is ruled by magicians; commoners are kept in line by fear, propaganda, and ignorance (literacy is not encouraged except for those planning to pursue white-collar careers). However, the magicians' magical power consists solely in their ability to summon, bind and control various types of spirits, and to create magical artifacts to do the same. The spirits (which the humans call "demons", though they don't seem to fit the "fallen angel" mold) are divided into five classes: in descending order of power, these are marids, afrits, djinn, foliots and imps. There are also numerous subtypes mentioned, especially within the lower orders. The more powerful spirits have a variety of useful powers with names like Detonation, Inferno, Concealment and Flux. The various punishments inflicted by the magicians on recalcitrant servants also have colorful titles such as the Red-Hot Stipples, the Systemic Vise, the Inverted Skin and the Shriveling Fire.
The history of the setting is like and yet unlike ours. Many familiar names are mentioned as notable magicians of the past, including Churchill, Kitchener, Disraeli, Tycho Brahe and Rabbi Loew. The most important of these, as far as the story is concerned, is Gladstone. In fact, dead though he may be, the presence of Gladstone is felt throughout both books, especially the second, in more ways than one. You see, it was he who engineered the magicians' rise to power in Britain, in the "Night of the Long Counsel" (if that phrase doesn't set off alarm bells in your head, you need to read up on the history of Nazi Germany), when he "went in to [Parliament] one evening and talked so cleverly that they elected him Prime Minister there and then."
About the rest of the world, we get only hints. Prague was the former seat of the Holy Roman Empire, and was overthrown in 1868 by Gladstone's forces. Since that time, Britain has been the dominant power in Europe, though it's unclear whether it actually controls any territory on the continent. There are a few references to the "Great War", but except for a single mention of trenches there's nothing to indicate whether this parallels WWI. North America is still largely uncolonized except along the east coast, where the seeds of revolution are only just beginning to sprout. The rest of the world is barely mentioned at all, aside from Bartimaeus' frequent references to people and locations from ancient history.
The first book switches back and forth between two narrative viewpoints. One is a 12-year-old apprentice magician named Nathaniel; the other a 5000-year-old djinni named Bartimaeus whom Nathaniel summons to take revenge on an older magician who humiliated him. Nathaniel's chapters are in the third person, while Bartimaeus' are in the first person. Bartimaeus is the real star of the show (in case the trilogy's title wasn't a giveaway) and has a wicked sense of humor; his chapters are liberally peppered with footnotes containing exposition or sarcastic asides. Book 2 adds a third narrator (with whom both Nathaniel and Bartimaeus had brief run-ins in book 1): a girl named Kitty, about two years older than Nathaniel, who belongs to a ragtag commoners' resistance group. The plot (taking place two-and-a-half years after book 1) revolves around a series of mysterious attacks on various prominent locations in London. Book 1 focuses almost exclusively on the magicians and their dealings with each other, whereas book 2 gives us a much broader look at the world at large (the historical background and the relationship between commoners and magicians) while at the same time adding more insight into the magicians' intrigues.
Unlike Harry Potter, Nathaniel is not a very nice person. It's easy to see that he's a product of his environment (his wretched childhood2, the nest of vipers in which he lives and works in book 2, and the diet of propaganda shoved down his throat), but though you may pity him, you won't like him. In book 1 he's somewhat sympathetic, but he becomes less and less so in book 2. It's anybody's guess which side he'll ultimately end up on. At any rate, it seems pretty clear that Stroud is setting up Kitty to take over the role of the one we're supposed to root for. (Bartimaeus, although entertaining, is also selfish and weaselly and has a callous attitude towards humans as a result of centuries of enslavement -- though there are hints that may change in book 3.)
For substance, I give the Bartimaeus Trilogy a 5. The world is fascinating and the characters, though not startlingly original, are portrayed believably and with colorful detail. The storyline is filled with unexpected twists and woven with plot threads that are yet to be resolved. I can hardly wait for book 3.
For style, I give it a 4. The writing style is evocative and witty (especially the parts narrated by Bartimaeus), and the only thing keeping it from a 5 is that it just drags on so long (the page counts listed above are for the hardback editions). Fortunately, even when the pace slowed down, the writing was good enough to hold my interest.
As I said at the beginning, I think the setting of the Bartimaeus Trilogy would make a good one for a modern-fantasy RPG, though it would take quite a bit of fleshing out. If anyone has attempted this, I'd be very interested to know what system you used, how you adapted it, and how it went.
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1. Assuming the date of Gladstone's death was the same as in the real world -- which was true for Tycho Brahe, at least -- that would make it 2008, so I'm guessing that "a hundred and ten years" is an approximation.
2. In book 1 we learn that potential magicians are sold to the government at an early age by their parents, and required to give up their birth-names for their own protection. No wonder they're all such heartless bastards.
Review Summary