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Product: Book
ISBN-10: 0-7868-1861-1
ISBN-13: 9780786818617
Publisher: Miramax
Country:
Year: December 19, 2005
Size: 14.81 x 20.80 x 3.81cm
Number of pages: 512
Weight: 680gr
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN-10: 0-7868-1861-1
ISBN-13: 9780786818617
Publisher: Miramax
Country:
Year: December 19, 2005
Size: 14.81 x 20.80 x 3.81cm
Number of pages: 512
Weight: 680gr
Binding: Hardcover
editions
Jonathan Stroud, Simon Jones (narrator)
Listening Library; 2005
Audio CD
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Product Description
Three years after the events of The Golem's Eye, the young magician Nathaniel is an established member of the British Government.
Three years after the events of The Golem's Eye, the young magician Nathaniel is an established member of the British Government.
But he faces unprecedented problems: foreign wars are going badly and Britain's enemies are mounting attacks close to London.
Increasingly distracted, he is treating Bartimaeus worse than ever: the long-suffering djinni is growing weak from too much time in this world, and his patience is at an end. Meanwhile, undercover in London, Kitty has been stealthily completing her research into magic and Bartimaeus' past. She hopes to break the endless cycle of conflict between djinn and humans –- but will she be able to get anyone to listen?
Before any of these problems can be resolved, disaster strikes London from an unexpected source and the destinies of Bartimaeus, Nathanial, and Kitty are thrown together once more. They have to face treacherous magicians, a long-fermented conspiracy, and an enemy from 'The Other Place' that threatens London and the world. Worst of all, they must somehow cope with each other …
Bartimaeus fans will be entranced by Stroud's brilliantly conceived finale to the series –- sure to be a major best seller.
reviews
Slow to start but gets really good near the end 
Another outing with Nathaniel but slow to start and overwritten in places. This time he's the the Information Minister, and spends his time making up propaganda pamphlets. Three years have passed since the last book and the characters feel more jaded than ever and you almost feel sorry for the way Nathaniel treats Bartimaeus. He does this by not allowing Bartimaeus to return to the Other Place until his essence is severely weakened. Mandrake is totally absorbed in his work and things aren't going well for the government as the commoners revolt. Kitty is back and through her the reader learns the secret behind Ptolemy and gets a look into Bartimaeus' domain. When a sinister plot unleashes an old evil, Mandrake, Kitty and Bartimaeus team up to defend the human race. The last hundred pages or so is where it gets really good. Otherwise, it kind of moves slowly.
Another outing with Nathaniel but slow to start and overwritten in places. This time he's the the Information Minister, and spends his time making up propaganda pamphlets. Three years have passed since the last book and the characters feel more jaded than ever and you almost feel sorry for the way Nathaniel treats Bartimaeus. He does this by not allowing Bartimaeus to return to the Other Place until his essence is severely weakened. Mandrake is totally absorbed in his work and things aren't going well for the government as the commoners revolt. Kitty is back and through her the reader learns the secret behind Ptolemy and gets a look into Bartimaeus' domain. When a sinister plot unleashes an old evil, Mandrake, Kitty and Bartimaeus team up to defend the human race. The last hundred pages or so is where it gets really good. Otherwise, it kind of moves slowly.
What in the world happened to the Bartimaeus Trilogy? 
I read and enjoyed both of the other books in the Bartimaeus trilogy, but this one quite simply bombed. I don't know how Stroud lost it, but he lost it. This might be the worst conclusion to a series I have ever read. Firstly, the plot is getting stale in my mouth. Okay, there's a secret subfaction among the magicians who are up to no good. Didn't that happen in both previous books? Okay, the hero needs to get ahold of powerful and valuable objects to save the day. Yeah, I remember that. Okay, there's a super-dangerous demon unleashed upon the world that Nathaniel has to stop. I get it, already! I'm tired of these repeated plot themes. It seems almost like Jonathan Stroud was taking writing advice from Terry Goodkind. Well, at least Stroud isn't beating a dead horse and churning about another 8 books like Goodkind did. I'm thankful that this is the end. The characters are really getting on my nerves. We're treated to even more of Kitty's almost inhumanly hardcore bitchiness(seriously, there were times when I wanted to ask who shoved a Horla up her backside), and Bartimaeus, the witty and big-talking Djinni of the previous books, becomes weak and angsty. The only thing he seems to be good for nowadays is as a bystander to events perilously dangerous to him, where he stands back and mocks it all. For icing on the cake of idiotic characterization, they both bad-talk Nathaniel waaaay too much. All right, I'm all into dissenting opinions, but my favorite character getting railed on like this is not earning the author any points with me. Nathaniel himself, however, almost deserves it. What happened to the morally ambiguous anti-hero that's kept things interesting? In a lame attempt to finish the series with extra character development, Stroud causes Nathaniel to revert to the soft, innocent demeanor he had before he became a magician. This was a horrendous disappointment for me, made me feel as if I had been betrayed by my favorite character. Dishonorale mention: While Nathaniel is researching conspiracies and going from Mean Anti-Hero to Innocent Widdle Boy, Bartimaeus is whining about his diminished strength and down-talking other demons, and Jones is laying out more naive rebellion plans with the personality of a wet cat, the author continues to disrupt the pace of the story with flashbacks. This time, Bartimaeus' history with Ptolemy. This is a boring, underdeveloped, and barely interesting subplot that I hardly care to know about. Stroud would have been better off putting the content of those chapters into a novella and putting some actual good stuff in this book. Last and worst, the ending was absolutely terrible. I won't put spoilers here, but suffice it to say that Nathaniel makes some decisions that are so abysmally stupid it ruined whatever little good there was in this book to begin with. The ending itself is rather similar to the endings of the first two books, and while the last couple of pages carry a strong amount of emotional volume, they weren't enough to quench my dissatisfaction. The conclusion was vague and didn't properly wrap up the plot, as if the author just decided to make everyone, both friends and foes go, »Oh, the trouble's over, let's all be one big happy family now!« Pathetic. In conclusion, this book is a heinous crime against the Bartimaeus Trilogy, a piece of trash so bad it seems almost like the author picked up a piece of fanfiction and published it instead of his own work. If you've read the first two books, you should probably read the conclusion, but Ptolemy's Gate was, for lack of a better explanation, an epic fail.
I read and enjoyed both of the other books in the Bartimaeus trilogy, but this one quite simply bombed. I don't know how Stroud lost it, but he lost it. This might be the worst conclusion to a series I have ever read. Firstly, the plot is getting stale in my mouth. Okay, there's a secret subfaction among the magicians who are up to no good. Didn't that happen in both previous books? Okay, the hero needs to get ahold of powerful and valuable objects to save the day. Yeah, I remember that. Okay, there's a super-dangerous demon unleashed upon the world that Nathaniel has to stop. I get it, already! I'm tired of these repeated plot themes. It seems almost like Jonathan Stroud was taking writing advice from Terry Goodkind. Well, at least Stroud isn't beating a dead horse and churning about another 8 books like Goodkind did. I'm thankful that this is the end. The characters are really getting on my nerves. We're treated to even more of Kitty's almost inhumanly hardcore bitchiness(seriously, there were times when I wanted to ask who shoved a Horla up her backside), and Bartimaeus, the witty and big-talking Djinni of the previous books, becomes weak and angsty. The only thing he seems to be good for nowadays is as a bystander to events perilously dangerous to him, where he stands back and mocks it all. For icing on the cake of idiotic characterization, they both bad-talk Nathaniel waaaay too much. All right, I'm all into dissenting opinions, but my favorite character getting railed on like this is not earning the author any points with me. Nathaniel himself, however, almost deserves it. What happened to the morally ambiguous anti-hero that's kept things interesting? In a lame attempt to finish the series with extra character development, Stroud causes Nathaniel to revert to the soft, innocent demeanor he had before he became a magician. This was a horrendous disappointment for me, made me feel as if I had been betrayed by my favorite character. Dishonorale mention: While Nathaniel is researching conspiracies and going from Mean Anti-Hero to Innocent Widdle Boy, Bartimaeus is whining about his diminished strength and down-talking other demons, and Jones is laying out more naive rebellion plans with the personality of a wet cat, the author continues to disrupt the pace of the story with flashbacks. This time, Bartimaeus' history with Ptolemy. This is a boring, underdeveloped, and barely interesting subplot that I hardly care to know about. Stroud would have been better off putting the content of those chapters into a novella and putting some actual good stuff in this book. Last and worst, the ending was absolutely terrible. I won't put spoilers here, but suffice it to say that Nathaniel makes some decisions that are so abysmally stupid it ruined whatever little good there was in this book to begin with. The ending itself is rather similar to the endings of the first two books, and while the last couple of pages carry a strong amount of emotional volume, they weren't enough to quench my dissatisfaction. The conclusion was vague and didn't properly wrap up the plot, as if the author just decided to make everyone, both friends and foes go, »Oh, the trouble's over, let's all be one big happy family now!« Pathetic. In conclusion, this book is a heinous crime against the Bartimaeus Trilogy, a piece of trash so bad it seems almost like the author picked up a piece of fanfiction and published it instead of his own work. If you've read the first two books, you should probably read the conclusion, but Ptolemy's Gate was, for lack of a better explanation, an epic fail.
An amazing end to a great trilogy 
I will admit to not having read this book in a little while, but I have read it multiple times because of how much I liked it. The whole book struck me as a bit sad as the trilogy came to a close and the problems that the characters were facing did as well. Stroud's narative was as ingenious in this book as it was in the first as it switched back and forth between three very different personalities. Bartimaeus did a good job of lightening up what could have otherwise been an overly serious story. His characters continued to grow and I felt that they had gotten much farther along as individuals by the end. I thought that this was an entertaining original book that gripped and surprised me long after the last page was turned.
I will admit to not having read this book in a little while, but I have read it multiple times because of how much I liked it. The whole book struck me as a bit sad as the trilogy came to a close and the problems that the characters were facing did as well. Stroud's narative was as ingenious in this book as it was in the first as it switched back and forth between three very different personalities. Bartimaeus did a good job of lightening up what could have otherwise been an overly serious story. His characters continued to grow and I felt that they had gotten much farther along as individuals by the end. I thought that this was an entertaining original book that gripped and surprised me long after the last page was turned.
AMAZING!!
I read the previous two books and loved them so as soon as I saw the third and final one was out I jumped at it. This book was expertly crafted to make one completely absorbed in it. It was literally a book I could not put down. The storyline was intricate and well thought out. In the end I felt both a sense of peace, sorrow, and happiness. This is a must read for anyone with eyes and a mind thirsty for entertainment!
I read the previous two books and loved them so as soon as I saw the third and final one was out I jumped at it. This book was expertly crafted to make one completely absorbed in it. It was literally a book I could not put down. The storyline was intricate and well thought out. In the end I felt both a sense of peace, sorrow, and happiness. This is a must read for anyone with eyes and a mind thirsty for entertainment!
great book
This is the last in a wonderful trilogy by Jonathan Stroud. I purchased it to listen to with my 9 year old son during long car trips. I have enjoyed it as much or more than he has! Get the other two books first as they build on one another.
This is the last in a wonderful trilogy by Jonathan Stroud. I purchased it to listen to with my 9 year old son during long car trips. I have enjoyed it as much or more than he has! Get the other two books first as they build on one another.
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Jonathan Stroud, Simon Jones (narrator)
Listening Library; 2009
Audio CD
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last update: 3/18/2010
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