The Amulet Of Samarkand
Jonathan Stroud
Hyperion
From Booklist<p>Disney/Hyperion follows its adaptation of Rick Riordan’s The Lightning Thief (2010) with this sumptuous graphic novelization of the first book in another hit fantasy series, Stroud’s multilayered Bartimaeus trilogy. The fairly text-heavy treatment is a welcome way to balance Stroud’s ever-clever writing with a visual treatment of the plot, in which a boy apprentice summons an impish djinni named Bartimaeus to help him exact revenge upon a particularly nasty magician. Stroud’s inspired twist was to tell the bulk of the story from the tremendously entertaining point of view of Bartimaeus, and here his narration works wonders counterpointing the drama and dialogue in the panels. The artwork is lively, atmospheric, and exciting, with a couple quibbles: the coloring is almost off-puttingly oversaturated, and a longer page count would have alleviated the problem of a few key action sequences getting crammed into tinier and more claustrophobic spaces. Still, the depth of Stroud’s alternate London, some complex political machinations, and the large cast of human and demon characters are all well realized here. Fans and initiates alike will be enchanted. Grades 6-9. --Ian Chipman </p>Product Description<p>Nathaniel, an eleven-year-old magician-in-training, thinks he's ready to take on more challenging spells. With revenge against the proud and ambitious Simon Lovelace on his mind, he masters one of the toughest spells of all and summons Bartimaeus, a 5000-year-old djinni, to assist him. But summoning Bartimaeus and controlling him are two different things entirely, and when Nathaniel sends the djinni to steal Lovelace's greatest treasure, the Amulet of Samarkand, he finds himself caught in a whirlwind of magical espionage, murder, and rebellion.  </p><p>Jonathan Stroud, along with acclaimed comic books-writer Andrew Donkin and artists Lee Sullivan and Nicolas Chapuis, turns the beloved and internationally best-selling first book in the Bartimaeus trilogy into a spellbinding graphic novel sure to excite and delight fans across all magical planes.  </p>