The Amulet of Samarkand

Bartimeus makes his way to Simon’s home, complaining about London the entire way. He observes the tight security that Simon has put in place on several different planes of perception; powerful beings like djinn can see all seven of the earth’s overlapping planes. Bound to obey Nathaniel’s command, Bartimaeus transforms into a mole and digs his way to the house.

Bartimaeus transforms into a fly and flies into the house through the window.

Inside the house, Simon is entertaining a woman and discussing an event that will be held at her estate, which attracted the prime minister’s interest. As the couple leaves, Bartimaeus flies about and finds a heavily guarded room. He distracts the guard, enters the room, and transforms into Ptolemy, an Egyptian boy he once knew, to rifle through the magical artifacts. He discovers, among others, a true summoning horn and the coveted Amulet of Samarkand. When he breaks the glass case and steals it, he is immediately pursued by another djinni, Jabor, and is then faced with a second foe, the djinni Faquarl—both old acquaintances of Bartimaeus. Jabor and Faquarl are bound to Simon’s will and must protect the Amulet, but through trickery and a well-placed Illumination spell, Bartimaeus manages to escape the house with the Amulet as a peregrine falcon.

The novel flashes back to when Nathaniel is six years old. His master, Arthur Underwood, decides to teach him about the “wickedness” of demons by trapping him in his study and forcing him to wear magic spectacles that show him all his bound spirits. There, the spirits—which Arthur calls demons—torment Nathaniel, and his master waits 20 minutes before dispelling them. The experience leaves a well of hate and fear in Nathaniel.

Bartimaeus flies across London, keeping hidden from the many djinn and other creatures that Simon has sent to find him. He transforms back into Ptolemy and mingles with the night crowd, staying away from the Night Police (London’s police force comprised mainly of werewolves) by feigning interest in market stalls. He soon feels eyes on him and catches two boys staring at him. They follow him around the market and beyond, but, thinking them harmless, Bartimaeus simply loses them in the Underground and walks along an alley.

Bartimaeus finds an alley full of cardboard and settles in, ruminating over his desire to take revenge against Nathaniel for binding him. He hears footsteps in the alley and casts a Concealment spell on himself. When he sees six children (two of whom were the boys in the market), he disregards them. In spite of his spell, however, one of the boys can see him, and the girl in the group directs the rest of the children to jump Bartimaeus. They struggle, and as they fight, Bartimaeus discovers that none of the children are magicians. The girl demands to have the Amulet, but he denies them and threatens them with the Night Police instead. Worried, the children still try their luck, and Bartimaeus transforms into a Nile crocodile to fend them off. He then transforms into a fox and escapes as the Night Police descends upon the children. He finds another alleyway and hides there.

When Nathaniel is five years old, his parents give him up to the government for payment. Arthur is selected to become his master, and he grudgingly comes to collect Nathaniel after signing the necessary paperwork. Stiffly, he brings him to his home, where his wife, Martha Underwood, tries to engage Nathaniel. She makes a deal to use his birth name—a name that he, as a magician, is never to tell anyone and meant to lose at his coming-of-age Naming ceremony—and Nathaniel is mollified. Later, she comments to her husband about how awful it is that Nathaniel will never see his parents again, but Arthur opines that it is for the best.

Nathaniel settles into his new routine, meeting multiple tutors every day to learn about subjects relevant to a prospective position as a magician working in government. He is especially fond of Ms. Lutyens, who teaches him how to draw—a skill he will need to draw pentacles and summoning circles. Arthur is disaffected by his charge, so his wife is the one to help Nathaniel with his homework. During his political history classes with Mr. Purcell, they discuss the ongoing war with Prague and why it is unthinkable for commoners—people without magic—to rule the country (even though Mr. Purcell is himself a commoner). After his eighth birthday, Nathaniel diversifies his studies to learn more languages and more complex subjects. He takes to visiting the house’s small garden before his harrowing lessons with Arthur, as it is the only place where he knows true peace.

When Nathaniel is eight, his master explains that magicians derive all their power from the spirits they summon. At the age of nine, he begins meeting his master twice a week for magic lessons. Arthur assigns a broad bookshelf to Nathaniel, filled with books for him to read over the next three years. A second and much larger bookcase awaits him afterward, a milestone that, according to Arthur, will designate him as ready for summoning spirits. He then condescendingly teaches Nathaniel about the special lenses that magicians wear to see spirits on different planes by showing him how what appears to be a bottled, dead rat is in fact a still-alive, minor imp called a Scarlet Vexation. Over time, Nathaniel devours the books assigned to him, and Ms. Lutyens notes how impatient he is to attain a modicum of power. When Arthur allows him to witness his first summoning, he fumbles and almost exits his summoning circle because a spirit tricked him into believing that the room was on fire. Nathaniel learns quickly thereafter to see through the summoned spirits’ trickery.

At dawn, Bartimaeus contemplates last night’s events with the alley children and the danger inherent in trifling with Simon Lovelace. Nathaniel summons him, and Bartimaeus reappears in his room, where Nathaniel has added an Adelbrand’s Pentacle (an alteration to the summoning circle that allows Nathaniel to command Bartimaeus for longer). Bartimaeus grudgingly hands over the Amulet, spelling out the imminent danger that Nathaniel faces since he does not believe that Nathaniel is the mastermind behind the theft. Nathaniel, however, hands the Amulet back to him and charges him to hide it in Arthur’s magical repository without being seen.

Bartimaeus accuses Nathaniel of framing his master, but the child is adamant that no one will find the Amulet. Bartimaeus transforms himself into a spider and the Amulet into a web and then proceeds down to the lower levels of the house. He bypasses the hex on Arthur’s study door with well-timed magic and help from the Amulet, which absorbs the jet of fire from the hex. Inside the study, he places the Amulet among the other magical artifacts. As he is returning to Nathaniel’s room, the child and Martha pass him by in the hallway, and Bartimaeus recognizes an opportunity to gain leverage over Nathaniel. He follows them to the dining room. Arthur proclaims that, after consulting his tutors, he believes Nathaniel is ready for his first summons (a low-level natterjack impling) after his Naming ceremony. Bartimaeus is elated to find out Nathaniel’s birth name (as opposed to his magician’s name) and believes that the odds are now more even between them.

The narrative flashes back to near Nathaniel’s 11th birthday. Nathaniel is sitting with Ms. Lutyens in the garden and complaining about how restrictive Arthur is, given that he’s finished reading his assigned bookcase (a feat accomplished in a year instead of three). Ms. Lutyens tells him about the statue in the garden, modeled after William Gladstone, the most powerful magician to become prime minister. She comments on how lopsided the governing structure is, as it is skewed largely in magicians’ favor. As she challenges Nathaniel’s perspective on magicians’ supremacy, Martha comes to fetch him. Arthur wants to present him to his colleagues, including Simon Lovelace.

When Nathaniel meets them, the men question his intelligence. Simon challenges him with a series of questions that Nathaniel easily answers. When Simon then dismisses his intelligence once more, Nathaniel calls him a sore loser, which prompts Simon to call forth a spirit who jerks the child about and restrains him. Despite Nathaniel’s pleas for help, Arthur only watches on, enraged. Nathaniel is allowed to leave, and, furious, he decides to release six mites that his master keeps in the study on the visiting men. As the mites torment them, Nathaniel retreats to Ms. Lutyens in the schoolroom. However, Simon quickly finds him there, and an invisible being jerks him in the air and thrashes his backside until he is unconscious. He is then consigned to complete isolation in his room for a month, where he begins to plot his revenge against Simon. Only after the end of his isolation is he told that Ms. Lutyens was dismissed for trying to help him.

Nathaniel resumes his studies, motivated as he is by his hatred of Simon, and soon, he far outpaces what Arthur attempts to teach him. He pretends to be ignorant, no longer respecting Arthur as his master, both because he did not protect him from Simon and because he is not especially competent as a magician. With Ms. Lutyens gone, Martha is the only person Nathaniel likes. After several months of preparation, Nathaniel successfully summons a minor imp and binds it to a crude mirror to use it as a scrying glass. He tests the imp’s capacity to relay voices and scenes by having it spy on Arthur, and, finding the results satisfactory, he sends it to spy on Simon. For a long time, Simon does nothing but type on a laptop until a man emerges from the shadows. Nathaniel watches as the mysterious man hands over a sparkling object in exchange for a bag of banknotes. The imp feels a watcher, however, and abruptly shuts off the transmission to the scrying glass. When Nathaniel calls him again, he relays the bits of conversation he’d overheard, wherein the man had told Simon that the Amulet of Samarkand was now his. Six months later and after much research, Nathaniel summons Bartimaeus to steal it.

Bartimaeus takes on the appearance of Ptolemy once again and confronts Nathaniel when he returns to his room. He fights with the child, casting dangerous spells and deflecting Nathaniel’s by using his birth name. He nearly kills the child, and when the fight settles, Bartimaeus demands his freedom. He is surprised when Nathaniel admits that he is not being controlled by an older magician. Nathaniel eventually implies that the reason behind his crusade against Simon is personal humiliation, and since he’d witnessed him doing something he believes to be illegal, he wants to use it to destroy him. He tries to charge Bartimaeus but hesitates when the djinni reminds him that he knows his birth name. Bartimaeus threatens to let others know of it, but Nathaniel threatens him back with a promise: that he will cast a delayed Indefinite Confinement spell on a tobacco tin full of rosemary (which is bad for spirits’ essence). He’ll set the start date a month later and throw the tin into the Thames, thus imprisoning Bartimaeus for centuries should he not be alive to cancel the spell. Bested, Bartimaeus asks what purpose he has for him.