The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
The Amulet of Samarkand is set in a modern-day London that is ruled by Magicians. It is written from the perspective of a djinni (demon) and an undervalued magician's apprentice. The plot is clever, and the dual POV take on magical power struggles is unique. The problem is, I didn't like any of the characters. The djinni came the closest because he's an interesting character with a sense of humor, but the boy... I didn't like him at all, and he's the most sympathetic human character we meet (I don't feel I can count the female caretakers since they are so removed from the reader).
Aside from not liking the characters, I also struggled to connect with them at all. The narration was very focused on what happened from an external vantage-point. Even the djinni's adventures, told in first-person, were still very remote. It felt very like a Middle-grade novel that a young boy might enjoy without missing the character development or the internal dialogue. That said, I think the themes make this more YA, so it should have offered a little more sophistication.
However it should be classified, mentally I could appreciate the plot, but something deeper was lacking and I couldn't really get into it myself. Maybe it's just that I don't enjoy these types of books geared more towards boys (I also struggled with The Lightning Thief and the Bobby Pendragon series), but I kept taking a break to read something more satisfying.
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