The Ring of Solomon

"...a prequel to the hugely popular Bartimaeus trilogy, about a sarcastic millennia-old djinni and a boy wizard with bags more personality than Potter... The Voice is as funny as ever, but there are passages of eerie beauty, and a shrewd message about fanatacism. "You don't need a djinni for this job." says Bart wearily, "Young men are best at dying for empty concepts." Stroud has lost non of his dazzle." -- Suzi Feay Financial Times "This tale of the irascible djinni causing chaos in Jerusalem around 930BC will not disappoint. Wonderfully written and brilliantly plotted, this book provides an entertaining cast of characters and a satisfying denoument, with ends finally tied after many twists and turns. Bartimaeus himself is a brilliant creation, offering lots of comedy opportunities to the writer" -- Marilyn Brocklehurst The Bookseller "May be the best one yet... Needless to say Bartimaeus is a tad resentful of the magicians and expresses his disgruntlement with wit, much sarcasm, and occasional magician-devouring." -- Susan Goundrey Kruse Stories from the Web "A really funny read that focuses on high-speed action and comic chat...By the end you'll be repeating Bartimaeus's arsenal of put downs to your mates. The story has some neck-snapping twists and the thrills keep going to the finish. Fantastically gobby fantasy." -- Thomas Murphy Flipside "If you haven't 'met' Bartimaeus yet then you are in for one hell of a treat - in my opinion he is one of the greatest character creations in modern children's literature, and he is certainly in my top ten favourite characters from any book, adult or child... I could go on and on! He is the kind of character that most children's authors might dream of creating, but Jonathan Stroud got there first and not only that, but he has the writing skills to make us come back for more and more... it is also a book that can be thoroughly enjoyed by all ages, from 11 upwards. And yes, I am including adults in this... Whatsmore, with five thousand years of Bartimaeus history to cover, Mr Stroud could be writing these for many years to come." -- Darren Hartwell Book Zone (For Boys)