Hello! First of all, if you take the time to read this, I just want to say a massive thankyou for the Bartimaeus books! They are truly a great read from start to finish, and very well crafted. You have inspired me in several works I have looked at writing, so thankyou!

First Question:
A controversial one which I think you deliberately avoided addressing in the books, but oh well :P
Who would win in a fight? Bart or Faquarl? Both of them at full strength, head on no running away showdown? They always seemed to be painted as the perfect enemy to the other because of their similarities, both being very intelligent ect.

Second:
What about the John Mandrake of Book 3 verses Simon Lovelace? I ask this mainly because 4 of Mandrake's most powerful servants get slaughtered by Faquarl alone, and Lovelace had both him AND Jabor at his disposal.

Third:
This question has kind of popped up already, but not quite. So, when a djinni is first summoned, my question is how? What makes the magician of the time "create" this being from the Other Place, and shape how powerful it's going to be? Does this mean a magician can ultimately choose if a Spirit is going to be an imp or marid? Was it, in the early days, a case of, "oh I need a servant. I'll summon enough essence for a foliot. Oh, I need a city destroying. Let's create a marid?"

Fourth
What is your favourite of the Bart books?

Five
I wonder what kind of Master Nathaniel would have made if he'd taken an apprentice...