Seshat wrote:

Canis Lupus wrote:I really liked Solomon because he was not as bad as everyone else thought he was. He was actually nice and caring. And cause he was all powerful! Muahaha.

Completely agree with Canis Lupus back there. Solomon I found to be the best, (not counting Barti, of course), because he turned out to be the exact opposite of what I'd thought him to be. He wasn't typical ancient royalty (mean, evil, greedy, etc.) he was just a kind person with the wrong council.

Somehow, I'm not surprised that no one picked the Queen of Sheba. Does anyone like her?
(Typical ancient royalty, she was. Not even caring about the people who save your lives. Tch!) ^o)

Also, how come no one picked Khaba? All right, maybe he was the main antagonist of the book, but hey, for an evil character he was pretty good. He just may have been a bit excessive with the essence flail, not that I'm defending him.

Asmira for me. (but Barti always #1)

But in fact, I disliked Solomon and Khaba for those same reasons.

I mean, with the exception of being a little ominous with his empty retribution threats, Solomon turns out to be a nicely sugar-coated perfect little emperor, humble and generous and pure and uncorrupted by the immense power is ring provides for him. Please. I'm sorry but it's so fairy-tale-esque it just turned me off.

Likewise, Khaba? Come on, what villain actually spends time in darkened basements with tortured corpses etc. It's like out of a cheesy Disney movie. An acual villain would be someone like Lovelace or Duvall, who, outwardly, mingle perfectly with their everyday environment, while their plan rages inwardly. oooor... like the Queen of Sheba (or Mandrake), who can reconcile themselves to arguably unethical acts by believing they are acting in the interests of the greater good.

My favorite character was by far Ammet. Though its character was a bit morbid and certainly immoral, its devotion to Khaba was spellbinding for me. The same way that Bartimaeus fell for Ptolemy (albeit under different circumstances and for different reasons), Ammet fell for Khaba. So much so that it was able to take pleasure in its poor treatment, that it wandered free yet truly desired to be at Khaba's heel.

Ammet was quiet and strange, and I loved that about it. The greater the spirit, the more ominous and mysterious its presence. I loved the idea of a soft spoken shadow, calculating your end in the darkness, hard to focus on with our weak human eyes.

And of course, Bartimaeus's repulsion at Ammet's love for Khaba made me grin. Little did he know that he would soon meet a human that caused him to feel love, as well. Did any of you notice that Ammet is very briefly mentioned in another of the books? Bartimaeus mentions that he had defeated it in the past.

Frightening, beautiful, and sad. Ammet. RIP.

Didier wrote:But in fact, I disliked Solomon and Khaba for those same reasons.

I mean, with the exception of being a little ominous with his empty retribution threats, Solomon turns out to be a nicely sugar-coated perfect little emperor, humble and generous and pure and uncorrupted by the immense power is ring provides for him. Please. I'm sorry but it's so fairy-tale-esque it just turned me off.

Likewise, Khaba? Come on, what villain actually spends time in darkened basements with tortured corpses etc. It's like out of a cheesy Disney movie. An acual villain would be someone like Lovelace or Duvall, who, outwardly, mingle perfectly with their everyday environment, while their plan rages inwardly. oooor... like the Queen of Sheba (or Mandrake), who can reconcile themselves to arguably unethical acts by believing they are acting in the interests of the greater good.

Khaba's moustache-twirling levels of villainy are what makes Ammet's relationship with him so interesting; there's no rational way to see him in a good light.

Similarly, Solomon himself is honourable in order to show the costs of power; he has his immensely powerful ring and the desire to do good, but it costs him so much to use that he hardly can, and yet he can't admit to any of this lest he risk ceding the ring's power to someone who might use it to commit great evil, however briefly. And so he ends up despite his near limitless power as a pretty much ineffectual ruler. His complexity comes from the circumstances.

Can we take a moment to appreciate that asmira was so badass she cut off a man’s finger with a throwing knife from twenty feet away through the smoke while she was being held captive by a marid.

Farquarl all the way ?

I really liked Solomon because he turned out to be more complex than we though

I see there are a lot of people that like Faquarl here, and that is good. I chose him too, though Ammet comes in at a close second because he was just so thoroughly interesting to me. It made for quite the contrast to Ptolemy and Bartimaeus, both for the differences and similarities between their relationships.

On the other hand, where is the option for Uraziel?

I always wondered exactly how well Uraziel got on with Solomon. Remember how miffed he was when someone other than Solomon used the ring for the first time? "You're not Solomon" indeed.

Uraziel and Solomon got along pretty well,desppite their relationship, because Solomon didn't really make him do lot of dirty work. I don't think Uraziel really agreed with Khaba's methods.

Can't see why anyone would decide to vote for Queen of Saba... When i reached the end of the book, I hated that *****...

Yeah. Dunno what Solomon saw in her.

I dunno, I can kind of understand the Queen's actions. Yeah, she used Asmira as a tool rather than a person, but considering Sheba doesn't seem to have much in the way of magicians...what else was she supposed to do in order to keep Sheba working as an autonomous country?

You have to remember that all the other kingdoms paying fines are at the end of their ropes, treasuries depleted. Remember those bandits that attacked the caravan? What were they attacking for? They were running out of resources to pay the hefty fines imposed on them by Solomon's magicians behind his back.

Sure the fines may have started out small, with the same offer given to the Queen of Sheba. But then they demand more. And then they demand more...and more...and more.

If the Queen can get out of going down that path into poverty, she will. What she did was cutthroat for sure, but these are definitely things to consider.

So? That doesn't still doesn't make me particularly like her, even if it was 'for the greater good'

You don't have to like her? I was just saying that she read as more nuanced to me, in context. Since she was being discussed.

I agree. I kinda wish the Queen of Sheba's character was a little more developed. It had potential

i like asmira, though she should have reacted better when Khaba came.

Well, nobody's perfect, and we wouldn't like her if she was.

3. He totally wanted to look up Barti's skirt.




Who would Not? Barti ist hot xD
I would really Like to See a Romance between them! I mean, they are already acting Like an old, married Couple, sooo...

I'm perfectly conscious that I'm not only very late to the party in this thread but also in the............... vast minority here, but my favourites in this book were the villains purely because they nail all my favourite villain tropes (corrupt advisor, dark workshop full of dead things, wears black 24/7, powerful entity masquerading as something harmless, destructive power couple, I could go on.) I loved the little hints of their messed up relationship here and there - I read them with the same kind of fascination you reserve for videos of car accidents happening in slow motion. I'd love to dissect their relationship and respective personalities like a frog in biology class.

Plus, hey! Lore on marids! Hell freaking YEAH!

I appreciate that Bartimaeus merely imprisoned Ammet at the end of the book instead of killing him outright because it opens a nice little gateway to stories where the two meet again, ideally after Bartimaeus has met (and lost) Ptolemy, Kitty and Nathaniel, so his stance on the whole "loving your master" thing has changed a little. Plus, the fic I'm writing has Ammet's POV in the first person to mirror Bartimaeus and I don't remember the last time I've had so much FUN with someone's POV. He's a delightful jerk to play around with and I hope that he'll show up in any hypothetical future Bart books.

All in all, RoS has made me a very, very happy fanfiction writer.