Dear Mr. Stroud,

I finished Ptolemy's Gate on Saturday night. Here I am, on Monday--haunted. I cannot get poor Nathaniel off my mind. He was, admittedly, not the most morally upstanding hero, but you did a tremendous job of showing his background and his society as such that not only pointed him in the direction he took, but kicked him in that direction many, many times. It is often thus, that the brightest and best are sucked into positively criminal directions because their societies lack true choices.

I had some questions regarding Nathaniel's death.

1) Did it change the world and did they know his death changed the world? Call me foolishly sentimental, but I'd like to know that Nathaniel's sacrifice wasn't made without a wrinkle in the fabric of his world. Of course, I understand that for the narrative and for Nathaniel, it was Bartimaeus' opinion that mattered. (For what they'd put him through, the rest of the magical community could go hang themselves.) But did he at least get a statue, like he always wanted?

2) Did you intend Ptolemy and Nathaniel to be foils of each other? It seemed that they rather were, in the end.

And finally, what is truly lodging in my literative throat:

3) Why didn't Kitty at least try to summon Bartimaues? I would have truly loved for her to know that Nathaniel, in the end, was truly selfless in dismissing Barty and to have seen Nathaniel's last words delivered as he desired them to be.

Never have I been more glad that I do not cheat and skip to the end of a book to read it before the beginning. The ending of Ptolemy's Gate was completely breathtaking, in action, in emotional punch and on a thematic level. Wonderful, amazing plotting on your part to get us there. Long before Nathaniel was injured, I felt he was destined to die, but he was showing so much of his mostly ununsed, deeply hidden compassion and nobility that the more sure his death became, the more I dreaded it. Kudos. Masterfully done.

Also, as I am 36, I wanted to let you know that your books definitely did what you purposed--appealed to adults as well as the younger audience. Keep fighting for them to be put in the older section!!!!

And please keep writing. I can't *wait* to see more of your particular brand of humor-injected, gut-wrenching, intriguingly plotted, pessimistically optimistic work.

Kudos and cheers,

Ash

Hi Ash,

Thanks very much for all your kind words! I'm delighted you enjoyed it all, and that the ending struck the right chords for you. I'm sorry to have taken so long to reply...

1. I don't know about a statue, but I think that N's sacrifice would certainly have been appreciated by some of those who followed him. The surviving magicians would have known the extent of his sacrifice, and some of them might even have admitted as much publically. Kitty of course would tell all, but a lot of the commoners who became part of the govt wouldn't care a bean for any magician, no matter what they did. So I suspect a statue might have been low on their priorities! But yep, N's death did change the world - it's helped spare London and the world from an infestation of annoyed demons, and ushered in at least the possibility of a different kind of government.

2. At the end Nathaniel's choice of action brings him up to an equivalent level with Ptolemy, at least in Bart's eyes. Ptolemy was only special to Bart because of the sacrifice he had made for him, and Nat ultimately attained the same status. In a way N is more impressive because he overcame a good deal to let the virtuous side of his personality out, whereas Ptolemy (from what we've seen of him) was a little too good to be true right from the beginning!

3. Hmmm... it's a good question, but I didn't want to tie all the ends up too tightly. It's clear from what Nat says to Bart right at the end that he EXPECTS Kitty and B to have dealings in the future. Maybe they will. But it's also likely that K will assume them both dead and never think about summoning B again... I think that's something worth leaving hanging rather than showing it straight off. I did try some more conventional endings where, for instance, Bart ponders on N's sacrifice after the event, but it very quickly became sentimental or forced. Better to leave potential aftermaths unshown so that N's last moment is left fresh and unannotated.

I hope you'll enjoy the next book... I'd better keep scribbling...

All the best,

Jonathan

It would be AWESOME if the auther wrote more about Bartimaeus... *sigh*

I would love a mini-installment to the series, just filling in a little of Bartimaeus's ploys in North America, Egypt or elsewere. He's just one of the best characters in literature.

I think that he could do mini instalments via the bartimeaus journal he has on that website, he could make a new mini story every month then post it in a journal type thing. Also I think that if he wrote a epilogue (or something that references the series or the characters) for the third book and put onto his website and aunctions of the origenal for charity that would be cool. ( it probably would make a pretty penny too )

First off:

I'm pretty new myself, so just welcome to the forum. Lots of cool people to meet, even though not many of them are actually real people.

I'm pretty sure Bart has a "blog" somewhere on the internet, that is kind of a half-mini-puni-semi-installment.

Lol "blog". Wish he would make a few new instalments to it

Honorius wrote:Lots of cool people to meet, even though not many of them are actually real people.

Quite right.
Sent's a Terminator, Gladstone's an alcohol virus, Apollo's one of those AI robot things that always annoy me, GBM is a software error, you're an AS (Artificial Stupidity) program, I'm a spellcheck, Datsyuk is a spambot, and Nero's a Canadian.

David Cat wrote:and Nero's a Canadian.

Therefore I win.

David Cat wrote:Quite right.
Sent's a Terminator, Gladstone's an alcohol virus, Apollo's one of those AI robot things that always annoy me, GBM is a software error, you're an AS (Artificial Stupidity) program, I'm a spellcheck, Datsyuk is a spambot, and Nero's a Canadian.

Be nice or I'll terminate you.