YAY! I get to start this topic :D

What did everyone think of it then? * I wanna know what other people think before thowing my own into the mix.

* everyone being the measly amount of Brits and anyone who got an advanced copy.

It was awesome! Definitely a highly worthy bearer of the Bartimaeus name and an all-around great book.

The real question, of course, is is it better than the original trilogy? =D For me, I think that answer will have to wait until I've reread this one and the originals...


Now, here's a plot related question. Would you use the Ring Frodo?

Sentynel wrote:Now, here's a plot related question. Would you use the Ring Frodo?

I'd use it anonymously. Like, be a powerful shadowy figure in the background. =D

I thought it was awesome. Better than The Trilogy? Equal, I would say.

Sentynel wrote: Would you use the Ring Frodo?

xD

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I don't think JS could have done a better job, RoS was pretty much perfect. :D Hmm...I don't quite know if it's better than the original trilogy, but it's most definitely just as awesome.

As for the Ring...I'd have used it to help people as far as possible, like Solomon tried to. Considering the effects of the Ring, that probably wouldn't be feasible unless the person using it is the Hulk or something.

What does everyone think of Asmira?

Sentynel wrote:It was awesome! Definitely a highly worthy bearer of the Bartimaeus name and an all-around great book.

The real question, of course, is is it better than the original trilogy? =D For me, I think that answer will have to wait until I've reread this one and the originals...


Now, here's a plot related question. Would you use the Ring Frodo?

when i started reading i was dissapointed because barti didn't seem as funny as in the trilogy but to the end i found myself loving the book and forgetting what i ever thought were wrong with it. maybe all the books started like that, maybe i just have to read it again.

ultimatly though, it was classic barti/stroud and brilliant because of it. i liked asmira as well, i liked the way she didn't do the obvious thing that most authors make characters do which is, the parent dies they automatically hate the person that causes it, i.e. Balkis (i so wanted a queen-of-sheba joke shoved in there somewhere, alas, there was none.) instead she went the opposite way, and it worked and was really interesting. i kept thinking which direction the character was going to go when i first read that she was so into her mothers way of life.

and. God no, i have to take paracetamol for everything, the ring would kill me. :D

anyway, i have the last chapter to read (i am a very bad girl) so I'll go now.

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Epic_Footstool wrote:

Sentynel wrote: Would you use the Ring Frodo?

xD

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I don't think JS could have done a better job, RoS was pretty much perfect. :D Hmm...I don't quite know if it's better than the original trilogy, but it's most definitely just as awesome.

As for the Ring...I'd have used it to help people as far as possible, like Solomon tried to. Considering the effects of the Ring, that probably wouldn't be feasible unless the person using it is the Hulk or something.

What does everyone think of Asmira?

haha, i answered your question without reading your comment :D whoo :P

I think I'm with David. Use the Ring without putting yourself in the public eye and making yourself a target such that you have to have it on whenever you're out in public. Keep it secret, keep it safe... Also, arrangements would have to be made to dispose of it when I died; too risky to leave lying around. Perhaps throw it into a volcano somewhere.
Speaking of which, I wonder what happened to it after Solomon's eventual death...


I liked Asmira's character. She was faced with some extremely difficult choices and discovering that the leader she loved had been using her effectively as a pawn and that nothing was as simple as it seemed, and remained believable and human through it all.


Also - the series' first proper marid encounter. Worth the wait? =D

Would it actually be possible to keep one's possession of the Ring secret for very long? As Barty mentions, it's got a massive aura; disguising something like that wouldn't exactly be easy. Hey - I wonder if you could use the Ring to keep itself secret...

The marid was definitely worth the wait! Ammet reminded me a little bit of Simpkin with his attitude, but he was definitely more badass - that goes without saying. I liked Philocrates as well; one of the more humorous afrits we've seen. "How do you think I got on? I'm a voice in a bloody pot." It was great to see more of Faquarl, too. :D

Ammet was creepy. I could sorta understand Simpkin being all subservient due to being a sucky foliot, but Ammet's love was just weird o_O. Awesome character though =D

Anyone think Honorius should've made a cameo? >.>

I thought the ending was, perhaps, a little too neat.

It was awesome though.

Epic_Footstool wrote:Would it actually be possible to keep one's possession of the Ring secret for very long? As Barty mentions, it's got a massive aura; disguising something like that wouldn't exactly be easy. Hey - I wonder if you could use the Ring to keep itself secret...

The marid was definitely worth the wait! Ammet reminded me a little bit of Simpkin with his attitude, but he was definitely more badass - that goes without saying. I liked Philocrates as well; one of the more humorous afrits we've seen. "How do you think I got on? I'm a voice in a bloody pot." It was great to see more of Faquarl, too. :D

I was thinking keep the Ring in some sort of hidden underground base or magician's tower or something so people can't see the aura, and never take it out.
I don't know about hiding the aura magically, though - it's never even hinted at anywhere that it's possible to hide auras through magical means. If anything, using magic would just give off more of a higher-plane splash.


Philocrates was awesome. One of the best lines in the book, that. (Although the use of "bloody" makes me mentally give him a British accent, a few millennia before their time...)

Sentynel wrote:Philocrates was awesome. One of the best lines in the book, that. (Although the use of "bloody" makes me mentally give him a British accent, a few millennia before their time...)

My unimaginative brain gives all book characters my own voice. =(

David Cat wrote:

Sentynel wrote:Philocrates was awesome. One of the best lines in the book, that. (Although the use of "bloody" makes me mentally give him a British accent, a few millennia before their time...)

My unimaginative brain gives all book characters my own voice. =(

So every book you read is set in Newcastle?

=D

Sentynel wrote:So every book you read is set in Newcastle?

=D

It's better than every character sounding like they're from The Archers.

David Cat wrote:

Sentynel wrote:So every book you read is set in Newcastle?

=D

It's better than every character sounding like they're from The Archers.

or from birmingham. we have the worst accent in the whole country :P

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also did anyone else expect the book to be a side book rather than a follow on, a stand alone thing. but it wasn't, i was surprised the story's brilliant because it connects the two books, with ammet and khaba (yeah the whole relationship, i didn't see where that came from, especially with the way the guy treats his other slaves. not exactly ptolemy is he?) and the bit where barti gets in an argument with somebody and he say's he'd never stoop to the snide childish bickering with his master level, theres alot of them in the book, simple paragraphs (sometimes not even that) that you wouldn't pick up on unless you'd read the trilogy first. those little comments made the book for me.
and that bit at the end where amira say that he likes being on earth was surprising but so true, i'd never thought of it like that before.

i also liked the fact that jonathan stroud didn't try to out do the trilogy. it wasn't as epic but it was better because of it.

beens as we all agree it was a brilliant book. does anyone have any negative points about it?

Haha, I loved that bloody pot line. What really made me laugh was the 'do you need an afrit to catch a wife? No" its just so silly. I actually noted some of the funny lines when I reread the book. I also liked all the wierd things Jonathan must have learned about old tribes and civilazations when he studied for this book, remember the human skin doll with arm pit hair for hair? or did he make that up? :D

I really wonder about this line:
Solomon: "Uraziel, Im back"
Great Spirit: "Never doubted it"
And why Uraziel doesn't like it when its Khaba who summons him? Put that together with the way solomon found the ring, well I gotta look into this ring now.

Nagative Points? Well, with any book from the trilogy, I can't wait to read it again and again etc. I didn't feel like that with this one. Thats how I rate books generally. Though I did reread it twice skipping Asmira parts, its a Barti book so of course I want to get every little detail

Chiz wrote: Haha, I loved that bloody pot line. What really made me laugh was the 'do you need an afrit to catch a wife? No" its just so silly. I actually noted some of the funny lines when I reread the book. I also liked all the wierd things Jonathan must have learned about old tribes and civilazations when he studied for this book, remember the human skin doll with arm pit hair for hair? or did he make that up? :D

I really wonder about this line:
Solomon: "Uraziel, Im back"
Great Spirit: "Never doubted it"
And why Uraziel doesn't like it when its Khaba who summons him? Put that together with the way solomon found the ring, well I gotta look into this ring now.

Nagative Points? Well, with any book from the trilogy, I can't wait to read it again and again etc. I didn't feel like that with this one. Thats how I rate books generally. Though I did reread it twice skipping Asmira parts, its a Barti book so of course I want to get every little detail

yeah, I'm re-reading it again now (amongst trying to find time to complete my fanart i might post up here if i complete it). I have to say i don't mind Asmiras parts, then again maybe i need to re-read it few times before i start getting bored of them like i did with kittys part in the trilogy. i hate saying that cause kitty is a good character its just that the others are exceptional and she pales in comparison. anyway, this isn't a trilogy topic.

God i can't remember any jokes, there are so many. yeah, i liked the pot one (shock, horror it wasnt' by barti!) I also like when solomon messed with the staff and got himself electricuted and the rest, that made me laugh, though i think it only sticks out cause i was reading downstairs at the time and my mum asked what was up cause i laughed and then called me an idiot.

yeah, lets not dwell on the doll and khabas whip. *shiver*

ah, i have a joke! when barts carrying khabas finger and he says that it's not the worst thing he's carried, not by a long shot. *that* was funny.


I wondered that, why the marid seemed unhappy with khaba, i thought it was because he just thought he'd now have to do more with a new master that wasn't dying but he didn't seem to mind barti, did he?

I got the impression that the spirit's objection to Khaba as opposed to Solomon was that he knew Solomon was at least trying to use the Ring for good purposes. Similarly, Barti was using it with the express purpose of returning it to Solomon (and also offered to destroy the Ring, if possible). Khaba, on the other hand, as a straight-up evil bloke, would only have used it for personal gain.

Sentynel wrote:I got the impression that the spirit's objection to Khaba as opposed to Solomon was that he knew Solomon was at least trying to use the Ring for good purposes. Similarly, Barti was using it with the express purpose of returning it to Solomon (and also offered to destroy the Ring, if possible). Khaba, on the other hand, as a straight-up evil bloke, would only have used it for personal gain.

i didn't think spirits cared whether their master was good or evil or what they used them for, they are trapped on earth and want to go back to the other place, thats it. surely with khaba the ring would've had more chance of being destroyed because everyone would want to overthrow the tyrant?

at least thats what i thought...

indie2 wrote:i didn't think spirits cared whether their master was good or evil or what they used them for, they are trapped on earth and want to go back to the other place, thats it. surely with khaba the ring would've had more chance of being destroyed because everyone would want to overthrow the tyrant?

at least thats what i thought...

Just because spirits are equally compelled to follow the orders of any master doesn't mean they can't have their own opinions about the morality of what they have to do. I'd guess many simply won't care, or even enjoy indiscriminate destruction, but there's bound to be some spirits that do care. I guess Uraziel is in the latter class. As for destruction of the Ring, Uraziel implies to Barti it would be extremely difficult - certainly beyond his capabilities as a mere djinni, and anybody with much of a realistic chance of overthrowing the tyrant would try and claim the Ring for themselves, not destroy it.

Sentynel wrote:I got the impression that the spirit's objection to Khaba as opposed to Solomon was that he knew Solomon was at least trying to use the Ring for good purposes. Similarly, Barti was using it with the express purpose of returning it to Solomon (and also offered to destroy the Ring, if possible). Khaba, on the other hand, as a straight-up evil bloke, would only have used it for personal gain.

Yes! Thats what I thought, go great spirit of the ring! I wonder If Jonathan used just a little of the angel demon mythology in this book. Alot of little things made me wonder, Uraziel's name one of them of course

@ indie
Fanart? Awsome. Ive got two thigs I reeeallly want to draw. Barti when he broke free of ezikiel and is about to eat him -sick, and the passage where barti tells us about the djinn and the stars. Im not good enough with graphic art yet and Ive havent painted anything since 2nd grade so idk if I can do the last one like I imagine it :'(