The Amulet of Samarkand

British author Jonathan Stroud is known for his young adult fantasy novels often set in an alternate London. His works explore themes of class struggle, power dynamics, and oppression through fantastical and supernatural elements.

The Amulet of Samarkand (2003) was the first published book in Stroud’s Bartimaeus sequence. It was followed by two sequels, The Golem’s Eye (2004) and Ptolemy’s Gate (2005), and a prequel, The Ring of Solomon (2010), which traces Bartimaeus’s story when he was in service to King Solomon. The main trilogy is set in an alternate London, where magic is an integral part of life. Magicians in Stroud’s Britain are an elite, ruling class who control the country’s social and political structures. Blending Britain’s colonial past with magic and fantasy, the author levies a satirical perspective on institutional power, propaganda, systemic inequalities and exploitation, and the moral dilemmas of having tangible power like magic in an unfair world. Magicians are revered for their ability to perform spells and summon spirits from the Other Place. Unbeknownst to commoners (non-magicians), magicians draw all of their power from these spirits by enslaving them to their will. Without them, they cannot perform powerful magic and are deemed no better than charlatans.