Book Review: The Ring of Solomon by Jonathan Stroud

Posted as part of Tween Tuesday, hosted by GreenBeanTeenQueen.

The Ring of Solomon by Jonathan Stroud
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH
Publication date: November 2010
ISBN: 9781423123729
Source: Library audiobook

 

Djinni extraordinaire Bartimaeus has spent thousands of years serving magician masters.  In this adventure, he serves a rather nasty master, one that is determined to break his spirit.  Throw in the ring of power that King Solomon wields and you have an interesting adventure for Bartimaeus to survive.  Will his wit and sheer cheek keep him from a nasty end?

Things I Liked:
Oh how I love Bartimeaus.  He makes these books completely enjoyable.  The snark, the sarcasm, the hilarity, all belong to him.  I'm so glad Stroud decided to write this book as a companion to the previous three books, because he deserves a book all to himself.  I reveled in everything he said and did.  The story was fairly interesting too, but I honestly kept listenening for Bartimaeus' humor.  And I was not disappointed.  I laughed so hard on multiple occasions that I honestly had to stop what I was doing (good thing I wasn't driving).  This is pure entertainment and so well-written, too.  If I'd read the book instead of listening, I'd probably have about 100 quotes from it.  Instead, I'll recommend either listening or reading, because the narrator, Simon Jones, does a fantastic job of reading this, with just the right combination of sarcasm and boredom that Bartimaeus would use.  I was worried I'd have a hard time distinguishing footnotes from the story, but he managed those perfectly as well.  Now if only they'd make a movie...

Things I Didn't Like:
I think I wish I had read it too, because I spent long periods of time away from the book and would then come back to it and not remember what had happened previously.  Still, I completely enjoyed listening, even if I did miss some of the finer points of plot.

Read-alikes:
Read the first three books in the Bartimaeus series by Stroud

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: !
a few mild ones here and there

mrg-factor: none

v-factor: ->
some violence, but mostly not described

Overall rating: *****

Have you read any of these? If not, why not?

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