This is the third, and final, installment of the Bartimaeus/Nathaniel books: This one did take me a while to get into, so I think the plot dragged a little towards the beginning. However, all my old favorites were back. Kitty is quickly rivaling Bartimaeus as my favorite character. I loved her perspective, and I thought she had such a strong voice. I thought she was brave, and kind, and she was everything Nathaniel wasn’t for a good portion of the series. She provides a nice balance to most of the self-serving individuals in the series. This one was a little hard on poor Bartimaeus. I felt so bad for him for a lot of the book, and I was really worried about him. However, for what would happen later, this makes sense from a storytelling perspective. I really thought the author did a good job capturing each character’s journey and wrapping it up without changing the tone of the book. I knew Nathaniel’s character was going to change a bit, and I was glad it went the way it did in this book. I would have preferred it to have happened a little more slowly, since it felt a bit abrupt, but I really liked that he still acted like a bit of a snot at the end of the book.

The Ending: I know the ending will probably turn some people off to this book, but I thought that it was very fair to the characters, and I actually thought it was the perfect ending for Nathaniel. Stroud managed to take his character to new places, and really have a full character arc, while retaining some of that snotty exterior that made me kind of love him in the first book. I thought the last few sentences were particularly perfect.

Recommend: Definitely! I absolutely loved this series, and will probably try to acquire the other two books in it soon (I own the first). I absolutely loved the tone and the story, and I thought Stroud managed to keep his books entertaining throughout the series, which is a difficult task. Often the second book can drag a bit, but I really loved that I got to follow Nathaniel and Kitty and Bartimaeus on their journeys, and I really enjoyed hearing more about Ptolemy in this one. This series is definitely one of my favorites for this year, especially the first volume. Its funny and exciting, and generally everything I want of a YA fantasy novel. Good job, Stroud. I’ll keep a lookout for your other books.