4 1/2 stars 
 This book has been sitting on my shelf for about 10 years... And I so regret not reading it when I first bought it. 
 Many of the previous reviews compares The Bartimaeus Trilogy with the Harry Potter series. But that's like comparing The Hunger Games with Divergent - they're both different, but good (except I prefer The Hunger Games, just like how I prefer Harry Potter atm). 
 Sure, both series consists of an abandoned boy who turns out to be a very gifted magician living in England. And that's pretty much all they have in common. 
 In The Amulet of Samarkand, magic is widely practiced by the elite. Only the privileged are selected to become apprentices and trained to become future magicians. Once you've become a full fledged magician, you would be given the opportunity to serve the country and perhaps even work in parliament. 
 Nathaniel is a 12-year-old apprentice who is driven by revenge to get even with Simon Lovelace (a magician who has publicly humiliated Nathaniel) and to prove to his Master that he is a very capable magician. When Nathaniel summons the djinn, Bartimaeus, to steal Lovelace's amulet, things take an unexpected turn. Together, Nathaniel and Bartimaeus gets into a whole lot of trouble while also discovering a network of traitors who are trying to overthrow the government. So - of course - it is up to them to make things right again. 
 This book alternates from a first-person perspective from Bartimaeus' point of view, to a third-person narrative on Nathaniel. While I typically don't like reading books with alternating narratives, I didn't mind it so much this time around because it all flowed very well. I also really like Bartimaeus' humour and his cynical personality. Very entertaining. 
 I definitely enjoyed the dark and magical world that Stroud has created here. I just wished that he included more details on the selection process of becoming an apprentice, how magicians are differentiated from the so-called 'commoners' (why can't commoners practice magic or become magicians?), and why the practice of magic seems to drain the magicians strength... Hopefully these would be addressed in the next two books!