Second book of the The Bartimaeus trilogy, Bartimaeus, my favorite sarcastic djinni returns in his adventure with Nathaniel, two years later where now Nathaniel starts his career in magician government. Nathaniel is now responsible for destruction of The Resistance, pack of non-magicians or so-called “commoners” lead by Kitty Jones, who occasionally causes disturbance to the establishment of magician power. Following occasional appearance of Golem, an almost ancient magical creatures, the tension in the country rises higher than ever, Nathaniel, Bartimaeus and Kitty crosses path and involved in a highly dangerous, planned attack against the government.

I would say this book is less interesting then the first (well, aside from Bartimaeus’ witty, sarcastic character that I still fond of the most), with less plot-complexity and excitement. Nevertheless, I found it still worth-reading and recommended.

Rating : 7.5 / 10

The last chapter of the Bartimaeus trilogy starts with Bartimaeus weakened and weary due too spending too much time on the earth carrying tasks for Nathaniel, now a minister in the government. British empire, governed by magicians, now found itself in a war with America, which turns out be both costly and dangerous. Dissatisfaction against the country’s policy is now stronger than ever, things are growing out of the magician’s control. Kitty, Nathaniel, and Bartimaeus once again found themselves in a complicated plot of conspiracy and rebellion involving both magicians and demons.

A perfect ending, I must say, and the best of the trilogy. This book brings you the long history of Bartimaeus, glimpse of The Other Place where all demons came from, a daring, exhilarating plot, and a triumphant, unexpected ending. It has anything you wanted in the closing of outstanding trilogy, and more.

Rating : 9/10

Boring. You wouldn’t want to watch this, seriously. Yes there are some fun to it, but all and all, it’s just not worth it. The plot is terrible, the characters are easily forgettable, the humors are slapstick. The shouldn’t have made the sequel of mummy. I mean after all, they are mummies. They’re supposed to be kept buried.

Rating : 6/10

Another effort to bring the classic Three Kingdom saga to big-cinema, this episode brings the prequel to the famous Red-Cliff battle. The scenario is good. They try to keep it align with the story (although there are some twists here and there, but I found them acceptable) which is good, compared to the other Three Kingdoms : Resurrection of The Dragon (which I hate every part of if, by the way). The fighting scenes are awesome. But it just TOO SLOW. I mean, they wasted 2.5 hours for a movie that should’ve been completed in 90 minutes. John Woo tries too hard to give his characters some personality, which I think it’s a waste of time (if you know the book you’ll probably know the characters already and you’ll be pissed anyway, and if you don’t then you wouldn’t bother too much of details. And by the way, too many close-ups). Even worse, it’s TO BE CONTINUED. I mean, why make a sequel when you can actually finish it off?

Rating : 7/10

This book has been around awhile I guess, and it’s kinda late to read it now, but nevertheless, I picked up a copy of it while I went to Plaza Indonesia the other day, and start reading. And I’m hooked

If you ever read Harry Potter series book and see how the magic world there works, with this book it all goes upside down. Jonathan builds up a fantasy world of magician who rule the world (London, for that matters) and actually live together with non-magicians or commoners, both aware each side actually exists and live together side by side. However, magicians in Jonathan’s book is different. They don’t own the power themselves by casting spells or do other sort of tricks, but they summon and controls demons from the other world who actually do the job, i.e. by themselves they’re actually powerless . There are many types and many grades of demons of course. One of them, the focus of this book is Bartimaeus, a five-thousand year old djinni who posses knowledge, abilities, and experience ( it is 5,000 years, yes, so might be aware know what this djinni has gone through :p).

Bartimaues is summoned by an apprentice 11-years-old magician, Nathaniel, who wants revenge after being humiliated in public by another magician. Nathaniel, raged by the humiliation, order Bartimaeus to steal The Amulet of Samarkand, a very powerful amulet with outstanding protective charm. The story switches back and forth from Bartimaues and Nathaniel points of view, where Jonathans writes the twist, conspiracy, and politics, of his magical world.

The best part, of course, is Bartimaeus character. Sharp-tounged, witty, sarcastic, and hilarious with his foot-notes, he’s just something you can’t stop read until you’re finished

Totally recommended