The Bartimaeus trilogy starts out with the book The Amulet of Samarkand. Nathaniel, one of the three main characters in the books, is a young apprentice sorcerer. He's very advanced, and quite beyond his teacher, so he begins to dabble in some complex summonings. Enter Bartimaeus, a Djinni, several thousand years old, and very sarcastic. Bartimaeus is bound to work for Nathaniel, stealing an item called the Amulet of Samarkand for him. Hilarity, humanity, and hellagood writing ensue.

The Bartimaeus Trilogy, by Jonathan Stroud, deserves a look from anyone that liked Harry Potter and is looking for something more. I came away very impressed by these three books, and am left to wonder if maybe they just couldn’t compete with the advertising blitz that was J.K. Rowling’s series, because as far as I could tell, they were better books. So yeah, if I were going to recommend some young adult books right now, they’d be right near the top of my list.

If anyone out there has read these books, I'd be interested in hearing what you thought. For me, they were at least as good as Harry Potter, and the ending was absolutely fantastic.