Books: The day the demons took over London; Ptolemy's Gate By Jonathan Stroud DOUBLEDAY pounds 12.99 pounds 11.99 (P&P FREE) 08700 798 897.(Features) From: The Independent on Sunday (London, England) | Date: October 2, 2005| Author: | COPYRIGHT 2005 Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

Byline: Suzi Feay

With the publication of the final volume in the Bartimaeus trilogy, we can at last fully appreciate the complexity of Jonathan Stroud's epic design. The story revolves around the antagonistic, wisecracking relationship between Bartimaeus the demon (djinni is Stroud's preferred term), and Nathaniel, the boy who conjures him. The master-slave relationship is distorted in their case, because Nathaniel once let slip his real name (he goes by 'John Mandrake' for much of the series). Nathaniel lives in an alternative London bitterly divided along magical lines. ...