Bartimaeus Trilogy, anyone?

[Jane]

Was Solomon a puppet?
He was a pretty awesome guy; the only thing he wasn't really honest about was using a glamour style illusion to make himself look younger.


And guess what?
They've reprinted new editions of the Bartimaeus Trilogy to match the layout of The Ring of Solomon. They now have gargoyle/impy looking Bartimaeus on EVERY COVER (even though he wasn't in gargoyle form in pictured scenes) with the swirly looking header and pentacle decoration. They're smaller than the old books, and Solomon too.
What's with that? 0_o

 

[mystmoon]

Was Solomon a puppet?
He was a pretty awesome guy; the only thing he wasn't really honest about was using a glamour style illusion to make himself look younger.


And guess what?
They've reprinted new editions of the Bartimaeus Trilogy to match the layout of The Ring of Solomon. They now have gargoyle/impy looking Bartimaeus on EVERY COVER (even though he wasn't in gargoyle form in pictured scenes) with the swirly looking header and pentacle decoration. They're smaller than the old books, and Solomon too.
What's with that? 0_o

I mean, Solomons court of magicians were all using his name to get them stuff, so he was a puppet in that respect.

Argh! I hate it when they change covers, it makes my bookshelf not match! They did the same thing with Artemis Fowl, and I've personally always perferred the originals of those cos you could translate the covers

 

[Jane]

Maybe Stroud just thinks that the lesson is "Power corrupts"?
It's the same as people charging free stuff on a company credit card.


I hate it when they put out editions of books with movie covers that are inferior to the regular one. And when they price them a few dollars cheaper.
Which Artemis Fowl covers are you talking about? The ones that look like diaries, or the ones with silhouette figures? Or the new ones with the digitally painted covers and a fancy new AF logo? There are so many variations that I've learned to just live with it.

Oh, and guess what I hate!
When a book series' rights get sold to a different publisher when it hasn't been finished, so books 1, 2, and 3 look different from 4 onwards. Different font face, different physical size, different cover style. It's just annoying. :x

 

[mystmoon]

Which Artemis Fowl covers are you talking about? The ones that look like diaries, or the ones with silhouette figures? Or the new ones with the digitally painted covers and a fancy new AF logo? There are so many variations that I've learned to just live with it.

I meant the ones that look like this

What fancy ones with a logo? They changed them again?

Stroud's message of Power corrupts is a good one, I just feel that it gets to the point where we're like "Yes ok i get it, magicians are bad powerful overlords, now get bartimaeus to say something funny!"

 

[Jane]

Yep, here are the new ones that look like this, with the fancy new swirly AF logo.
I don't like them as much as the classic diary style ones. These new covers look like they're aimed for a younger audience, and they're going to look tacky in a few years.

I never thought that the Trilogy got to the point of saying "this side is evil". Mostly because it showed that the other side could be bad, with the greedy graverobbing Pennyfeather crew, and how there were good guys like Mr Button and Ptolemy. It does, however, get to the point where we're like "Yes, ok, we get it! Slavery is bad!".

 

[mystmoon]

Artemis Fowl covers T^T next thing you know, they'll get rid of the code messages along the bottom

Don't get me wrong, I think Stroud makes some great points about power and how it fraks you up, but he just gets a little preachy, that was why I found Kitty a bit annoying towards the end, and why I was thankful that there was some good action around that bit as well

 

[Jane]

I wouldn't mind if they removed the message. I've only decoded it once, with the help of the AF Files book, and it took tons of time for a silly environmental message.

Kitty does get kinda preachy, but I'm glad she got called out for it. She was a terrorist after all.

Do you have any favorite characters? I've always thought young Jakob was cute, but then he turned moody and emo. Lucky we have Barty as comic relief or else it would turn into an angst-fest.
I have the feeling that his name is pronounced "Ya-kkob", not "Jay-cob" as I've always mentally pronounced it.

 

[mystmoon]

If you assume the the code on the front is the tag line on the blurb, they actually don't take that long *has translated all of them-too much free time*

I also liked Jacob, but I got confused as to how bad those burns actually were, because he and Kitty acted like they had completely turned him into the Thing, but Nathan and Bartimaeus didn't even seem to realise until it was pointed out to them.

I liked Queezle, it was interesting to meet a demon that wasn't a complete douche, but she died as well...

 

[Jane]

I usually go onto one of the fan website to see if they've posted the decoded message. And when it turns out to be disappointing, I go "Darn! Was that it?"

I don't think Nat and Bart realized that quickly because they're too self absorbed and probably didn't know or care what commoners looked like. Golem's Eye Nat was too "My collar! My cuffs! My coat! My job!" in the scene with Jakob to have noticed the Tumbler burns.

Queezle was cute, especially in the Prague prologue scene with Bart. Also, her wide eyed spaniel guise! SO ADORABLE! The book didn't state outright that she died, so you can just pretend that she's just gone into hiding, the same as Nathaniel. And Mrs Underwood. And Ptolemy (Bart left and didn't actually see him die.).

 

[mystmoon]

hehe, i do wonder sometimes if Nathaniel really kicked it. Would be nice to think Queezle is alive, but...

Nathaniel really is vain in Golem's Eye isn't he! Was glad when Bartimaeus took over the descriptions and blew that cool collected exterior out of the water

 

[Jane]

On the Jonathan Stroud's official "fan Q&A" bit, I think he said that he made what happened to Queezle vague so that readers could choose their own ending. Coz it would be mean to just kill her off like that.

Kitty calls him out for being "petty, heartless, and vain", and Nat goes "I'm not vain, just well turned out. Presentation's important!" I see his priorities have changed. Yeah, it's nice that Bart made fun of his "tent in a pocket" and "greasy waterfall hair", because Nat's sudden change to a bit fat douche would have made the book hard to read. People can't really relate to meanie protagonist.

 

[mystmoon]

to be fair, Bartimaeus takes the p*** out of everyones appearance except his own, so it's fun wheen he becomes the object of ridicule once in a while.

 

[Jane]

I love it when all the spirits go "Who's Bartimaeus?" when he announces that he is "N'Gorso the Mighty, Sakhr al-Jinni" and all that. Farquarl likes to do that to Bart, and it makes me go *squee!* when they try to out banter each other.

Gosh I love Bart. And Ptolemy.
They are soooooo cute! Am I the only one who envisions Ptolemy as a skinny bald kid? Everyone else draws him with a bob.

 

[mystmoon]

Bartimaeus says he's a scribe (or looks like one) so sorry Jane, but I think he was wearing one of those bob wigs, but he's probably bald underneath. I keep picturing him with one of those side plaits like in Prince of Egypt, but I know he wouldn't have one of those

Love the pic btw!

 

[Jane]

I googled that, and those wigs look horrible. Ptolemy was half Greek, and I think the book had him with "tousled hair", but then it said that he had a "pale lamb's throat", so I think it's all up to personal interpretation.


The fanonical majority has him with a dark blue bob cut, like the kind Victoria Beckham had. Sort of a more dramatic version of Moses' wig. 0___0 That's how they draw Bart, and he is the exact copy of Ptolemy.
Yeah, Ramses (and his kid) had the weird little side ponytail thing! I considered doing that, but then chose total baldness.

 

[mystmoon]

I think I'm going to have to read Ptolemy's Gate again, because I've completely forgotton most of the descriptions of Ptolemy. Argh, but it's at home and I'm at uni ah, well, will just read Ring of Solomon again
btw, i liked the full picture that that ^^ was from, are you going to post it in the fanart thread?
EDIT ignore that, just found it jumping the gun again

 

[Jane]

Most of the description says that he's a skinny handsome dark kid with a few moles and scar, but there's very very little about hair, except for the one line about it being tousled.

Ring of Solomon makes me want to draw his young Sumerian man guise, in all his well muscled, amethyst decorated prettiness.

Yay, late post!

 

[mystmoon]

Late post? I'm amazed at your speed!

Draw it, draw it! I would, but I suck at drawing muscles and I've been suckered into doing this Circle Line OC thing on devART so no time!

 

[Jane]

I might do that, after finishing something I'm working on right now. I got suckered into participating in a "canon couples" art gallery function thingy. I'm not too sure what it is.

Have you heard of this series? It's the Old Kingdom Trilogy (Or Abhorsen Trilogy, depending on where you live) by Garth Nix.

What's a circle line OC? Is it some sort of art meme thing?