”The Ring of Solomon“ is the fourth book of the Bartimaeus series, but it is not a sequel. It does not continue the story of the first trilogy, but tells us ‘what happened before’.
Bartimaeus, the main character of the series, is a djinn, an (almost) immortal being.
His problem is, that his kind is summoned and enslaved by magicians. Of course, he does not like this it all, but he cannot control it.
Bartimaeus is not an obedient djinn, wherever he can, he tries to fool or even kill his respective master. In short words – he is a smart, sarcastic and cunning trouble-maker with a very big ego .
The story starts in Jerusalem, where Bartimaeus has been summoned into the service of Khaba, a very cruel magician who is in service himself to the mighty King Solomon.
King Solomon owns a magic ring with immense powers that allow him to summon countless spirits to work for him. He uses them to build his temples, to help his people, but as it seems also to suppress neighbor countries.
On one of his missions Bartimaeus meets Asmira, a Queen’s Guard from Sheba, one of the countries King Solomon seems to threaten. Asmira has been sent on a suicide mission to assassinate Solomon and steal his ring. Bartimaeus is fascinated by Asmira and because of his curiosity he soon is in the middle of this plot.
The adventure of Bartimaeus is very interesting, thrilling and you can laugh a lot. His sarcastic comments are always very funny. You don`t have to know the first three books to understand this one. I really enjoyed reading this :-).
ReaderAlex 