solid 4! nice pacing, bartimaeus is funny as shit and its a great setup for nathaniel/john for the rest of this trilogy. hes a really interesting character and think there's sm room for him to grow. i read this once nearly a decade or so ago and im glad i got to get to it again! i had some qualms with the way the magicians spoke abt their servants and the setting itself is steeped w elitism + imperialism (which is Accurate but i could only take so much of it b4 it got old) and id complain extensively howeverrr this backdrop serves the story well. overall, i think its a fine book! last but not least; hats off to the narrator simon jones (i think thts his name), he did a great job narrating and really augmented my experience!