Ptolemy's Gate | |
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Biographical Information | |
Author | |
Release date |
2005 |
Pages |
515 |
Publisher |
Doubleday |
Chronology | |
Predeceded by | |
Succeeded by |
Ptolemy's Gate is the third novel in the Bartimaeus Sequence by Jonathan Stroud, and the final novel in the main trilogy. It was released in the UK in September 2005, and in the US in December 2005 by Doubleday.
Blurb[]
Three years have passed since the magician Nathaniel (otherwise known as John Mandrake) helped prevent an attack on London that would have been cataclysmic for its magicians and commoners. Now an established member of the British Government, he faces unprecedented problems: foreign wars are going badly, Britain's enemies are mounting attacks close to London, and rebellion is fomenting among the commoners. Increasingly distracted with other affairs, Nathaniel is treating Bartimaeus worse than ever.
Plot[]
Warning: Contains spoilers!
Bartimaeus and many djinni who are summoned by John Mandrake (Also known as Nathaniel) fight off an attack by foreign spirits. Bartimaeus is severely weakened after two years of continual service, as Nathaniel refuses to let him go even for a short period of time, in fear of Bartimaeus betraying his true name. In his weakened state, Bartimaeus is easily defeated by a minor djinn. Despite overall victory, Mandrake's forces do not learn anything about perpetrators of the attack, much to Mandrake's displeasure.
Still, he suspects the attack came from American agents. The America campaign is causing heavier casualties than expected. This, along with the increasing amount of resilience among the commoners, sparks talk of rebellion and demonstrations against the magicians. Mandrake is fully loyal to the current order. His duties include summoning demons to spread propaganda and spy on suspected rebels.
Jane Farrar visits Mandrake to discuss an occurrence a spy observed: several lower-level members of the government planning rebellion. Among them are Jenkins and Hopkins. Farrar's spy failed to find out specifics about the betrayal, so she asks Mandrake to spy on the traitors. Mandrake sends a weakened Bartimaeus to observe them and leaves to daily meeting with the security Council to discuss his new observations.
At the meeting, his former supervisor, Ms. Whitwell advises pulling out of America, as British forces are having too much trouble there and could lose control over European countries as a result. Mr. Deveraux rejects the proposal, and Mandrake offers another solution, to authorise army using the Staff of Gladstone to conquer America. Mr. Deveraux becomes outraged at the suggestion as he believes the staff can be used to overthrow him. Because of the recent attempts at rebellion, Mr. Deveraux is paranoid and delusional now; he distrusts everyone and only cares about his luxuries.
Bartimaeus successfully follows Jenkins where he meets at a cafe with several other conspirators, including the spell resistant Mercenary. He learns that Hopkins is currently staying at the Ambassador hotel, but is then discovered by the group. He is pursued by many foliots who nearly kill him as he flees. Government demons destroy the foliots who pursue Bartimaeus, but he passes out and unable to tell the magicians anything he learned. Farrar wants him to shock the djinni and force him to tell what he learned, which would kill him. Mandrake is not ruthless enough for that, instead he finally sends Bartimaeus to the Other Place, enraging Farrar.
Mr. Makepeace, the theater director, who doesn't have any position of power in the government, but has huge influence on weak willed Deveraux, makes a surprise visit to Mandrake, and asks him to observe an experiment. Makepeace has captured Nick, the former Resistance member, and questions him by asking about the Shriveling Fire, something he knows nothing about. Then Makepeace summons a demon into Nick's head and repeats the question, which he successfully answers. The demon torments Nick, and he begs for it to be dismissed, saying that he knows about one last Resistance member who is alive. Makepeace tries to quiet him but Mandrake asks him who it is, and Nick answers that Kitty is alive and works at The Frog bar.
We learn that Kitty Jones met a magician named Mr. Button who is very knowledgeable and powerful, but not involved in politics. She becomes his assistant, and begins learning about magic herself. After witnessing summonings by Mr. Button, she successfully summons Bartimaeus. The conversation allows Kitty to deduce something that magicians never bothered to figure out - history goes in cycles, as human society is always ending taken over by magicians, leading commoners to develop resistance to demonic magic, allowing them to revolt, plunging humanity in dark ages again, and again and again.
Kitty talks to Bartimaeus about how the magicians, commoners, and spirits are in an endless cycle of suffering, and asks him to join her and spearhead the rebellion. Bartimaeus declines to ally himself with her on any other human, as their relationship will be same as with him and Mandrake, that of a master and a slave.
Kitty asks about his relationship with Ptolemy, shocking Bartimaeus. Kitty reveals that she researched him and found that Ptolemy had a friendship bonds with his demons, and died when he was young. She deduced that Bartimaeus took his form out of respect. Bartimaeus tells Kitty that their bond was unique because Ptolemy didn't just summon demons, but allowed himself to be summoned by visiting the Other Place via Ptolemy's Gate, and that such a bond will never happen again. He tells Kitty to forget her desires to team up with the spirits and focus on survival. Kitty dismisses him in disgust.
Mandrake fails to summon Bartimaeus and is horrified to learn that someone else already summoned him. By using a scrying glass, he confirms that Kitty is living to his great shock. He then uses the glass to find Mrs. Lutyens, his old art instructor. He finds her and attempts to start a conservation, but Mrs. Lutyens is closed off from him; she tells him that she liked the boy he was, but that he is no longer that boy and they have nothing in common. Mandrake offers her a better job at the government, but she refuses and he leaves, distraught, and questioning himself and his actions.
Mandrake finally manages to summon Bartimaeus, but the demon refuses to disclose him anything about his recent summoning and mocks Mandrake, observing that he lost all his fake composure. Finally Mandrake agrees to dismiss him for good as long as Bartimaeus finishes his assignment and will tell him all he found about the conspiracy. Bartimaeus complies, and informs him of Hopkinses wherebouts. Mandrake sends him with the other demons to dispatch of Hopkins, promising to dismiss him right after the mission and leaves to capture Kitty. Before he has time to deal with her properly, he is summoned to attend Makepeace's new play, and drags the girl along.
Bartimaeus and the other demons quickly corner Mr. Hopkins, who, looking unfazed, reveals that Hopkins is no more and they are facing Faquarl. Faquarl has possessed Hopkins in the manner that Makepeace demonstrated before to Mandrake. Now, being summoner and summoned in one, Faquarl possess powers unmatched by normal demons and easily overpowers all of them, imprisoning Bartimaeus in a silver pot, intending to kill him last.
Meanwhile at the theater, the entirety of top government officials come for the premier, since Deveraux always demands full attendance and respect for his friend's plays. As customary, magicians dismiss all their defences in order not to interfere with the the magic used for onstage special effects.
We find out that this was a set up for a coup. Distracted by the special effects, VIPs don't notice the team of imps that snatch them one by one from their seats. Taking the entire ruling cabinet, they tie them up and throw into vans. They are taken back to the palace, where Makepeace reveals his ultimate plan to Mandrake: he and his minions, all low level officials with aspirations but no power to support them, will summon high level demons into themselves to boost their power to unimaginable levels and take over the country. He offers Mandrake to join them, as he has genuine liking to the boy, that has, apparently, been foiling his plans for the past two books.
Mandrake pretends to accept, and the rebels proceed to successfully perform the ritual, with Makepeace hosting great demon Nouda, known to decimate entire human empire to quell his hunger. As they are struggling to contain summoned spirits, Mandrake denounces the plan and call forth his demons, intending to quench the rebellion singlehandedly. To his surprise, the only one to answer summons is Bartimaeus, in most pathetic state, and in a form of a gelatinous blob. Disappointed, Makepeace berates his young protégé, when suddenly Nouda takes over fully and commands the rest of the demon army to attack. In a few moments, all the conspirators are completely possessed.
Victorious, Faquarl is about to finish Bartimaeus when the demon Nouda orders him to down, as Bartimaeus is a kindred spirit, and therefore ally. Bartimaeus asks to be sent to the Other Place and, as a boon, to spare lives of Mandrake and Kitty, which Nouda grudgingly grants. Bartimaeus is then dismissed to the Other Place. The demons begin dragging in the captured government officials, forcing them to perform the ritual. Nathaniel's spirit is crushed, as all of them, including his idol, Deveraux, sheepishly comply and fuel the newly formed hybrid army. Ms. Whitwell is the only one to oppose the demon. Taking her place in summoning circle, she declares her loyalty to the British Empire and instead of performing the ritual, summon her djinnis and is killed by the rampaging demon in retaliation.
In the ensuing chaos, Mandrake and Kitty escape. The Mercenary chases them to the treasury, and stabs Mandrake in the shoulder. Fleeing Mandrake manages to activate a pestilence curse that falls on both of them, yet Mandrake manages to shield himself with his target, amulet of Samarkand. The spell proves too much even for the amazing resistance of the Mercenary, who is finally killed.
Mandrake collects both staff and the amulet. He tells Kitty his birth name, completing his transformation back into the morally-good person he was when he was a child.
Kitty asks Nathaniel for information about how to perform Ptolemy's Gate and reach the Other Place. Nathaniel is bewildered, but tells her anyways. She visits the Other Place and talks with Bartimaeus. He expresses regret that the commoners will die in the upcoming spirit rebellion, but says there is nothing he can do. Kitty proposes that Bartimaeus enter Nathaniel's body, as the other demons did, but not destroy his mind. This would allow Bartimaeus to be shielded from pain and help use the Staff. After some arguing, he agrees. After leaving the Other Place, Kitty finds that she has forgotten how to use her body, which has been damaged by the foreign essence in the Other Place. She visibly aged, and is hardly able to move.
Bartimaeus is successfully summoned into Nathaniel and they quickly adapt to their newfound equilibrium. Nathaniel gives Kitty the amulet and tasks her with organizing and rallying remaining human magicians, while he leaves to confront the hybrid army.
Nathaniel and Bartimaeus fight as a team, and drastically outperform the other hybrids. Those other hybrids killed their hosts, and poorly control their newly acquired bodies. Eventually Bartimaeus/Nathaniel encounter Faquarl, who overpowers them, knocking the staff out of their reach. Bartimaeus berates Faquarl for betraying the Other Place by staying willingly on Earth, and Faquarl responds that vengeance is his new master. Despite this, Faquarl admits to a discomfort in his new body and Bartimaeus explains that while Bartimaeus coexist with Nathaniel in host body and therefore can can be dismissed by Nathaniel at will, there is no one left inside Hopkins to dismiss Faquarl, turning Hopkins into a flesh prison, and ultimately trapping the demon on earth forever.
Demoralized, Faquarl begs his old foe for a solution and for release, but is easily dispatched for good. The duo kills the rest of the hybrids, but one of the stray demons manages to hit them with a spell. Bartimaeus shields Nathaniel from pain, but both realize that they are dying and rush to face Nouda, who is now horribly deformed and unable to be contained in his host. His true enormous shape is revealed.
Bartimaeus/Nathaniel proceed to attack Nouda with the staff, but to no effect; Nouda proves too powerful. Nathaniel realizes that the only way to kill Nouda is to take the safeguards off the Staff, releasing all the demonic energy at once. After goading Nouda into coming to them, Nathaniel tells Bartimaeus that he was a good slave, but he doesn't trust him to release the staff at the right moment, so Nathaniel will dismiss Bartimaeus, automatically breaking the Staff - and also saving Bartimaeus's life. The resulting explosion kills Nouda and Nathaniel. In his final dialog, Bartimaeus says that he would have liked to tell Nathaniel what he thought of him at the end, but he rather thinks he knows anyways, as they were in the same mind. Nathaniel's sacrifice mirrors Ptolemy's sacrifice, so it is implied that Bartimaeus loves him in the end, despite calling him a typical magician, right up to the end.
Kitty, who never recovered from her trip to Other Place, refuses to join the newly formed government and leaves to spend time with her friend at Prague.
Alternate History[]
It is important to note each Bartimaeus novel takes place in an alternate history. A timeline is shown on the official website for the books, which states that the events of Ptolemy's Gate take place in 2005. [1]
Awards[]
Ptolemy's Gate is a winner of the following awards:[2]
- A 2006 Booklist Editors’ Choice
- A 2006 Child Magazine Best Book of the Year
- A Horn Book Fanfare: Best Book of 2006
- Book Sense National Best Seller
- USA Today Bestseller
- New York Times Bestselling Series