Ptolemy's Gate

"Ptolemy’s Gate", is the third and final book in the "Bartimaeus Trilogy" by Jonathan Stroud. With this final book, the trilogy comes to an end in excitement, adventure and an unexpected turn towards tenderness and true values.

A little background: Nathaniel (known as John Mandrake) helped saved the ministry twice, once from Lovelace & Ramuthra and next from the marauding Golem. He is now an established member in the British government. He had let Kitty Hawk (from resistance) scott free. The resistance has been dismantled.

Plot:

Things were not looking good for British Government. Foreign wars are going badly. Many commoners are unhappy with the current government, and rebellion is fermenting among them. Nathaniel is friendless and constantly watched by enemies. He has become merciless and treats everyone cruelly, especially Bartimaeus.

Kitty Hawk finds a job with a retired magician as his helper. She ponders on the reason on why humans and spirits are locked in endless struggle. She understands that humans (magicians) summons spirits and make them slaves; they fear spirits and consider them dangerous. So they keep them in shackles and as slaves and never treat them as equals.

Bartimaeus had told her that his greatest master, Ptolemy, was the only human who treated his servants as equals. Ptolemy falsely believed that other people would follow his footsteps. Ptolemy trusted Bartimaeus and even crossed over to the “Other Place” with Bartimaeus and came back alive. The “Other Place” is where spirits dwell.

Kitty’s aim to learn some magic as to summon Bartimaeus and travel to “Other Place”. After putting some effort, she succeeds and travel to “Other Place” with Bartimaeus, the only person other than Ptolemy to do that. Thus earning full trust from Bartimaeus.

Farquarl (a Djinn mentioned in “The Amulet of Samarkand”) and his friends (spirits) are plotting to destroy the magicians and take over the human world. Their plan is to lure magicians to share their bodies to spirits for promises of greater power. Once inside magician’s bodies, they can take full control of their body and mind and then rule the world. Farquarl and Nouda (an entity of greater power than Madrid) manage to enter into human bodies (magicians) and starts unleashing havoc. Soon they create an army of hybrids (spirits & humans). Nathaniel escapes and decides to destroy Nouda. It can be done only if he wielded the Gladstone’s staff, but he doesn’t have the power to wield and use the Gladstone’s staff.

Nathaniel and kitty decides that only if Nathaniel and Bartimaeus combines, together they can wield and use the power of Gladstone’s staff to destroy Nouda and his hybrid army. Bartimaues agrees, even when he suspects that he too will get destroyed in the attack. Finally they combine, sets out to destroy Nouda.

Do they finally defeat Nouda and his army of hybrids, and rescue the world? Does Nathaniel and Bartimaeus survive the attack? That’s the suspense, you get to uncover by reading the book.

Ptolemy’s Gate is an excellent ending to the “Bartimaeus Series”. It’s a brilliant story, with unexpected twists and turns in plot. A must read.