it’s been a while since i’ve told people to read bartimaeus

• our heroes: a snarky millennia-old djinni with an embellished resume and a horrible reputation for getting too attached to gross humans, an overly ambitious kid magician ready to crush his enemies but who goes completely shell-shocked when he sees violence up close, a fiery revolutionary with a short fuse who cannot fathom the level of incompetence she is surrounded by
• our villains: imperialism, the political class, selfishness, caste slavery
• “I—though forced through lack of space to assume the form of a stoic guinea pig crouched between the girl’s shoe and the glove compartment—was my usual dignified self.”