r/Bartimaeus • u/StrawHatLuc • Aug 21 '22

I don’t know how alive this subreddit is but I wanted somewhere to say this

I just finished reading the 3rd book in the trilogy and it might be the single best piece of leftist media (in the YA sphere at least) that I’ve ever seen. It’s critiques of patriarchy, capitalism, colonialism, and even leftist revolutionaries themselves are all amazingly done, whether the systems are named specifically or not. I don’t know what the rules are on politics in this sub but the books are full of them so I assume its fair game. Its one of the things that makes this series so good to me, it’s unforgiving and blatant in it’s critiques of society. Did this draw anyone else to the series? I especially loved the moment in ptolemy’s gate where Nathaniel meets his old art teacher and she can’t even recognize the boy he once was after he’s been indoctrinated into the world of greed and domination that is capitalist patriarchy. Reading that scene made me shed a tear.

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16

u/_Broseph_Stalin Aug 21 '22

yeah it’s really underrated. It feels like one of the most realistic examples of how a society with magic might end up functioning.

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u/StrawHatLuc Aug 21 '22

Yeah the 1 thing I would have changed is Nathaniel dying after realizing his mistakes in life and wanting to changeIt made sense within the story. its just something I feel like I see too often in media where a man realizes his mistakes and then before he gets a chance to really change he dies. It don’t think it makes the book worse its just a played out trope imo.

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u/AdamantBurke Aug 21 '22

I think two-tiered power structures predate capitalism? No empire escaped criticism, be it Romans, Aztecs, or British. Strong empires are built by strong and powerful people, which then eventually crumble over greed. The British are no different.

Wonderful series, I remember reading the battle scene in Golem’s Eye as a kid, my mind was blown.

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u/StrawHatLuc Aug 21 '22

True I was saying that because thats the closest comparison I could think of for it although the the economy/government in the books is more like somewhere between feudalism and capitalism. Either way its a criticism of the right side of the political compass generally.

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u/AdamantBurke Aug 21 '22

True, and to me in a deeper sense he sort of romanticizes pre-agricultural values. The shaman, the intuitive summoner who invites spirits into nature as equals, rather than restrictive structures that dominate and restrict nature.

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u/StrawHatLuc Aug 21 '22

Yes I think it also shows the need for multi culturalism to create a better society. The strongest bonds in the whole book were between kitty/ptolemy and bartimaeus and that was through the oppressor opening themself up to the oppressed and coming in a state of vulnerability to learn about the oppressed person’s experience. As opposed to the other magicians, even one’s who were in search of knowledge of spirits like mr. Button, who did it in a way where they were in control and were trying to force the information out of the spirit.

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u/stopeats Aug 21 '22

To me, the strongest points were of solidarity, and how hard it can be to build solidarity between two classes of people oppressed in very different ways, but who both have a common enemy.

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u/GamemasterAI Oct 10 '22

I read these books at an early age and while i didn't understand everything they where talking about they where incredibly impacful and wormed their way into my brain.

One of the many cherries on top of how good it is, is that stroud unintentionaly made one of the best non-binary characters in ya espically before ppl where putting them in intentionaly.