The Amulet of Samarkand – J. Stroud

Witty and irreverent, this is the first in a new series about a young boy Nathaniel who is sold by his parents at the age of five to be an apprentice in the magical profession. The years pass well enough but everything changes when he is humiliated and betrayed just before his eleventh birthday. Out to get revenge, Nathaniel summons a powerful demon – Bartimaeus – and they set out to steal the amulet of Samarkand, without realising how dangerous and deadly this will be.