The Ring of Solomon by Jonathan Stroud

398 pages

"It is 950 B.C.E., and King Solomon rules Jerusalem with a steely hand; a hand on which gleams a magic ring of immense and unforgiving power. Solomon has just begun work on his marvelous temple, charging Khaba, a formidable magician in his royal court, to oversee its construction. The workforce is an ill-behaved bunch of demons, a particularly unruly djinni named Bartimaeus among them. True to form, Bartimaeus promptly gets kicked off the temple project and assigned the even more miserable task of hunting bandits in the desert. There he crosses paths with Asmira, a highly skilled and loyal captain of the Queen of Sheba's guard, on a suicidal mission to save her country from Solomon's imminent attack. Of course, Bartimaeus has no intention of helping her. That is, until Asmira makes him an offer he cannot refuse..." -Dust Jacket

This book was all right. It takes place chronologically before the other three books in the Bartimaeus series. I think this is a case where an author wanted to write more books about his main character and there was nowhere really to go except to do a prequel and expand on events that were mentioned in passing in the other books. Bartimaeus is his witty, rebellious self--as rebellious as a spirit slave can be anyway. He judges humans on their character and motives and let's that govern his actions, unlike fellow demons. Asmira is likable enough. I just think that Ptolemy's Gate (book 3) left the reader with such an emotional ending for a character that you'd learned to hate and then love through three books, that it's hard to feel that same way about a new character whose story takes place hundreds of years earlier. I think I would have liked this book a lot more if it had come out first in the series instead of fourth and would probably recommend reading it first if you're new to the series.