Dec 23, 2025
The reason Bartseq is both such a revolutionary fantasy series in the minds of those who have read and is heavily unknown and unpopular among the general middle grade/YA reader audience lays in the fact that is themes, character and the magic system are heavily rooted in the injustice and existing systemic issues of our real word, as well as the way real people navigate those issues within different societal classes, thus forcing the readers to immers themselves in the problems of reality instead of providing full escapism into the fictional world, which is one of the driving forces of (especially children and teen) fantasy as a genra. In this essay I will...
#shootout to “eh the system is basically slavery I wouldn't want to do magic here!” people. like it isn't the whole point#of a lot of readers of fantasy genra in this specific age categories#the possibility of insisting themselves into the world as cool fantasy wizards IS the main lense through which they precive the text#and it's not like it's a bad thing. bartseq just isn't a book for that#sometimes you're not supposed to read through the lens of fulfilling you'#because then when they are met with the system that doesn't want them to insert themselves in the story#in the way they were used to doing it#they are filled with reasonable feelings of discomfort a disappointment#because sometimes thinking that magic is bad is a core idea.#sometimes you're not supposed to read through the lens of fulfilling your dreams about being a magic user#Bartseq doesn't do that. Bartseq doesn't tell you to be awed by this world of pentacles in magic in a way#it tells you to think to understand to see that magicians are NOT the group you'd want to become a part of#and I think that's why it was so confusing for children back then#because they're so used to see the magic world as fulfilment of their desires in some way separate from our world#and Bartseq isn't it#because they're so used to seeing their main character as a role model#and Nathaniel isn't it. neither is Bartimaeus really#and again! it isn't a bad thing! but it's reasonable they didn't like Bartseq!#(also saying this especially about middle grade/YA lit because I know adult and higher YA lit LOVES doing what Bartseq does)#bartimaeus#bartimaeus sequence#the bartimaeus trilogy#bartimaeustrilogy#bartimaeus trilogy#bartseq#nathaniel underwood#nad bart meta