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About ten years ago I read a book trilogy that circled around magicians which conjured demons (or some other form of intelligent extra-planar being) in order to do their bidding.

I remember the series taking place in Central/Eastern Europe during or after the Renaissance but before the Industrial Age. I remember it taking place mostly in Prague (which was the seat of a magical university or some such where conjurers were trained).

Additionally, I recall the conjured creatures having vaguely biblical sounding names.

DavidW
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Andrendire
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1 Answers1

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This is the 'Bartimaeus Sequence' of books by Jonathan Stroud: The Amulet of Samarkand (2003), The Golem's Eye (2004), Ptolemy's Gate (2005).

Most of the series is set in and around London, but a significant part of the second book takes place in Prague. It's set in a parallel world where the governing class are all magicians, who rule through their ability to summon demons (spirits) from "the Other Place" and subjugate them to their will. About a century before the books' setting, London and Prague were competing magical powers in Europe; Prague's power has waned after its defeat by Gladstone, but it still remains a significant magical centre.

There are djinn, golems, magical orbs and other such artifacts. The main character is a djinni with the biblical sounding name of Bartimaeus.

Rand al'Thor
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Valorum
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    It's quite clear that you haven't read this series :-) (I recommend it btw.) In lieu of leaving huge comments, and since my own answer got nixed when you closed the question, I edited your answer with an axe to remove the inaccuracies (it's not set in "various European countries") and the irrelevant quote (book 1 has nothing about Prague, it can't be the one OP is remembering), and edited in some description which is relevant to the aspects that the OP remembers. – Rand al'Thor Apr 17 '22 at 16:24
  • @Randal'Thor - Since OP has confirmed its a dupe, I didn't think it was worth putting in this level of effort. Good job you're here to do so. And the snarky comment is also much appreciated – Valorum Apr 17 '22 at 16:25
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    Well, if it comes to that, wasn't worth posting an answer at all when the OP already confirmed it's a dupe in a comment. But if you're going to get rep for a correct identification, might as well be fully correct in the details too. – Rand al'Thor Apr 17 '22 at 16:27
  • @Randal'Thor - It was already correct. You've hijacked my answer to add in a bunch of detail that you consider important. – Valorum Apr 17 '22 at 16:28
  • No, not that "I consider" important: I edited to remove irrelevancies like magical orbs and the plot of the first book, and to address what was mentioned in the OP ("magicians which conjured demons (or some other form of intelligent extra-planar being) in order to do their bidding", "Central/Eastern Europe during or after the Renaissance but before the Industrial Age", "Prague was the seat of a magical university or some such", "vaguely biblical sounding names"), as a good story-ID answer should do. – Rand al'Thor Apr 17 '22 at 16:32