1.5 stars for this book
2.5 for the series overall

When I first looked into this series I thought it had everything I wanted: a supernatural element, international adventures, and no romance. By those qualities alone, I should have loved these books. But I didn't. The first one was okay and usually when I read the first book in a series, I just binge buy the rest so I can read them all at once. I need to stop doing that. This isn't to say that I hated these books, only that they were not very entertaining.


I wanted to that the author seems to know a lot of facts about so many subjects. He peppers each page so liberally with random trivia that sometimes these stories come off more as textbooks than novels. That's probably the biggest problem with the Children of the Lamp series: it's so dry and boring. When there is action going on: you don't care. The author doesn't flesh out the characters much more than giving each a few quirks, so you don't really get invested with them; and when they die: you don't care. When there is supposed to be some big bad doing something dangerous: you don't care. When the author breaks his previously established rules: you don't care. Because everything is just so meh: you really just don't care.


There were a lot of loose ends that I didn't care for either. Since the first book, the audience was led to believe that Iblis was supposed to be the villain, but instead he just winds up entombed in some terra cotta armor somehow. His son, Dybbuk was then set up to be the final bad, but he wastes his powers, but then gets them back by killing the good side of himself. There was even a hinted romance between Dybbuk and Philippa at one point and that never comes to anything. Even Groanin, who admits to being racist in one of the books, never grows as a person or says to himself that maybe his prejudices are short-sighted. The storyline about the Blue Djinn of Babylon (who is kind of the president of Djinn affairs and whatnot) is only applicable for 2 out of 7 books. What happened to that Alembic Hall place? Also, whatever happened to the housekeeper's soul when the mother stole her body? What happened with the world's supply of luck that good djinn and bad djinn were supposed to be fighting over (which was the premise of the series)? What I'm saying is that while the author droned on and on about useless facts in his series, he forgot about major arcs that he set up in previous books; it's apparent that these novels are less about the story and more about trivia.

This final installment was another waste. There's a new villain who only shows himself in the last 50 or so pages and wants to cause all of the world's volcanos to explode because he loves Genghis Khan and chocolate. You heard me right. That's his motive.

2 Djinn, 1 Quaesitor
There's a scene when John is interrogating someone and uses a special djinn binding called a "quaesitor" which makes the person spit up anything they think is vile until they reveal the information the djinn is looking for. John has spit up vegetables in the past, which I think proves how much the author panders to children because "kids hate veggies, amirite?". On a side note to that, a 14 year old who grew up in high society in New York John should honestly have a better palate, jussayin'. Back to my original point, in this novel a person spits up a piece of camel dung. Yes, you read that right: a character hacks up a piece of camel shit in a childrens book. Just let that digest for a moment.


John seems to be Sterling Archer sometimes because he is mostly dumb as a brick and hates learning, but seems to just have a deep understanding of really random things throughout the books.

Philippa, who has red hair and glasses, almost had a romance with Dybbuk in a few books, but now is crushing on a married man and thinks there might be something between them. He is married. She is 14.


The end is so stupid by having the children hold hands and make it rain all over the world to stop the volcanos from erupting.

The children then "sacrifice" their powers and are happy about it:
"You know what I'm looking forward to most?... Living a normal life... Not being special. Not being important. Just being ordinary." -pp.432
I'm sorry, but that is an awful message for kids. Be happy to not be exceptional? Are you kidding me?! Without people trying hard and harnessing their individual talents, our world will have no one innovating in any field. Medicine and technology would stagnate and our society would never move forward. We would neither better ourselves nor solve our current problems. There's a much better message for kids out there, that contradicts Kerr's:


[drops mic]disappointing genie series7 s Mattie D7

What a dissappointing end to a usually great book series. It starts with the problem of volcanoes needing to be exterminated. That's all fine and dandy until we have to go across the world and then BACK when they realize that the problem is right where their vacation was. In other words; utterly pointless adventure. Then, they easily destroy the villian and the twins give up their powers. What the heck?! I waited years for the last book, just to find out they lost the powers??!! It was not a good ending for me.

Plus, Mr. Kerr added no closure to some characters what so ever. What happened to Dybbuk, Faustina, Layla??This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.Show full review3 s Lucy1 review1 follower

This final installment of my favourite series is a teensy bit disappointing. While I understand that all good things must come to an end, I, so many others, want to cling onto the characters I love until the bitter end, so I was sad. I must admit, I actually cried. And even though there's very little closure (an epilogue would have been nice, Mr. Kerr!) I think, by going back and reading the series over again (I hadn't read any of the books for at least a couple years by the time I got my hands on this one,) I've finally figured out what happened to Buck! BUCK/DYBBUK GOT FRIED BY ALL THE VOLCANO STUFFS THAT WERE ERUPTING IN PERU IN THE FIFTH BOOK, PEOPLE! WE'RE SUPPOSED TO THINK HIM DEAD! Depressing, I know, but that's just my belief. If you think about it, it makes sense. So, all in all, this wasn't my favourite book of the series, but still pretty good!
(oh, and psst! hey, if you're me and don't want to give up the characters, that's what fanfictions are for! There are lots of good ones for this series! That makes me happy...)2 s Nadine190 4

4,5 Sterne
Es war toll mit diesem Buch wieder im die Welt der Kinder des Dschinn einzutauchen die ich ansonsten vor ca. 5 Jahren gelesen habe :D2 s Heather54

The last book! Honestly, I was near tears when John and Phiippa lost their powers. I almost screamed when Nimrod told John he was running short on powers himself. This was an amazing finishing book to one heck of an amazing book series. As many readers of this series probably say I wish it could have continued, but I understand why it couldn't.

Also while reading through the Author's Note I was surprised, and yet somehow I knew it from the begging, that the character Charlie who gave up his life for Philippa is also the name of one of her children.

As an aspiring author myself I took what was said in the author's note to heart. I've always been willing to work for it and now I know that is how all writers start out, not just me. This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.Show full reviewchildren-of-the-lamp1 Fabian Sauceda10 1 follower

The book “The Grave Robbers of Genghis Khan” by Philip Kerr talks a lot about the end of the world, and the only way to save it is for John and Philippa to give up their djinn power or magic.They come across a lot of challenges when trying to figure out where Genghis Khan’s grave is so they know how to save the world. This book has a lot of action will probably give you enough detail on an object in the book that you will be able to form a visual of the sentence that you just read. To find out what John and Philippa do read the book and I hope you enjoy it.1 Shane54 5

Not a bad book, but certainly not a great ending to this fantastic series. Firstly, Kerr got a little too wrapped up in the science around the story and in making sure we all know just how smart Philippa and her brother are. It really slowed the story down. The storyline its self, espceially the side track after Groanin leaves Nimrod's service are spectacular. Not a bad book, just weighed down by the science and a clunky ending. 1 Cat Chiappa226 6



I have enjoyed this series over the past seven years but this last book was a disappointing finish. I enjoyed the book right up until the last 50 pages but I felt the rest was tied up rather hastily and was a letdown for what was a rather enjoyable series.1 Amy reader9

that is soo stupid how they ended it!! I mean I fell in love with the characters and plot dont get me wrong the series is great but what happened you know! I mean,what also happened to the whole Dybbuk and Phillipa thing!! The ending terrible, the memories AMAZING!!
1 Rochelle41

I didn't this one as well as I have d some of the others. I'm not sure I loved how it ended, especially as it is the end of the entire series.1 Rachel943 4

This wasn't enthralling at all. I never got excited about it and had no problem leaving it for two days to read The Economist. A real disappointment as a series ending!fantasy-sci-fi1 Alice736 22

A bit preachy at the end.fiction read-to-campbell1 Robin835 7

P.B. Kerr, also known to readers of his adult fiction as Philip Kerr, wraps up his seven-book "Children of the Lamp" series with this book, in which 14-year-old twin djinn Philippa and John Gaunt face the possibility that they must make the ultimate sacrifice to save the world. Someone has found, and worse still, plundered the tomb of 13th-century Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan, and used something buried with him to start a worldwide plague of volcanic eruptions that could spell doom for life as we know it. To find him and stop him, they must solve the 800-year-old mystery of where the tyrant was buried, an adventure spanning several continents, reviving the all-but-lost art of using flying carpets, and costing the life of more than one beloved friend. And it all seems to lead to the fulfillment of a grim prophecy about twin djinn.

Meantime, the twins' Uncle Nimrod's aptly-named butler Groanin gives his notice, only to have a series of misadventures that teach him the lesson, "You don't know what you have till it's gone." Between the twins and their hapless human friend, the characters in this book experience a timeless Moroccan bazaar, a walkabout in the Australian outback, a kidnap by ice-cream-truck-driving gangsters in Italy, a stay with a gang of glamorous Romanian teens, a cruise with Somali pirates, a road trip with fanatical Yemeni hoodlums, and a way-too-close encounter with a gigantic creepy-crawly in the streets of Kandahar, Afghanistan. Most of the experiences on that list fall to poor, homebody Groanin, but the twins have their share of thrills and chills too, such as when their attempt to possess a herd of wild camels leads to a brush with a terrifying spirit, and when the lightning bug of your nightmares stalks them in the mist on a Mongolian steppe.

I think it's a pity Kerr decided to end the twins' adventures here. Un him, I didn't see the inevitability of their exit from the world of djinn power, and I think the series could be plausibly revived. After all, there are still 19 letters of the alphabet from which he can cull the initials of the titles of their further adventures. And with each adventure touching on pages of history and patches of the globe that aren't often covered in teen fiction, there is also plenty of potential for more culturally enriching, educational fun, with emphasis on the fun. This series is full of beauty spots that readers of different skill levels can appreciate, such as the hilarious sentence (from The Five Fakirs of Faizabad) "John could see Dracula's point," and the late Mr. Rakshasas' wise aphorism, "The future is certain. It's the past you can't predict." If this really is the end for the Gaunts, it will be interesting to see what new marvel Kerr invents next. Hayley215 15

The short: The final installment of the Children of the Lamp series. A good solid, “MEH.”

The long:

It started off as a good series, truly. I remember reading The Akhenaten Adventure multiple times when I was younger, loving this particular interpretation of djinn (my first introduction to the concept beyond “Genie” from Disney’s Aladdin), learning about magic and Egypt, and wishing I too could be half-djinn. But maybe being on the bestsellers’ list got to Kerr’s head or maybe the editors slacked off a little (heaven forbid), because the rest of the series just isn’t that great. I don’t want to blame getting older, either, because I lost interest by around the fifth book, when I realized the only reason I asked for it for Christmas was because it bothered me that I owned the first four, but not the rest – and then it took me a few months to finally get around to reading it. I essentially gave up the series, and the reason I’m returning to it now is similarly because it bothers me that I never finished it. It takes quite a lot for me to designate a book or series as “DNF,” usually only due to sheer tedium (looking at you, Tom Clancy) or something I find offensive or otherwise upsetting. It rarely happens, and currently in my mission to put a slight dent in my neverending “To Read” list, I’m going back through all such series to finish them off once and for all! *cue confetti*

Back to The Grave Robbers of Genghis Khan. I will grant one concession to it being boring now that I’m older, because it also means I’m more widely read. It’s hard not to compare this book and its predecessors to Percy Jackson or the Bartimaeus series. Those books made you really care about the characters, care in the sense that you were happy when they were successful and cried when they failed (or died, as the case may be). Those characters also developed – or to put a less literary spin on it, they changed as time went on. Weaknesses became strengths, strengths revealed flaws, flaws were embraced, and the reader was carried along that bumpy, exhilarating ride. John and Phillipa rarely roused my emotions, especially since they were often horrible to each other (in that bland, one-liner, Teen Nick kind of way). My favorite character was Nimrod, and only because he could do – and did do – everything in an awesome way, and it’s kinda hard to dis someone that.

In the sixth book, The Five Fakirs of Faizabad , I noticed the bizarre insertions of political opinion, obstinately put there by the narrator/author (the books are in third-person omniscient), and since these are firmly aimed at middle school children, it seems a bit odd for Kerr to be putting in these kind of “facts,” which are largely subjective, if not utterly ethnocentric. To be sure, he makes fun of the British quite often (as he himself is), but that doesn’t really excuse making sweeping generalizations about other cultures, even if it is a mostly positive way (or from a “racist” character Groanin – “No, he said that because he’s xenophobic, hahaha, you’re not supposed to listen to him!”). I don’t know how else to describe it, but it was off-putting, and luckily, there wasn’t too much of that in the seventh book.

John and Phillipa both have all the personality of a Wiki page describing them in outline form, and not much else. Phillipa: book smart, sarcastic, loves animals. John: book dumb, a bit of a pushover, creative. And we’re told those traits multiple times, not shown in what they say or how they act. It’s the epitome of why it’s so important to show, not tell. And Kerr loves to tell. Again, I feel I have to compare him to Rick Riordan, whose novels are also full of interesting facts told both in descriptions and expository dialogue, but Kerr sticks such information in long paragraphs and monologues that would sound perfectly boring in actual speech. It’s not that much of an issue, since info dumps are always difficult to pull off, but the execution in this book still wasn’t the greatest. It doesn’t help that Kerr is fiercely British, and despite John and Phillipa’s purported American cluelessness about that culture, they talk in a very English way, even using vocal mannerisms that no New York teen would ever use. Perhaps Kerr was trying to avoid Harry Potter allusions or appeal to the US market, but since practically everyone else is English or European, it might’ve been simpler to stick the whole series in England.



The ending wasn’t great. Not only did I see it coming from a mile away (rare for me, tbh), but again, because I really didn’t care about the twins, I didn’t care about them sacrificing their powers to save the world. On one hand, huzzah, they’re decent people who did the right thing because the alternative was world-ending destruction! But on the other, no fourteen-year-old (or forty-year-old, even) would give up reality-altering superpowers and not care at all. Phillipa, at least, had a couple books’ worth of foreshadowing about her doubting her abilities, but John reveled in them, torturing a man with them mere days earlier in one very awkward scene. So for them to go happily back to their normal lives may have been Kerr trying to send some sort of important message about normalcy being just as cool as magical or something? Or that working for your wishes is better than instantly granting them? That one’s not so bad, but it was rather hammered home throughout the entire series, so to have it end up as a sort of punishment kinda misses the point.

Charlie and Axel’s deaths were sad only because they died quite awfully (and Charlie’s was certainly preventable), but I didn’t feel upset about them (nor did any of the other characters, really). The whole subplot with Groanin kept the action going between the dull carpet rides, but it ultimately petered out to nothing, so it was kind of a waste of time. And Alexandra was a really weird diversion, her portrayal vaguely offensive, and with the whole Cassandra truth thing, her presence largely pointless.



There’s no return of any previous secondary characters, and the villain isn’t exactly that villainous. Any dangling plot lines aren’t tied up, and no trailing mysteries are solved. If I had read them all recently (or at least, remembered them better), I probably would’ve been much more disappointed about that, but quite frankly, I just wanted to find out what happened at the end and finish this series for good.

Despite all the criticisms above, I know it’s really hard to write one book, let alone seven, and forget about it being popular enough to have any sort of demand. Kerr may have ended up dropping the ball with this series, but it did start off very strong and the entire concept was incredibly unique. The development of the djinn culture and how their powers work was solid, and research was definitely done in regards to ancient history and mythology. I’m glad I finished it, and I think I would recommend it as middle school reading, though preferably in a school or parental setting, where the more iffy bits can be explained properly. Lots of morals about wishing for – and getting – whatever you want, and why that can end up being a good or bad thing.series Kate88

we finally reached the final book of the series and i'm glad i won't ever read it again. i was hoping we wouldn't hear about Groanin but alas! brace yourself
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