Reviewed by K. Osborn Sullivan for TeensReadToo.com

He's rude. He's surly. He won't hesitate to tell you when your haircut looks stupid. And in over 5000 years, he's seen some bad haircuts. I'm talking about my favorite djinni, Bartimaeus, back in book two of his young adult fantasy trilogy.

THE GOLEM'S EYE is an excellent sequel to the first book in the series, THE AMULET OF SAMARKAND. In the first book, we meet Bartimaeus, an ancient creature of enormous power that can best be described as a type of demon. Unfortunately, he and all of his kind hate the word demon. He classifies himself as a djinni, so we'll just go with that for the purposes of this review. Why annoy anyone who can shoot magical firebolts at you, right? Anyway, Bartimaeus, and other creatures like him, are summoned by human magicians to do their bidding. Needless to say, this forced servitude, or slavery, is not popular with the servants, so they do their best to turn the tables on their human masters whenever possible.

Enter Nathaniel, a boy who is in training to become a powerful magician. In book one of the series, he summons Bartimaeus from the netherworld and an involuntary partnership begins. In THE GOLEM'S EYE, young Nathaniel again finds himself in need of the djinni's aid, so he again turns to reluctant Bartimaeus. This time, a revolutionary group is blowing things up in London, which may or may not be related to a series of unusual occurrences that have the police stumped. Nathaniel feels that his career would take off if he can solve these crimes. But the stakes are high because he knows that his career, and possibly his life, are in jeopardy if he fails.

A key part of THE GOLEM'S EYE storyline centers on the activities of a London resistance group that is fighting to overthrow the magicians' government. Nathaniel's inability to track down these criminals is part of the reason he needs Bartimaeus's help. Of course, the djinni has little interest in helping magicians maintain their dominance. After all, they're the ones who continually force him and his kind into servitude. This conflict of interest makes for some entertaining scenes and conversations.

If you have not read THE AMULET OF SAMARKAND, I strongly recommend you pick that one up before diving into THE GOLEM'S EYE. Technically, you don't have to read the first one, but there is an awful lot of background you will miss if you don't. Plus, it's really fun.

Normally I find myself disappointed in sequels. Somehow they never seem to live up the expectations established by the original. But in this case, I was pleasantly surprised. This book is full of excitement, political intrigue, and humor. Bartimaeus is back with all of his cheeky comments, and there are plenty of thrills to go around. Overall, a great book. ( )

The second installment of The Bartimaeus Trilogy continues to take our current world and mythos and use it to create a story that feels so real and yet is so apparently not. The best part about this series is not the story itself but the characters. Nathaniel has quickly shot to the top of the magical world at a very young age and it's going to his head. The novel shows how much he's changed with just brief glimpses of the man he used to be, sadly the only person who can bring out that out is the only 'demon' to know him from before. Bartimaeus continues to shine with both his snark and the author's ability to give him a good mixture of disdain for humanity and the mundane, but also showing the character does actually wish to see good. But the true stand out character and stand out feature of this novel is Kitty. Her story is heartbreaking and in many ways she is becoming the true hero of the series. ( )

Another awesome book by Stroud. Bartimaeus is as sassy and lovable as ever, and John Mandrake (Nathaniel) becomes increasingly more shallow and arrogant. But who is controlling the golem that is demolishing London? I am assured you will love every moment of this book as I did. ( )

Only read the first 100 pages, and had to put it down. Just too slow to start. Will try again later. ( )

The sequel to 'The amulat of Samukand', Nathanial has moved through the rnks of the government, and is now one of its chief ministers. But when a mysteroius force starts moving through London, destroying everything in its path. Nathanial is given the impossible task of stopping this destruction. With his job, and his very life on the line, will Nathanial succeed? ( )

Richie's Picks: THE GOLEM'S EYE: The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book Two by Jonathan Stroud, Hyperion/Miramax, September 2004, ISBN: 0-7868-1860-3

"Picture the scene. London in the rain. Gray sheets of water tumbled from the sky, breaking upon the pavements with a roar louder than cannon fire. A strong wind buffeted the rain this way and that, blowing it under porches and eaves, cornices and capstones, drowning each possible refuge with a freezing spray. There was water everywhere, bouncing off the tarmac, swilling along the gutters, congregating in basement corners and above the drains. It overflowed the city's cisterns. It cascaded horizontally through pipes, diagonally across roof-slates, vertically down walls, staining the brickwork like sweeping washes of blood. It dripped between joists and through cracks in ceilings. It hung in the air in the form of a chill white mist, and above, invisibly, in the black reaches of the sky. It seeped into the fabric of buildings and the bones of their cowering inhabitants.
"In dark places underground, rats huddled in their lairs, listening to the echoes of the drumming overhead. In humble houses, ordinary men and women closed the shutters, turned lights full on and clustered about their hearth-fires with steaming cups of tea. Even in their lonely villas, the magicians fled the endless rain. They skulked to their workrooms, bolted fast the iron doors and, conjuring clouds of warming incense, lost themselves in dreams of distant lands.
"Rats, commoners, magicians: all safely undercover. And who could blame them? The streets were deserted, all London was shut down. It was close to midnight and the storm was getting worse.
"No one in their right mind would be out on a night like this."

But, of course, everyone's favorite wise-ass, shape-shifting djinni is stuck out in the rain. Nathaniel, who is now a few years older, much more arrogant, and now calling himself John Mandrake, has dragged Bartimaeus back to work in London.

It took me quite a while to finally get to work reading THE GOLEM'S EYE.

Bulldozing my way through mountains of books in preparation for the just-concluded Best Books for Young Adults committee meetings in Boston this week, I repeatedly shunted aside this 550+ paged middle volume in Johnathan Stroud's Bartimaeus trilogy. This, despite the fact that the first book (THE AMULET OF SAMARKAND) was my favorite fantasy of 2003. But being responsible for thoroughly reading as many BBYA nominations as possible--and there were 214 nominations this time around--I focused on building up my "Books Read" total and saved Bartimaeus for the final week before the meetings.

It turns out that I saved one of the best for last.

Danger, action, mystery, evil, and humor, (and occasionally a lot of rain) make THE GOLEM'S EYE a fantastic fantasy. But the eloquent vocabulary, vivid and melodic descriptions, significant themes, and Orwellian overtones make this a profound piece of Young Adult literature.

With the publication of THE GOLEM'S EYE, Jonathan Stroud demonstrates emphatically that his name deserves to be spoken in the same breath as J. K. Rowling and Philip Pullman. And in the same way that I don't take anything away from the life-altering experience of first reading the advance copy of the HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE by contending that HP3 was a better written book than HP1, I take nothing away from the genius of AMULET OF SAMARKAND by noting that Mr. Stroud has thoroughly surpassed his previous effort in writing his second book of the trilogy.

THE GOLEM'S EYE features Kitty Jones, a young commoner who made a brief but memorable appearance in AMULET. Stroud reveals the story of Kitty's recruitment into the Resistance after she and her childhood friend Jakob are thoroughly (and nearly fatally) wronged by a prominent magician in the government. It is the damaged, self-absorbed, and full of himself teenaged Nathaniel who is assigned the task of playing cat-and-mouse with the Resistance when a massive mud man cloaked in a black cloud begins wreaking massive death and destruction amidst several of London's prime tourist destinations.

The political commentary in which Stroud's story is immersed makes this book worthy of in-depth study by high school students, just as the thrilling story on its face will totally suck in younger readers.

One of the most memorable aspects of THE GOLEM'S EYE involve the scenes in which the enslaved Bartimaeus meets and gets to know Kitty, the oppressed commoner. Kitty is changed as a result of their philosophical conversations. (The question is how will Kitty influence Bartimaeus in the third book of the trilogy.) The astute reader will leave the book questioning the use of violence, the means to an end, and how power corrupts.

I almost envy those of you who haven't yet read THE AMULET OF SAMARKAND and have the opportunity to thoroughly immerse yourselves in the first two volumes of Jonathan Stroud's alternative London.

Richie Partington
http://richiespicks.com
BudNotBuddy@aol.com ( )

The Golems Eye is one of my favorite books. It is the second book in the Bartimaeus Trilogy but you can read it without the others and enjoy it the same. The setting is Modern London with a twist. Magicians rule. Beautifully written it starts out slow and gradually becomes the most compelling tale. Twists and turns throw you off and make you think but it is a pretty easy read. Ten out of Ten I’d say. Andrew

The second in the Bartimaeus Trilogy, Nathaniel is a bit older, quite a bit more arrogant, and working for the government in London, trying to put down the Resistance, and trying to resist calling up Bartimaeus to his aid. Meanwhile, Kitty and her Resistance fighters are planning their most daring raid yet, and London is under attack from an unknown quarter.

Faster-paced than the first, and with a broader view, since we get Kitty's story in addition to Nathaniel's, this is a better read than the first. Parts read like a perfectly-paced, spine-tingling ghost story, and much of it's quite funny. It's still hard to like Nathaniel, but that's starting to seem like the whole point. I'm curious enough to read on through to the end of this series, despite its flaws. ( )

I like this because it is exciting and has a lot of suspension in it making me want to finish reading it. ( )

I like this book even more than the first, though it's a bit marred by all the memory scenes of Kitty. ( )

I enjoyed this one more than the first in the series -- still plenty of action and high-stakes adventure, but the addition of a third, unique and fascinating perspective to the story in the form of Kitty definitely heightened my interest. Nathaniel is quite the arrogant brat in this one and very nearly unlikeable at times, but I cling to the scraps of conscience he still retains and hope for reform in Book 3. (Oh, all right, I'm also shipping Kitty/Nathaniel but that has nothing to do with it. Really. It doesn't. Shut up.)Book 3 just came in to the library! I must hasten to get it. ( )

I read this, the second in the Bartimaeus trilogy first and so far it is my favourite. ( )

Nathaniel is back after the first in the series, The Amulet of Samarkand. He has been promoted to being part of the ministry of internal affairs and has been put in charge of capturing and destroying the Resistance. He has n't been doing so well in his assignment, especially when a mysterious entity turns up and destroys much of Piccadilly and the British Museum. Nathaniel turns to his final ally, djinni Bartimaeus.

Bartimaeus is back as witty and argumentative as usual. The chapters alternate between the two and Kitty who is part of the Resistance (we are introduced to her in the first book briefly). We learn Kitty's back story and why she is fighting the magician's. We also meet others of the Resistance and learn of their plans and motivations. It is interesting that they are not so different from the magicians they are fighting.

After the first one hundred pages, it got much more fun and interesting. Nathaniel is a rubbish character, but Kitty and Bartimaeus are great. Lots of twists and turns along the way, I am definitely looking forward to reading the final installment, but I think I worked out early on in this novel who the master villian is (I am happy to be proved wrong). One final thing I enjoy about this series is that they are not fluffy and filled with happily ever afters. There are always some casulties along the way which makes the fantasy more real somehow. ( )

Not as good as the first book, as it had a definite second-in-the-trilogy feel to it, but I liked Kitty and it was nice to see how Nathaniel changed from the previous book. Can't wait to read the third (except then it'll be over! Darn.)! ( )

My book review:
http://ganimede.dreamwidth.org/10641.... ( )

I seem to be constitutionally incapable of taking a break between volumes of a series. No sooner had I finished Jonathan Stroud's The Amulet of Samarkand than I picked up the second book in the Bartimaeus Trilogy, The Golem's Eye. And to think, my plan was to take a month's break in between (that lasted about eight seconds).

Stroud's characters, including the overly-ambitious Nathaniel/John Mandrake, the wonderfully-irreverent Bartimaeus (whose footnoted asides remain one of the best parts of the book), and erstwhile Resistance figure Kitty Jones continue their adventures, taking on vicious dark magic in the form of a very destructive golem, a demented demon stuck inside the skeleton of a long-dead prime minister, and hordes of werewolf cops. Their powers and capacities for good will be stretched to the limits as they struggle against their enemies known and unknown, and, occasionally, against each other.

A bit more darkly comical than The Amulet of Samarkand, which I enjoyed, but with perhaps a touch too much adolescent angst (there were a couple Harry Potter volumes in the middle of the series where this bothered me too). Nonetheless, it was another fine installment in the series and I look forward to the third (which I'll probably pick up later tonight).

http://philobiblos.blogspot.com/2008/... ( )

This was delightful. Bartimaeus' tone is still as entertaining as it was in the first book. Natathaniel, or rather Mandrake hasn't aged well in two years, he is more magician and less child - the change to adolescent is believable. The addition of Kitty's voice adds a new layer to the story, as we get to see life in this world from a commoner's point of view.
The plot is tangled and interesting, nicely built on the previous story. The conclusion of the major mystery is not as satisfyingly tied up as that of the first book, but this isn't annoying, it just makes me anticipate the third and final volume.
SImon Jones' reading is excellent. ( )

I had gleefully anticipated this next tussle between the inimitable djinni, Bartimaeus, and the young magician Nathaniel, inevitable in the context of the finale of their last encounter; and I wasn’t disappointed, even though the timbre of The Golem’s Eye differed quite significantly from the first book.

To begin with, the reader is given a glimpse into our irascible djinni’s past by describing the fall of Prague to the British many years ago – informative, enlightening and necessary as a basis to this middle portion of the trilogy. The book then continues two years after The Amulet of Samarkand; Nathaniel, with his adult name of John Mandrake, is now fourteen and prospering so well under his new master he works as a part-time assistant to the Internal Affairs Minister, a sub-department of the Security colossus. Such is his success, he is tasked with the pursuit of the Resistance, a group of commoners aimed at opposing, and ultimately overturning, the regime of the Magicians; the activities of the Resistance having increased in the last few years to such a degree, that the powers of the state are intent on destroying them. Blamed for every indiscretion against the rule of law, this motley group had already earned Nathaniel’s ire, and come to Bartimaeus’ notice, in the first book, when the indomitable Kitty and her colleagues stole a magical artefact from Nathaniel and tried to rob the djinni of the amulet. When a fearsome golem is let loose to devastate London, factions in the government, trying to secure a stronger power base, immediately blame the Resistance for these attacks and thus censure Nathaniel, and his superiors, for their lack of success. Desperately needing strength and power to survive, Nathaniel breaks his word and summons Bartimaeus into his service again.

Jonathan Stroud approaches this storyline in a decidedly different manner and writing style to the series' first book; the tone is more serious and a much less tongue-in-cheek attitude prevails. Major slices of the book now focus on Kitty and the other members of the Resistance, detailing their origins, past experiences and the reasoning behind their intense desire to escape the subjugation of their lives. Again, through consummate writing skill, the reader is smoothly juxtaposed and cleverly subjected to all the dissenting viewpoints of the varying individuals – underpinning the rationale behind, at times, the appalling actions of some of the protagonists. But Bartimaeus, and his sublime articulations, footnotes and all, are seriously missing, appearing only sporadically until the last third of the book – thus the change in overall feel. And Nathaniel attains such a level of bombastic pomposity and self-interest that I was surprised at my ultimate distaste and dislike of his evolving character, in direct contrast to Kitty’s.

Despite the differences this second book is still a gem. Due to, and because of, the fewer sarcastic repartees and witticisms offered by our djinni, their effect is outstanding - the commentary and subsequent descriptions, especially in regards to Nathaniel’s appearance and course of actions, are cruelly perceptive, savagely clever and riotously funny. On the whole, though, this book offers a sad and sorry insight into Nathaniel's and Kitty’s worlds, with an underlying pathos to many of the comedic elements, even as it consistently entertains and intrigues. And, just as before, left this reader eager for more!

(Aug 17, 2008) ( )

Excellent ( )

Stroud does a wonderful job with this second installment in his series you'll be taken deeper into the world of the bureaucratic magician and the world of the summoned spirits if you liked a certain other book about a magic using youngster, the name of which I will not mention then I think you should give this a try it delivers all the magic you want with out any of the "look at me I'm famous and that girl I like, likes my friend boo hoo everyone feel sad for me.' feel to it. So uh like I said give it a try. ( )

The sequel to The Amulet of Samarkand. This is part two of three in the Bartimaeus series. It was entertaining, but predictable and not as well written or complicated as the Harry Potter series. I'm finding it interesting that Stroud is teaching ethics in a bit of a back door method (i.e., don't do what this character does). ( )

a great easy read to share with your teen...or just to read instead of another chick flick!! My favorite line: "That IS a footstool." ( )

Jonathan Stroud has done it again! I liked reading this book and got through it fairly quickly. ( )

The 2nd book of the Bartimaeus Trilogy. Nathaniel's lot in life has improved quit a bit since last we and Bartimaeus saw him. His new Master is much more important in the running of the government and has helped him achieve an important post. Once again things are happening, problems are arising and Nat is going to get the blame if he doesn't figure out what's going on soon. So of course he falls back on what he knows and calls Bartimaeus back.

I found this book to be even better than the first one and really enjoyed the story which just flew right along. I consider these books to be on the must read for Fantasy readers. Once again Stroud gives Nat an accurate portrayal of an arrogant teenager who thinks he deserves everything from the world, merely for being who he is. ( )