The Golem's Eye (2004)

Oh gosh how did I get so behind on book reviews?!! Anyway, I enjoyed this book although I really began to dislike one of the main characters, Nathaniel. Fortunately this book also introduces Kitty, who I love. Again the story wasnt what I was expecting but still very good, and features an interesting and thought provoking magical world. ( )

Excellent fantasy adventure. Well written, exciting, with good characters including , of course, the incomparable djinn Bartimaus. "Young Adult" in name only, this series has a very cynical, adult outlook (courtesy of Bartimaeus, whose observations of human foibles are frequently hilarious). If I had to knock it, I'd mention that some of the descriptions of setting, etc could have been more concise. Looking forward to volume 3. ( )

A very slow start. But keep plugging through, Bartimaeus will NOT disappoint. It's worth it! My laughter at a certain magician's summoning was the best stomach massage I have received in forever! My poor sister thought I had finally lost my senses... ( )

I enjoyed this book just as much as THE AMULET OF SAMARKAND. It had a desirable pace, intriguing detail and characters, but above all it had Bartimaeus's witty remarks. When starting this book I was a little wary, "how would the sequel compare to the first book?" normally I'm a bit disappointed with sequels but THE GOLEM'S EYE was just as good as THE AMULET OF SAMARKAND and I look forward to reading the third installment.

In the first book Nat has a little insignificant run-in with Kitty, Stanley, and Fred, who steal a certain something that was important to 12-year-old Nathaniel. Well now it's 2 years later and Nat works for Internal Affairs. What does he do there? He's in charge of bringing down the Resistance, a group of commoner's who disrupt the gov by stealing magical items and use them against magicians. What's so special about that? Everyone in the Resistance has Resilience (that is the Magicians magic doesn't have much effect on them)
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To as large extent, [b:The Golem's Eye|59263|The Golem's Eye (Bartimaeus, #2)|Jonathan Stroud|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1441130242s/59263.jpg|57689] continues where [b:The Amulet of Samarkand|334123|The Amulet of Samarkand (Bartimaeus, #1)|Jonathan Stroud|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1528705815s/334123.jpg|1121748] left off. Nathaniel is a rising star, now climbing the ranks of government and Bartimaeus is just as snarky as ever. We get quite a bit more (including POV time) from Kitty and her friends, showing that it's not all fun and games in this particular echo of London.

On one hand, it's interesting that Nathaniel grew up so quickly and is in government now. To go with the inevitable comparisons to Harry Potter the first book raised, it's as if we'd skipped right by books 2-7 and went straight to Harry's training as an Auror. I actually really appreciate that; it's something new. EVen if it does strain credulity somewhat. He's 14 for crying out loud...

Overall, the world building is a solid extension on what we had before, with a look into the variety of djinn and other creatures underpinning the magic of the world, along with a few other ways that things can be done (such as the golem before and a certain animated skeleton towards the end--hints of things to come...).

The characters? Well, Nathaniel is growing up and... I really don't like him. I get that is likely Stroud's intent, but any time you have an unlikeable protagonist, you have to try twice as hard in other aspects to make up for it and we don't quite get there. Bartimaeus is still quite a lot of fun though.

Overall, I don't think I liked it quite as well as Amulet, but I'm still glad I read it. Curious where the third/final book in the trilogy will go from here... ( )