The Golem's Eye (The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book 2) - Softcover

Stroud, Jonathan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0786836547 ISBN 13: 9780786836543

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2006

Synopsis

The second adventure in the Bartimaeus trilogy finds Nathaniel working his way up the ranks of the government, when crisis hits. A seemingly invulnerable clay golem is making random attacks on London. Nathaniel and Bartimaeus must travel to Prague to discover the source of the golem's power.

About this title

Review:

Due to the success of his first campaign involving the Amulet of Samarkand, Nathaniel, now fourteen, has been appointed the youngest representative ever to the Office of Internal Affairs, and has been devising traps to capture members of the Resistance--a secretive group of commoners who are determined to undermine the ruling class of magicians. When a magic-sapping Golem’s surprise first attack is labeled an act of Resistance terrorism, Nathaniel reluctantly summons Bartimaeus for help. Meanwhile, a zealous young member of the Resistance, Kitty Jones, is planning to rob the sacred tomb of the great magician Gladstone, and turn the power of his buried magical instruments against the spell makers. The towering clay Golem and its shadowy master unites the destinies of Nathaniel, Bartimaeus, and Kitty together in one fateful night--unfortunately, that night is much too slow in coming. Stroud’s second book is far too long and gloomy, focusing more on the priggish Nathaniel and wronged Kitty than the dijinni readers have come to adore. Fans of Jonathan Stroud’s breakout hit, The Amulet of Samarkand, may be a little disappointed to discover that Bartimaeus features so little his second book. While Stroud cleverly uses the class war between the ruling magicians and the disgruntled commoners as a metaphor for current political and social clashes, the text suffers overall from a lack of the dijinni’s famous facetious footnotes. Avid fans are left skimming the slow parts and hoping that when Bartimaeus escapes his servile bonds he will be given more space to make them laugh. --Jennifer Hubert

About the Author:

Jonathan Stroud (www.jonathanstroud.com) is the author of two previous books in the Lockwood & Co. series as well as the New York Times best-selling Bartimaeus books, and the stand-alone titles Heroes of the Valley, The Leap, The Last Siege, and Buried Fire. He lives in England with his wife and two children.

About this edition

• Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0786836547
• ISBN 13: 9780786836543
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 592