The Golem’s Eye

The Golem’s Eye (2004) Jonathan Stroud

The second book in the Bartimaeus Trilogy starts two years after the end of The Amulet of Samarkand. Nathaniel/John Mandrake has been the apprentice of Jessica Whitwell, and has become a member of the Department of Internal Affairs, and put in charge of learning about and stopping the Resistance.

We also come back to Kitty, who in The Amulet of Samarkand stole Nathaniel’s scrying glass, and attempted to take the The Amulet of Samarkand from Bartimaeus. We discover her position in the Resistance and how she came to join the Resistance in the first place.

And of course there is Bartimaeus. We don’t spend quite as much time with him as we did in the first book, because the story is now split between more characters than Bartimaeus and Nathaniel, but I do enjoy his opinions and ideas and his view of things.

As I finished this book, I realized that The Golem’s Eye was in many ways what I wished the Star Wars prequels had been. You see the path Nathaniel is taking, and keep hoping that he’ll see the light and change, but you also see and understand the forces that are driving him in that direction. You don’t like it, but you see why it’s happening.

Unlike the first book, the second book finishes its story arc; however, it is very obvious that there is going to be another book. Although Nathaniel seems to have made his choice as to the kind of magician and person he is going to be, there is still a hope that he might go in a separate direction.

Which is part of what made this book less enjoyable for me–the fact that I really don’t like Nathaniel–or more rightly John Mandrake–very much. Luckily, Bartimaeus is still amusing and fascinating, and the more we learn about Kitty, the more I come to like her.

if you have read The Amulet of Samarkand, then you will definitely want to read The Golem’s Eye. Now I’m just waiting for the third book.
Rating: 7/10

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