The Golem's Eye ~ Jonathan Stroud
Book #27: 05 September, 2008 to 05 October, 2008
The Golem's Eye ~ Jonathan Stroud
This is the second book in the Bartimaeus trilogy. I've read it a few times now and still enjoy it.
It is set two years after The Amulet of Samarkand and continues the story from there. Nathaniel and Bartimaeus are both back and their characters are the same as previously, faults and all. Bartimaeus is still arrogant and irritating; Nathaniel is now nearly 14 and has gained some arrogance due to being the flavour of the month at Parliament. I did find that his character was not quite what I would expect from a 14 year old, a lot of it seemed to be the behaviour of someone much younger. As before, the story is split between both of them and while Bartimaeus is done in the first person, Nathaniel is in the third person. There's now a third person sharing the narration, Kitty who is also done in the third person. I did find this a little confusing to start with and also a bit annoying as the story jumps between two different plots.
There are two different threads running throughout the book: one concerning Kitty and the Resistance, the other about Nathaniel and his search to find the origins of the Golem which is destroying London. Partway through, this seems to get lost and Nathaniel instead is taken up with finding Kitty and the Resistance. The Golem is forgotten until right at the very end where it shows up for no real reason. It's hard to say why the Golem storyline is even included, it seems to go nowhere and there's no real need for it. Even as a diversionary tactic from the Kitty/Resistance storyline, it's not a very good one. It just seems very confusing.
Apart from that, it is a very good read and I enjoyed it a lot. Now that I've read the first two books, I can go onto the last one and complete the story!
The Golem's Eye ~ Jonathan Stroud
This is the second book in the Bartimaeus trilogy. I've read it a few times now and still enjoy it.
It is set two years after The Amulet of Samarkand and continues the story from there. Nathaniel and Bartimaeus are both back and their characters are the same as previously, faults and all. Bartimaeus is still arrogant and irritating; Nathaniel is now nearly 14 and has gained some arrogance due to being the flavour of the month at Parliament. I did find that his character was not quite what I would expect from a 14 year old, a lot of it seemed to be the behaviour of someone much younger. As before, the story is split between both of them and while Bartimaeus is done in the first person, Nathaniel is in the third person. There's now a third person sharing the narration, Kitty who is also done in the third person. I did find this a little confusing to start with and also a bit annoying as the story jumps between two different plots.
There are two different threads running throughout the book: one concerning Kitty and the Resistance, the other about Nathaniel and his search to find the origins of the Golem which is destroying London. Partway through, this seems to get lost and Nathaniel instead is taken up with finding Kitty and the Resistance. The Golem is forgotten until right at the very end where it shows up for no real reason. It's hard to say why the Golem storyline is even included, it seems to go nowhere and there's no real need for it. Even as a diversionary tactic from the Kitty/Resistance storyline, it's not a very good one. It just seems very confusing.
Apart from that, it is a very good read and I enjoyed it a lot. Now that I've read the first two books, I can go onto the last one and complete the story!