The Golem's Eye (Jonathan Stroud)

The Golem's Eye
(The Bartimaeus trilogy, Book 2)
Jonathan Stroud
Miramax Books
Fiction, YA Fantasy
***** (Great)

DESCRIPTION: The boy magician Nathaniel, now officially John Mandrake, has risen far since his involvement in the theft and retrieval of the powerful Amulet of Samarkand. A favorite of the Prime Minister, his talent and ambition have put him on a fast track to a high-level career as a rising star in the great British Empire... and, naturally, earned him no end of enemies and rivals just waiting for the fourteen-year-old prodigy to slip up.
When a sudden, devastating attack strikes in the very heart of London, suspicion naturally falls on the Resistance, a terrorist group responsible for petty thefts and strikes on magician targets throughout the city. But Mandrake disagrees; the scale of destruction is much too large, the power involved too great for mere commoners to handle. To conduct his investigation - one which may make or break his promising young career - he is forced to turn to an assistant he once vowed never to summon again. A sarcastic, recalcitrant demon that managed to learn his birth name, and thus has a measure of power over the boy... none other than the five-thousand-year-old djinni, Bartimaeus.

REVIEW: This is one of those series that almost makes me want to throw in the towel on my own writing efforts. (Almost...) Stroud continues to build a well-devised alternate world, where a Britain built on slavery (of demons and, in more subtle forms, of non-magical humans) thirsts for global conquest. As part of the establishment, Nathaniel/John works tireless to preserve what he sees as the natural order of things, incapable of understanding the Resistance or the often-rebellious natures of his own bound spirit servants. Bartimaeus, with his trademark wit, watches events unfold with a somewhat fatalistic detatchment, save when he's ordered to involve himself on Mandrake's behalf; he's seen civilizations rise and fall for millenia, and considers such fleeting matters of the material world no real business of his own... an attitude he starts to question through the course of the book. Stroud adds another voice to the cast with Kitty, a commoner girl mentioned briefly in Book 1, who offers a glimpse into the heart of the Resistance and the often-counterproductive efforts of its members. Their stories meet in a tale of oppression, intrigue, and plenty of action, all enlivened by sharp writing and clever humor. I can't wait to start the third volume, which beckons from my reading pile even as I type.