Golem's Eye - All the typical pitfalls of middle books in trilogies, and then some
Written: Jan 25 '06 (Updated Mar 08 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: The writing is even better than in The Amulet of Samarkand
Cons: Main character is even more annoying than in The Amulet of Samarkand
The Bottom Line: This is the middle book in a trilogy, with all the problems traditionally associated with such titles: lack of closure, filler plot items.
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| lyagushka's Full Review: Jonathan Stroud - The Golem's Eye Books |
Jonathan Stroud's The Golem's Eye is the second book in the Bartimaeus Trilogy. While it has many of the same strengths as the first book in the series, The Amulet of Samarkand, it also suffers from the some of the problems typical of "middle books" in trilogies.
I should say that I was glued to The Golem's Eye just as much as I was with Amulet. I stayed up reading it later than I should have, turning just one more page. Stroud's British style of writing has a crispness and dry wit that I really enjoy. Perhaps some of his language will be a little challenging or confusing to young American readers who have no familiarity with the vocabulary or nuances of British English. But even if the odd phrase or exchange is impenetrable to non-British readers, this shouldn't impinge on their ability to understand and enjoy the work as a whole.
As in The Amulet of Samarkand, the demon Bartimaeus is funnier, wiser, and more interesting than Nathaniel, his human magician-master. If anything he's more sarcastic and glib as well. He's still more of a by-standing narrator than a proper protagonist though. The fact that he has little free will when summoned into the human world makes it difficult to appreciate him for his own qualities. But within the narrow range of options available to him as an enslaved djinni, he's also shown to be more ethical than his master in The Golem's Eye. Unfortunately, we never see him in, or hear anything from him about, the Other Place that is his natural homeland.
In Golem's Eye, London and the magical community in particular are threatened by a formidable and elusive magical golem, which can only be under the control of an incredibly powerful magician in possession of artifacts and knowledge long thought lost. Nathaniel becomes a willing pawn in the machinations of the government investigation of this threat. In the meantime, the Resistance grows in strength, knowledge and boldness, taking on a dangerous and foolhardy mission that leads to unintended consequences.
While I found it fairly easy to forgive a younger Nathaniel for his amoral behavior in Amulet, I found it much more of a strain to care about him in The Golem's Eye. He's no longer a pubescent waif being carried along by the magical society around him. He's now a participant - an eager participant - in the oppression of non-magical commoners, a powerful player within a corrupt system, and still putting his own interests first to boot. Although well written, the book frustrated me because I wanted to like Nathaniel. I wanted to see him grow up morally and begin to do the right thing, but he never did. So the Bartimaeus story continues to struggle along without a central protagonist.
Fortunately, Stroud develops a human character who had just a cameo appearance in Amulet into a more sympathetic figure. Kitty becomes important enough in Golem's Eye to very nearly upstage Nathaniel. She's a commoner who decides to take direct action against the unjust, totalitarian magical government. She's young, idealistic and makes lots of mistakes, but I found her much easier to invest in as a reader. But some of the plot lines in the book feel trivial and irrelevant, as if the author needed to pad the work. These diversions don't seem like the sorts of details that could be picked up in the next book to become significant in any way.
The language in Golem's Eye becomes just slightly rough compared to that in Amulet. I would guess that this trilogy will appeal to those in their tweens to mid-teens, so I can't imagine these readers won't have run across references to illegitimate children or female dogs before. Still, some parents may want to shield delicate eyes.
As for moral issues, Stroud presents an interesting alternative explanation for the wickedness traditionally ascribed to demons. In his story, demons are not inherently evil at all. In fact, they are just as sensible of right and wrong as humans are, if not more so. The problem is that demons only inhabit the human world when they are painfully summoned by magicians through a process which enslaves them to the magicians' will. They have no autonomy in our world and are in constant pain while they are here. They are frequently ordered to do things which endanger their own lives or even the lives of other demons they consider friends. If they do not give satisfaction to their masters, they can be severely punished. Moreover, demons live for a long, long time. Many of them have been summoned repeatedly over the millennia by cruel and immoral magicians. So if the demons are antagonistic to humans, and to magicians in particular, it's not hard to see why, at least for the reader. Of course, the magicians, in their arrogance and self-centeredness, choose to believe that demons are lying, malicious, destructive entities that must be strictly controlled and never trusted. Ring any bells?
My biggest gripes about The Golem's Eye are that I felt a strong dislike of the central character and that there's no closure in this book. Despite these problems I'll keep reading and remain optimistic, because I've heard that the final book in the Bartimaeus trilogy, Ptolemy's Gate is the best of the three by far. Here's hoping is lives up to its reputation.
Other titles in the Bartimaeus Trilogy:
• #1 The Amulet of Samarkand
• #3 Ptolemy's Gate
More young adult fiction:
• Eragon
• Eldest
• Fly by Night
• Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix
• Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince
Recommended:
Yes
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