The Golem's Eye
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 First edition cover |
|
| Author | Jonathan Stroud |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Bartimaeus Trilogy |
| Genre(s) | Children's, Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | Mirage |
| Released | 2004 |
| Media type | Print (paperback & hardback) |
| Pages | 562 pp (first edition, hardcover) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-552-55273-9 |
| Preceded by | The Amulet of Samarkand |
| Followed by | Ptolemy's Gate |
The Golem's Eye is the second book in the Bartimaeus Trilogy written by Jonathan Stroud.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
Like the rest of the Bartimaeus Trilogy, The Golem's Eye is set in somewhat modern-day London in an alternate history in which magic is commonplace and magicians are an accepted part of society. In fact most magicians are in power and make up the government with commoners treated as inferior. The main character is Nathaniel, a magician who works for the government in the ministry of internal affairs. His (unwilling) sidekick is the wisecracking spirit Bartimaeus. Together they embark on a quest to discover the secret behind the commoners' resistance and the mysterious beast that is stalking London.
[edit] Plot summary
The book begins two years after the events of The Amulet of Samarkand with Nathaniel, apprenticed to the Minister of Security,(Jessica Whitwell) and working as an understudy to the Minister of Internal Affairs, Julius Tallow. At the exceedingly young age of fourteen he is now a government official and a competent magician, but he no longer uses his original servant, Bartimaeus. When the book starts, he is working on a case involving a shadowy group of rebelling commoners, known as the Resistance. Nathaniel knows only a few facts about the group including three of their members' names: Kitty, Fred, and Stanley. He tries to search for these three but to no avail. He disguises several minor spirits as commoners and sends them out to find the Resistance, but they too find no trace of the elusive group.
Kitty Jones is on a mission for the Resistance during a performance of The Swans Of Araby, in a posh London theatre. Kitty is having doubts about the point of her working for the Resistance and she begins to remember her past, and why she joined the Resistance. She remembers back to her childhood, where she lived, somewhat poorly, next door to a Czech family who owned a factory that printed books for the magicians. Kitty often played cricket with her friend Jackob Hyrnek, son of the family that lived next door. One day, she accidentally hit a ball through the window of a magician's car as it passed. The magician came out ordered his demon to perform the black tumbler on Kitty and Jakob.
Kitty is then woken up from her dream-like reverie by Fred and Stanley (Resistance members), who chastise her for sleeping on the job, as the intermission of the play has started. They leave the theatre and go to the near-by carpet shop that sells posh carpets for magicians. They break in, steal some documents and magical items and set fire to the shop. Kitty is worried about being caught but Fred and Stanley don't care. They return to the theatre just in time.
Afterwards, several major shops in London are broken into; everyone sent to investigate or on duty there is killed. Nathaniel is investigating the incident of the previous chapter. It turns out that six policemen and eight spirits were also killed by the creature. Most of the government suspects the Resistance of being behind the attack but Nathaniel thinks otherwise.
Nathaniel and his master, Ms. Whitwell, are called to meet with the prime minister. He orders Nathaniel to find the Resistance and put a stop to their activities. Nathaniel returns home and finally decides to summon Bartimaeus again after many unsuccessful attempts at summoning others. He instructs Bartimaeus to find the unknown attacker, identify it, and destroy it if he can.
Later, we return to Kitty and her memories, continuing from where they left off earlier. Kitty and Jakob had both been sent to the hospital, and Jakob was badly burnt. Kitty escaped mostly unharmed -- although she didn't know it at the time, this is due to her innate resistance to magic. Kitty attempts to sue the magician but soon finds the justice system tilted in favor of magicians and the magician gets away without charge, claiming Kitty and Jakob were trying to rob him. Kitty is fined £100 for compensation to the magician for the damage to his car, and she also has to pay the magician's penalty (£500) for coming late, as per tradition which dictates that fines awarded to winners are passed on to losers of the cases. She thus has to pay £600. As Kitty distraughtly leaves the court, a man gives her an envelope with enough money to pay off the fee as well as a note asking Kitty to meet up with him later.
[edit] Literary significance & criticism
While the book was well-received, some critics deemed that Bartimaeus's role was diminished too much in the book. Nathaniel also seems "meaner", which may cause fans to sympathise less with him. However, many did not see this as a problem, and despite this most critics gave it positive reviews.
[edit] Trivia
In one part of the book it talks of a hermit who lived in the Jordanian desert and ate honey and tubers. This is supposedly John the baptist.
| Bartimaeus Trilogy | |
|---|---|
| Books | The Amulet of Samarkand | The Golem's Eye | Ptolemy's Gate |
| Main characters | Nathaniel | Bartimaeus | Kitty Jones |
| Other topics | Magic in the Bartimaeus trilogy | Characters of the Bartimaeus trilogy |
