More tightly plotted with some newer, more memorable characters, and top notch humor. Stroud's descriptive touch gets only better, and while magic as a whole is given a bureaucratic, even at times moribund flavor, it is humanity, in the end, that delivers in magical fashion. YA fiction done brilliantly.

This one deserves 4.5 stars. But, seeing as I have to give full stars and not halves, I'm going 5. I really enjoyed this book. I really did. I was honestly a little shocked at times how much I preferred this book to it's predecessor. The first book heavily featured Nathaniel, who I still have roughly no love for. This book features Kitty quite a bit, a rebel who feels (very rightly) that magicians are assholes and are taking advantage of non-magical people. Nathaniel's still a prick, but Kitty and Bartimaeus made this story extremely entertaining for me. I really loved seeing things from Kitty's perspective, as someone who isn't privileged and who values other people. Nathaniel might still be saved in later books if he could just be bothered to care from time to time. I felt the man behind the curtain was a little too easy to spot. In both books so far, the individual stirring up trouble is someone who has it in for Nathaniel. It's a little predictable, honestly. (view spoiler)[And, if I'm right, I think Hopkins is also Makepeace. I also think he engineered the grave robbery. (hide spoiler)] Still, it was a good plotline, even if it was predictable. I think we all get a happy thrill when we see a character we're made to dislike get what's coming to them. (view spoiler)[Tallow's unfortunate demise was particularly satisfying when it happens. Even the djinni are satisfied with the irony of it, which is great. Knowing he's a rotten git just makes it so very satisfying. (hide spoiler)] Honorious was a great character. While I was reading him, all I could think of was the alcoholic skeleton in The Last Unicorn movie. Sanity was clearly not something he hung onto laying in a grave for that long. Still, he was very funny. In terms of human rights, London society in this book is a train wreck. I'm with Kitty on this one - it needs a dramatic overhaul. I look forward to reading the next book.

The Golem's Eye by Jonathan Stroud I read this series of books when I was younger and was instantly hooked! I love the story of Nathaniel and the character of Bartimaeus is genius! I love the way that the chapters skip from Bartimaeus to Nathaniel and I love the added footnotes. I've found in some books, footnotes can be annoying but in this case they were an added joy! I recommend this series of book to people of all ages and I desperately want to read them again.

*will review soon ;):)

This one was better than the first! It's such a fun read. Nathaniel drives me crazy and is a bit annoying, but I still had such a great time reading this second book. I can't wait to finish off the series!

I loved this book better than the first one. I loved how the author created the main characters. While reading the book, I loved and hated all three of them; Kitty, John and Bartimaeus. I really liked Honorius too! He was a really good plot twist in the middle. Overall it was a really good book, more action than in the Amulet of Samarkand.

I enjoyed this book just as much as THE AMULET OF SAMARKAND. It had a desirable pace, intriguing detail and characters, but above all it had Bartimaeus's witty remarks. When starting this book I was a little wary, "how would the sequel compare to the first book?" normally I'm a bit disappointed with sequels but THE GOLEM'S EYE was just as good as THE AMULET OF SAMARKAND and I look forward to reading the third installment. In the first book Nat has a little insignificant run-in with Kitty, Stanley, and Fred, who steal a certain something that was important to 12-year-old Nathaniel. Well now it's 2 years later and Nat works for Internal Affairs. What does he do there? He's in charge of bringing down the Resistance, a group of commoner's who disrupt the gov by stealing magical items and use them against magicians. What's so special about that? Everyone in the Resistance has Resilience (that is the Magicians magic doesn't have much effect on them)