The Golem's Eye

Mirka.schmid

Two things stood out in this book: the characters development and the world building. The world building actually impressed me the most. We learned about the war with Prague, the political status in other cities of Europe, the campaign against America, the judicial system of London, some of the history of the British Empire, the Resistance.e.c.t and all that without any dense, info-dumping! I was impressed! As character development goes Kitty took the cake. She also turned into one of the main characters in this book. I admired the skill with which Stroud introduced Kitty and her backstory seamlessly into the plot. Level-headed, proactive and selfless Kitty is the personification of a just cause. Contrasting with Nathaniel; snobbish, ambitious, alone and desperately trying to find his place in the world Nathaniel is subtly changing, teetering between morality and self-preservation. Self-serving but not amoral Nathaniel is a perfect example of a grey character. It’s easy to dislike him if you only take the events into account, but you can’t help admire the complexity of the character if you consider Nathaniel’s youth, how he was brought up and the complete lack of a mentor with moral standards. All things considered I think Nathaniel is doing as well as it can be expected. I also applaud that though Stroud has made Nathaniel special he managed to keep well away of all the typical snowflake clichés. Bartimaeus is of course, Bartimaeus! Mysterious, sarcastic, hilarious and delightful, Bartimaeus is a source of wisdom, and ironically a moral compass and sort of a father figure for Nathaniel. The plot was interning and unpredictable, I at least didn’t guess the culprit, mostly because it was layered and relied on seemingly separate plotline intertwining effortlessly in the end. I can’t wait to see what happens next in Ptolemy's Gate