Jonathan Stroud: The Golem's eye

Reviewed by DAVID LARSEN

Saddle up, parents. If you've got a fantasy reader in the family, it's that time again: there's a new must-read book in the shops.

Jonathan Stroud opened his Bartimaeus trilogy last year in fine style, with the thoroughly delightful The Amulet of Samarkand. It introduced us to the corrupt magicians who rule an alternative version of London; to their sardonically witty demon slaves; and to Nathaniel, the orphan boy raised as a magician's apprentice.

Nathaniel at that point seemed destined to become a carbon copy of his arrogant, selfish master. The only thing likely to save him was his association with the demon Bartimaeus, a thoroughly disreputable old rogue whose eye for the main chance didn't stop him hinting that Nathaniel was letting his master teach him all the wrong lessons.

That was then. In The Golem's Eye, things have got worse. Nathaniel has all but lost any ability to see beyond the appalling system he is part of. Bartimaeus, having won his freedom in the last book, is enslaved again, and there's an unstoppable monster trying to level London for reasons unclear. Meanwhile, we have a new central character on stage — Kitty, a teenage rebel trying to bring down the magicians' system of government.

Kitty is very sympathetic, the story moves fast, and Bartimaeus is as entertaining as ever. Nathaniel's increasingly thorough corruption gives the book a tragic edge, and on the whole this is worthy of its predecessor.

Now I have to go. My own pre-teen fantasy fiend is standing behind my chair, giving me the following advice every 31/2 minutes: "Just tell them it's good and give me the book."

* David Larsen is an Auckland reviewer

* Doubleday, $45 (hardback), $29.95 (paperback)