The good news is that Bartimaeus is back. The bad news is that there's not enough of him. What made the first book in this series a standout was his sarcastic commentary, self-aggrandizing descriptions, witty banter, and delightful footnotes detailing the workings of magic and demons in this alternative world. They're all still here, just less of them.

Meanwhile Nathaniel and Kitty alternatively take center stage in a complex and often exciting, if too loosely edited, adventure involving, among many other things, grave-robbing, a demon living in Gladstone's bones, political intrigue, war, werewolf police, destruction, and a shadowy figure who seems to be playing all sides like puppets. Nathaniel, one of the least likeable main characters in children's literature, continues to fascinate and frustrate the reader with his growing power -- and obtuseness. The stage is clearly set for a grand finale in Book 3, presumably including Nathaniel's reclamation. Let's just hope Bartimaeus has a much bigger role to play in it.

From the Book:
I was floating high above the Strahov monastery, just inside the magnificent city walls I'd built three hundred years before. My leather wings moved in strong, slow beats, my eyes scanned the seven planes to the horizon. It did not make for happy viewing. The mass of the British army was cloaked behind Concealments, but its ripples of power lapped already at the base of Castle Hill. The auras of a vast contingent of spirits were dimly visible in the gloom; with every minute further brief trembles on the planes signaled the arrival of new battalions. Groups of human soldiers moved purposefully over the dark ground. In their midst stood a cluster of great white tents, domed like rocs' eggs, about which Shields and other spells hung cobweb-thick.

Doubtless, this was where the British magicians were skulking, at a safe distance from the action. My Czech masters were just the same. In war, magicians always like to reserve the most dangerous jobs for themselves, such as fearlessly guarding large quantities of food and drink a few miles behind the lines.