Jonathon Stroud continues to give us an intriguing world and story in this second book of The Bartimaeus Trilogy. Now Nathaniel is given his magician name of John Mandrake (but Bartimaeus and readers still know him as Nathaniel) and is assigned to a new master, Ms. Whitwell. They are assigned to find out who or what is causing major damage to parts of London. Nathaniel calls on Bartimaeus, his djinni, to find out who the culprit is. Suspected are a group of commons called rebels since they are stealing magic items to use against the magicians.One of these rebels is Kitty, a young lady we met in the first book. Now the chapters are from the vantage point of three different characters. We learn why Kitty hates magicians so much and learn how she became part of a gang that is instructed how to break into Westminster Abbey and pillage the tomb of one of England's magical heroes, Gladstone, for magical items buried with him.
We meet new creatures and follow Nathaniel and Bartimaeus on their quest to solve London's latest mystery. Along the way, we see how a ruling class continues to keep others at bay by using (or abusing) their "powers" and, as history proves, the ruled classes find ways to work their way out of subjugation. I'm on to the third book to see if revolution is in the wind and how Nathaniel, Bartimaeus, and Kitty make out.
My rating for this book: ++++
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