2.5 stars. Oh, how I wanted to like this one more than I did. Oh, how I would've like to even finish it! I stopped shortly after chapter 27 (page 304). I had been reading it to my younger son (11), since I read the first book in the trilogy to him. Yet we started this in early July, and we were not making much progress, even after renewing it multiple times from the library. Finally I had to give up. I told my son that he should finish it on his own, and within 36 hours he had done just that. So, that pleases me. 
 The good: 
 * Bartimaeus is still as witty and sarcastic and enjoyable as he was in the first title. 
 * Throwing Kitty into the mix had its ups and downs, but it was overall a good thing. 
 The bad: 
 * Nathaniel is nearly as whiny and annoying as he was in the first title. 
 * The overlong descriptions. This is what ultimately did it in for me, and made reading the book aloud a chore instead of a joy. The author describes everything in long, flowing detail, using far too many adjectives (and I'm a fan) that are needed. I guess it's cool that readers get a pseudo historical-fiction background into the story, but I felt it bogged down the story instead of leaving me thinking "ah, how nifty that I learned this about Prague's potential history." 
 It's entirely possible that I would like the book if I read it silently. I am not motivated to do so, especially since my son gave me a (somewhat confusing) synopsis of the rest of the book. 
 I'll bring home the third title soon, and maybe he'll read that entirely on his own, or maybe I'll try to get it to him. We'll see!