book review: the last magician // lisa maxwell

The Last Magician

Author: Lisa Maxwell

Series: The Last Magician - Book 1

Genre: Fantasy + Historical Fiction

Synopsis:

Stop the Magician. Steal the book. Save the future.

In modern-day New York, magic is all but extinct. The remaining few who have an affinity for magic—the Mageus—live in the shadows, hiding who they are. Any Mageus who enters Manhattan becomes trapped by the Brink, a dark energy barrier that confines them to the island. Crossing it means losing their power—and often their lives.

Esta is a talented thief, and she’s been raised to steal magical artifacts from the sinister Order that created the Brink. With her innate ability to manipulate time, Esta can pilfer from the past, collecting these artifacts before the Order even realizes she’s there. And all of Esta’s training has been for one final job: traveling back to 1902 to steal an ancient book containing the secrets of the Order—and the Brink—before the Magician can destroy it and doom the Mageus to a hopeless future.

But Old New York is a dangerous world ruled by ruthless gangs and secret societies, a world where the very air crackles with magic. Nothing is as it seems, including the Magician himself. And for Esta to save her future, she may have to betray everyone in the past.

Rate: 4.8 / 5 ⭐

❝regret was for people who dragged their past along with them everywhere,❞

Review: 

This was a fast paced fantasy that I absolutely loved. The setting of the book, the characters and the plot were all amazing. I love historical fiction, and this book dappled in the 1900s New York which was pretty brooding and mysterious, also time travelling! I didnt think I enjoyed time travelling stories as much as I did until I saw the list of books I have read and dramas and movies I have watched that deal with the concept of time travel. And I must say I have quite a few, some of which are my favourites too.

This book had a good setting, in terms of the past New York, I didnt expect the setting to be very realistic as the story was mainly fantasy but there were realistic issues dealt with too like the issues with women, travelling and the antics of the characters. The main characters were so well written, I enjoyed reading all of their point of views. I loved the chemistry between Harte and Esta as well (a good slow burn and lots of angst + I loved their banters 😂). One thing I wished there was more of was the relationship between Dolph's gang. Esta travels back in time to stop the magician (Harte) from destroying the Book and helping Dolph's gang along the way. But the relationship between Esta and Dolph's gang isnt explored as much, I thought this should have been important especially because Dolph does eventually trust her with the plans to steal the Book.

One other thing I loved is the time travelling aspect, that every little change in the past could have completely different outcomes in the future. This was apparent as Esta took a newspaper clipping from her time (the future) to the 1900s. Its kind of like the butterfly effect across time. So yeah, I definitely recommend this book if you love heists and time travelling.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧