Format: Hardcover, 704 pages
Release Date: October 9, 2018
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Source: NetGalley & Library
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy / Historical
In this spellbinding sequel to the New York Times bestselling The Last Magician, Esta and Harte set off on a cross-country chase through time to steal back the elemental stones they need to save the future of magic.
Hunt the Stones.
Beware the Thief.
Avenge the Past.
Esta’s parents were murdered. Her life was stolen. And everything she knew about magic was a lie. She thought the Book of Mysteries held the key to freeing the Mageus from the Order’s grasp, but the danger within its pages was greater than she ever imagined.
Now the Book’s furious power lives inside Harte. If he can’t control it, it will rip apart the world to get its revenge, and it will use Esta to do it.
To bind the power, Esta and Harte must track down four elemental stones scattered across the continent. But the world outside the city is like nothing they expected. There are Mageus beyond the Brink not willing to live in the shadows—and the Order isn’t alone in its mission to crush them.
In St. Louis, the extravagant World’s Fair hides the first stone, but an old enemy is out for revenge and a new enemy is emerging. And back in New York, Viola and Jianyu must defeat a traitor in a city on the verge of chaos.
As past and future collide, time is running out to rewrite history—even for a time-traveling thief.
Now, the two of them are attempting to find the elemental stones that Harte sent out of Manhattan and the Brink to places all over the country. While running from Jack Grew, Elisa and Harte find themselves in 1904 due to some weird time blip. After learning that Harte's contact is now in St. Louis, they travel there. St. Louis is where readers will discover The World's Fair, The Society, and a new group called Artistasi who give our main players all they can handle and more.
You will also be introduced to an entirely new cast of characters who are both tertiary in nature, but important since events happen around them. To be fair, there's a giant elephant in the room that gets in the way of every conversation, and every action Esta & Harte take thanks to the Book's pull on him. The other issue is that at every turn, Esta and Harte are confounded by a group called the Antistasi who are led by a woman named Mother Ruth who really could be labeled as an anarchist.
While I maintain that Elsa and Harte are the main characters in this series because of who and what they are and are able to do, there are others that readers will ride through this story with including Viola Vaccerelli, Nibsy Lorcan, Jack Grew, Jianyu Lee, Ruby Reynolds, Logan Sullivan, and Cela Johnson. I have to say that Viola's story may be the most intriguing, the most heart breaking, and the most emotional of all the characters who are chosen to carry the load. I also can relate to her being Italian and the struggles she has had to deal with.
I have to be honest, I am happy that the author titled each of her chapters so that I could pay attention to the year and the characters who were being featured. This goes on throughout the book, so, if you are like me who takes copious notes, be prepared to take the above characters I named and write them down so that you can keep track of where they are, and what they are involved in.
I am glad that Cela played more of a role in this story. Her struggles are real as both a woman of color, and the fact that she has no magic. It's hard to say who is the real villain of the story; Nibsy, or Jack. I would not want to fool with either one, but Nibsy's story is one that actually crosses with Esta's while Jack and Harte are like two heavy weight champions just itching to go one more round to see who walks away with the prize.
In the end, the story is a power struggle of who has it, who wants it, and who wants to destroy it. The stakes are high for every single character in this book from Cela, up and including Esta and Harte. If you have not read The Last Magician and you love historical fiction, original magic systems, time travel, witty banter between characters and subtle romance, do so now before jumping into this monstrosity which really is 700 pages long. Maxwell does a fantastic job of making the reader feel as though you are right there with the characters on each stop, NYC, and St. Louis.
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