18% and I give up. It's slow, boring and what is actually happening? To much confusion due to the enormous amount of storylines and time travel. I read The Last Magician back in 2018 and thought it was okay, but confusing. Turns out it has been too long in between these books and I just cannot handle these big complex books anymore unless they're from Sarah J. Maas or Cassandra Clare it seems.

This book was so incredible! Wow what a great continuation of an already epic series. That ending - words can't describe the frustration/awe that I felt while Maxwell tore us apart through her words.

Thank you to the publisher, Simon Pulse, and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Picking up right after the shocking ending of The Last Magician, The Devil’s Thief finds Esta and Harte somehow managing to cross the Brink and make it off the island, as they begin their quest to retrieve the four stones scattered across America. But the world beyond the Brink is very different from what they have been told. With the book’s power now inside Harte, and Esta’s affinity also affected by it, an attempt to make a short jump in time to save themselves from Jack results in an accidental two year jump into the future, landing them in a much changed world of 1904 where they head to St Louis and the World’s Fair to find the first of the stones. Back in 1902, Violet and Jianyu find themselves in very precarious positions after Dolph’s murder, no longer under the protection of the Devil’s Own in a city increasingly controlled by the Order, the gangs, or in certain cases, an alliance of both. With Nibsy Lorcan manipulating events in both the past and future, the stakes are about to become higher than ever.

And now to my very overdue review, considering I was supposed to read this book over a year and a half ago. The Devil’s Thief is definitely a more plot centric book, and there isn’t nearly as much action, which results in it being rather drawn out. I’m a little conflicted on this book though – I did end up enjoying it, but there were a lot of places where the point could have been gotten across in a much more concise manner and easy cut down atleast a quarter of this book. It felt unnecessarily long, and really there is absolutely no reason why the second book in a trilogy should be this long – and for people who did read it back in 2018, with a wait of over two years for the finale in this series (which is supposedly even longer), it is very probable that many of the more salient plot points will be forgotten. I’m not one to complain about the length of a book usually, as long as it stays entertaining, but this was not always the case with this book.

The Devil’s Thief not only has constant POV switches, but also frequent timeline changes, will definitely make your head spin, but every change is clearly marked with subheadings which made it a lot easier to get used to over the course of the book. I loved seeing the St Louis World’s Fair come to life through Esta and Harte’s POVs, and as with the first book, the setting and feel of the story is very authentic. This, along with keeping the massive time travel plot free of any loopholes is truly impressive on the part of the author, especially considering just how complicated thing got in this book – and how much more complicated they’re about to get.

I’m not entirely certain about the new Thoth and Seshat plotline for the Ars Arcana as frankly, there’s enough going on in this book without the addition of some kind of divine interference which is not very clearly explained – intriguing yes, but detracting from the main conflict of Order vs Mageus. The same goes for the Antistasi – it was certainly an interesting twist learning who was behind it’s creation, but there was an unnecessary amount of focus on them – a POV certainly wasn’t needed. I am rather curious about North though – sounds like there’s a big secret there, especially following that epilogue! It was also nice to spend some more time with characters like Violet and Jianyu who didn’t really get to take centre stage in The Last Magician, but are now involved in crucial plot lines of their own.

The characters I so loved in the first book are the same for the most part, with one glaring exception – Esta. She is completely unreasonable in this book to the point of irritation, fully aware that something is wrong with Harte, but getting angry when he drew away from her. And let’s not even get into her fascination with the Antistasi – clearly a group who’s just using the unintended infamy behind her name to carry out their own morally questionable plans. She certainly wasn’t this rash in the first book, nor so easily distracted from the real task at hand and seeing such irrational behaviour from Esta was just really infuriating as she continued to not listen to Harte who ended up being the sole voice of reason in nearly every situation.

Nonetheless, I did enjoy this despite the heavy second book syndrome, ending in the now expected, but no less shocking cliffhanger. At 700 pages, The Devil’s Thief is a rather intimidating read, but once the story really gets going, it’s impossible to put down with the nail biting tension as the cards continue to be stacked higher than ever against our heroes. This is definitely a series that is not nearly as hyped as it should be, and I would highly recommend it for fantasy and time travel fans!

I was so excited to read this book! I loved The Last Magician and this one was just as great!

There were many layers to this story. It alternated between two years, 1902 and 1904. The puzzling part was that we don’t really know what happens between those years, because some of the characters jumped forward in time. Though there was a gap in the timeline, the story flowed seamlessly. There weren’t any spoilers in either narrative as to what happened in the past or what will happen in the future.

The only thing that this story was missing was a shocking ending. The end of The Last Magician had some shocking revelations. I found some characters suspicious in this story, and that was confirmed at the end, so it wasn’t a surprise. Other than that this book was amazing! I highly recommend this series to fans of YA fantasy.

I received an ARC of this from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Aside from the first book in this series, I've read the 2 other books that this author wrote and I have to say that she seriously stepped up her game. Lisa Maxwell has created an incredible world, loosely based on our own where magic exists but it is outlawed. Esta, the main character of these novels must travel back and forward through time to try to help her fellow magicians restore balance to the natural order. What results is a complex tale of family, friendship, betrayal, intrigue, and love. There's a heavy Egyptian mythical element at play as well which is only starting to become apparent in this 2nd installment to the series.

I'm really enjoying this series and this novel ended on a bit of a cliffhanger so I can't wait to see where it goes next.

I loved, loved, loved The Last Magician its epic tome of a book. When I found this was available on Netgalley I think I fainted when I got approved. Just like its predecessor. The Devils Thief is an immersive read and I find that I had to sit down for an afternoon without any distractions to really enjoy this book. And it was so worth it. The Devils thief was still full of corruption and magic and alchemy what a spiders web of amazingness, and HUGE. it's even bigger than the first one. what can I say I like big books and I cannot lie. And the slow burn romance was to swoon over. The time travel is the best part seeing history shapes our present was great. And I loved how Esta is still fierce. There's f/f romance cross dressing/ drag queen POC fighting for their rights, this book had everything. We also get introduced to new characters my favourite being Calla.


Overall this is an epic tome full of twists and turns that don't always follow the action packed some books do ca but leans on its ability to hook you into all the deception and magic. And the slow burn romance.

Just as imaginative and exciting as the first book, but I didn’t find it to be as fun and it felt overly wordy at times.

I really enjoyed the new narratives as well as a whole new cast of characters, but the highlight for me was getting to know Jianyu better. He quickly became my favourite character.

I was slightly disappointed that I didn’t like this book as much as the first. I think if it had been around 200 pages shorter and gotten to the point more quickly, it would have been more enjoyable.

All of that aside, after that ending ... there’s no question that I’ll be grabbing the next book ASAP.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This book was so good. If you were a fan of the firs book The Last Magician, you’ll enjoy this continuation! Very well written.

I didn't realize this was the second novel when I requested it, but needless to say I'm glad. It made me read the first---which was fantastic---and this was just as great. I love the world and the magic. Can't wait to read more from this author.

Absolutely loved this sequel to The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell! I found the pacing to be great, with a sensible mix of dialogue, action, character growth and internal monologue. The story was riveting and never felt dull or boring, even when it wasn't a high action scene. Overall loved the novel and thought it was beautifully written. My one suggestion would be to add more focus on the side characters, because i loved them!