***BLOG TOUR***

My Review....

I’m just going to preface this review with a whole lot of thanks to the publishers for inviting me on this tour! The Last Magician was one of my top favorite books of 2017 & ever since then my heart has been eagerly awaiting any bit of news I could get for a sequel. The Devil’s Thief was everything I could’ve asked for in a follow-up & it will for sure be on my list of top favorite reads for 2018! ❤

Lisa Maxwell can continue writing books set in this world with these characters for the rest of eternity & I’d never tire! I thought it couldn’t get better than The Last Magician which was EPIC, atmospheric, full of action and that 1920’s NYC magic (see my review here)….coming in at 704 pages, The Devil’s Thief not only holds it’s weight, it DELIVERS!!! full of those plots twists that made it’s predecessor a page turner, The Devil’s Thief hits the ground running. This time around we get introduced to a couple of new characters along with our beloved crew of misfits. Esta and Harte are back & legit my heart could not be filled with more happiness to get more of one of all time favorite ships!<3 If you’re like me & you wished to have had more backstory to some of the side characters from The Last Magician, this book will give you all that and much more! Both Viola & Jianyu get more page time & seeing them more fleshed out only further grew my attachment to this cast of characters. Maxwell is one of those authors that gets multiple POV’s right! I love reading fantasy books in this format but find that often the characters just blend into one another. Here we have distinct voices that carry their personality all on their own, this matters when reading a behemoth of a book.

While I felt The Last Magician balanced action/plot + Character development really well, this sequel is a lot for focused on the characters. Of course I didn’t mind since I LIVE for books with characters like these but for those who love a good plot driven story, this might be a bit of a change of pace. This isn’t a bad thing in my opinion, there were still many parts that I found myself not being able to put down the book. However, we do get some slower pacing & to be honest, I for one was a bit thankful since we do get a ton of time travel between centuries and different cities. I praised Maxwell’s world building in the first book but I was left shooketh with The Devil’s Thief! I legit felt I was in St. Louis during the World’s Fair in the 1900’s so much so that returning to my every day tasks felt like a chore. I constantly wanted to be immersed in this world.

A+ world building, character development and beautiful story telling to ignite the imagination are just some of the main reasons to pick these books up! If you love Diverse Fantasy that comes off the pages organically, look no further! Maxwell has characters in her books from all walks of life, they are layered and three dimensional. One of my favorite characters to come out of these books is Viola, I wished so hard to get more from her & that wish was granted. We get a beautiful F/F romance that only further solidified Viola as my all time fave. I also enjoyed each of the new characters introduced & already am highly anticipating book 3! *adds St. Louis to list of places to see*

My only complaint about this book is that the characters felt predictable at times. Not always, the format of the book left me slightly confused and jumbled for a reason, but at times the switching from many POVs added additional mystery to this book, which it didn't need in my opinion. On the other hand, this world building is rich and complex and the characters that occupy it are just as complicated and interesting as everything else. Overall, if you enjoyed TLM you definitely need to pick this up. If you haven't read TLM, I would get on that immediately because the story is captivating and thrilling. This book does fall somewhat prey to the 'second book slump' but it definitely is worth the follow through on this series!

I loved this book! The full review will be posted soon at kaitgoodwin.com/books! Thank you very much for this wonderful opportunity to connect books to their readers!

The first book in this series was easily a 5 star read for me. At nearly 500 pages, I almost didn't request it because of the length - but it didn't feel that long when reading it. At 700 pages, I didn't hesitate to request The Devil's Thief because of how engrossing the first book was, but this novel felt like a chore at times, and the series still isn't complete. With the third book (I'm assuming it will be the last?), the series will be considerably longer than Stephen King's uncut version of The Stand.

The dual timeline is compelling, and not at all confusing. I liked seeing how events in the past influence the present, and the changes in some of the characters over that time period. I gasped at a couple of surprising twists, and the world-building remains top notch. Characterization is also strong, and I enjoyed spending time with these characters again.

However - Esta and Harte are disappointing. The majority of their story focuses on the romantic drama/tension between them, and does nothing to advance the plot. Viola and Jianyu have the more interesting plot developments by far, and Julian is a nice addition to the lineup. There's also a good amount of repetition, but this was an ARC, and final editing may take care of that and lower the word count.

Although this book underwhelmed me and didn't move as quickly as the first, I'm curious to see where the next book goes, and want to know the fate of these characters. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I loved this book from beginning to end! Such a storyline with amazing character development! Esta is a badass & I loved how intricate the details were woven.