5 ways The Devil’s Thief is a successful sequel to The Last Magician

Fans of Lisa Maxwell’s The Last Magician won’t want to miss out on the story’s sequel, The Devil’s Thief.

In The Last Magician, Lisa Maxwell took readers on an adventure through time. At the request of her mentor, a girl named Esta uses her affinity to manipulate time to return to the early 1900s. Her mission is to save magic from dying out, a task she can only accomplish by changing the outcome of an  infamous heist in 1902.

After joining Dolph Saunders and his gang, she helps them steal from a dangerous organization called the Order. Dolph believes retrieving an ancient book, the Ars Arcana, can stop the Order from persecuting Mageus. But unlike Esta, he doesn’t know that he’ll be betrayed and the book will be destroyed.

And though Esta does prevent the book from being wiped from existence, she realizes too late that her mentor has his own heinous plans for the Ars Arcana. At the book’s end, he forces Esta to travel back once more to return the book to his younger self and retrieve the magical stones that enable one to control the book’s power — setting Mageus up to win the war against the Order.

But knowing that Professor Locan plans to enslave humans without magic, Esta makes it her mission throughout The Devil’s Thief to stop young James Lorcan from succeeding. She teams up with Harte Darrigan, one of her charming companions from the previous book.

Together, the two set off to track down the stones and reunite them with the power of the Ars Arcana before the Order gets them. Unfortunately, that won’t be an easy task — especially since the book has latched itself to Harte. And while he’s trying to keep its powers under control, Esta’s affinity is waning.

The two need to work quickly if they want to stop the Order and Professor Lorchan from determining the future. Unfortunately, time isn’t on their side, and the past Esta returns to is noticeably different from the one she grew up learning about.

Readers who enjoyed The Last Magician will love the next installment in the series. While the story unfolds a bit more slowly than it does in the first book, the extra details make it all worthwhile.

Here are just a few reasons to pick up The Devil’s Thief.

A stronger heroine

Esta proved herself a formidable female protagonist throughout The Last Magician, but she undergoes a shift in The Devil’s Thief that gives her far more autonomy – and it’s noticeable for the readers and the characters.

In the previous book, she’s acting on orders – whether they’re from Professor Lachlan or from Dolph. During The Devil’s Thief, she acts of her own volition and for the greater good of the world she lives in. She continuously proves herself equal to her male counterparts, whether it’s in terms of wit or physical prowess.

Add in Esta’s unflinching acceptance of the fact that she may not make it out of this adventure alive, and it’s hard to find fault with her character. She’s tough through and through.

An even-more-intense romance

The Last Magician set up the hate-to-love romance developing between Harte and Esta, but the journey they’re forced to undertake in The Devil’s Thief brings them together in a way that strengthens their bond — and the tension that comes with their reluctance to admit their feelings for one another.

Maxwell does a great job of building on that tension in the second book. Even though the two are warming up to one another, she throws new obstacles at them. With the Ars Arcana’s hold on Harte, he’s reluctant to get close to Esta. The book wants her power, and it even begins affecting her affinity in unexpected ways.

Of course, the tension — and the fact that the two shouldn’t be together — only serves to make the reader more invested in their relationship. Who doesn’t love waiting for their ship to sail?

Higher stakes

While Esta’s mission in The Last Magician seems important, readers also get the idea that the future Esta needs to shift isn’t all that bad. Sure, magic is dying. But ultimately, the Order doesn’t have as much power in Esta’s time as they could have. The remaining Mageus aren’t being persecuted nearly as much as in the past. The feud seems to have cooled a bit.

Esta’s actions during The Last Magician change that. Now that she’s handed Professor Lorcan the Ars Arcana, the prospects are much more dire. If Esta doesn’t make things right in this sequel, both the Order and the Mageus they’re hunting will pose far more serious threats.

This is true even of the past Esta travels back to. In the first book, the Order controls Mageus through the Brink. But in the second, there are other organizations popping up, many of them also attempting to keep Mageus in line. And while the general public didn’t take the Order seriously, Esta’s actions cause them to fear Mageus and embrace the organization trying to destroy them.

More perspectives

The Last Magician has a colorful cast of side characters, most of them members of Dolph’s gang, The Devil’s Own. And while we get to know these characters a bit during the first book, the sequel allows readers to get inside their heads while discovering what becomes of them.

Viola and Jianyu both have point-of-view chapters throughout The Devil’s Thief. Not only does this allow us to understand their stories better, but it gives a more diverse feel to the second book. Through them, Maxwell takes the time to explore sexuality and race during the early 1900s.

And they aren’t the only new characters to get perspective chapters. There are quite a few, and Maxwell balances the new additions well. It never feels overwhelming reading from more perspectives. More than anything, it serves the story.

A great ending

Any good ending leaves the reader wanting more, but this is especially true of books that fall in the middle of series. And with all of the reveals at the end of The Devil’s Thief, readers will certainly be wondering when they’ll see Maxwell’s characters once again.

The ending of The Devil’s Thief brings everything together, just as The Last Magician did. We learn how Nibsy and Harte are connected to the Ars Arcana, a reveal that raises as many questions as it provides answers.

Many of the characters’ fates and relationships are also left open-ended, which means you’ll need to pick up the next installment to find out what happens to them. And after spending so much time with these lovable characters, how can you not?

The Devil’s Thief is definitely a worthy sequel to The Last Magician, and it lays the foundation for Maxwell to top both books with her next installment.