The Last Magician

By: Lisa Maxwell

Narrated by: Candace Thaxton

Length: 16 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's Summary

From Unhooked author Lisa Maxwell comes a captivating new world filled with magic and deception, about a girl who must travel back in time to find a mysterious book that could save her future.

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.

©2017 Lisa Maxwell (P)2017 Simon & Schuster Audio

Couldn't Finish

I've been an audible member for ten years. This is the first time I've ever written a review. I really enjoyed the story but couldn't finish because of the narrator. She does this thing where she starts "cycles" her volume and tone every minute at the strangest places that is just plain awful.

Just okay... weird narration.

I really wanted to love this book but I didn't, it just was ok. The narrator performance was very odd for me with way too many ill placed inflections. I found it distracting.

As for the story, all the interesting background elements I usually like are there. Magic, history, time travel, crime heists and diverse characters are all there, but it wasn't enough.

It opens strong with an introduction to Esta, a time manipulating thief and our protagonist, but midway through everything starts to drag. I found myself not caring much about Esta or what happened to anyone after a certain point.

The saving grace is that it does get better at the very end with a nice little turn, but the payoff wasn't big enough and the book could have been 25% shorter.

Bought this one for the reviews

The narrator became more tolerable over the course of the book. Her performance was a little to whispery/raspy for me. Not everyone in the early 20th sounded like a 3 pack a day smoker or "over worked" WOrking girl....(insert New York/Bronx accent) with a Betty hoop twist....

To think of it reminds me quit a bit of a 90's classic featuring a bunny, a very well endowed Jessica, and a detective.... and

The over all story...there was not a hold my attention moment until 3/4 thru the book. Maybe the next one will be better.

Narrator RUINED this book.

Her voice sounds like a roller coaster. Up and down and up and down like she was trying to sing the book and failing miserably. I finally got through it. And I have to admit the obnoxious cadence eased up towards the end enough to pull me into the actual story. But I had to restart it about 6 times to get there.

interesting

The story jumps around. The time travel got a little confusing. The Lady that read the story made you feel like you where on a rollercoaster. Her voice would go high at weird times and took away from the story.

Faltered In the End

Would you listen to The Last Magician again? Why?

No, the ending of the book really decreases my desire to read the book again.

What did you like best about this story?

The description of the events and the characters are vivid but not overwrought.

Max Entertainment from Maxwell

This was a great story: it had elements of history, a con game, magic, twists and turns that kept me guessing who was gonna out perform whom, and a mild sense of romance ( which I am extremely glad about- Thank you Ms. Maxwell). I loved the coming together and the explanation of whose who and how it all ties together. I even enjoyed the ending, up to the last sentence. Ms. Maxwell has created another elaborate tale, in fantasy fiction and really brought to life 3-dimensional characters, the only thing I wish it had, was more depravity and darker characters. I mean really really dark characters. But , I tore through it ( and listened while doing laundry and the bathrooms) in one weekend !IT ROCKED !!

loved it!

I really enjoyed the story, narration was a bit odd at times but still good.

All the problems of your average fantasy story...

Let me list the problems with this story: 1. Every twist is obvious, and I've read at least a dozen stories with the exact same twists. 2. She spends much too much time describing how magic works in her world. This one can be forgivable except it's repetitive and not very good. 3. Maxwell describes romance in a schizo-frantic way. One second the male lead is disgusting and misogynistic, the next he's perfect. His flaws are referred to often but not really shown. The female lead is written better. 4. Maxwell uses a lot of cliche/idioms that don't match the time period. 5. Bad guys monologing. Positives- 1. It's fun. For all the problems, it's fun.

Enjoyable

Nice narration, idk what other reviews are taking issue with. Nice world, middle drags somewhat.