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A review by roseduni
The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell
3.0
i have a lot of opinions on time travel.
(oh, and right away, a warning- if you don’t want to read a whole ton of nonsensical ramblings on time travel, don’t even bother with this entire review. i will leave a like two-line overall opinion on the book at the bottom, but otherwise...)
okay but seriously. most of my existential crisises revolve around the concept of time, and from there, time travel. (excluding the mini-crisis i just had about how to spell the word “existential”.) i also spend a lot of time psyching myself out over that concept, and that’s kinda what this book made me do (yet again).
see, i believe that if time travel were a possible thing, (like your typical sci-fi-y idea of time travel, not the time-is-relative-so-depending-where-you-are-in-the-universe-and-the-gravitational-pull-on-you-it-might-pass-by-at-different-speeds-relative-to-the-speed-it-goes-at-on-earth-think-interstellar-for-an-easier-explanation, which is a whole different concept to get stuck in.) someone traveling to the past couldn’t possibly change the future. because the past is the past is the past is the past. it can’t be edited, or changed. even if it is someone’s present, they can’t rewrite history with their actions. idk how to explain any of this, hopefully (but most likely not) you get the picture.
going in to this, though that is my preferred depiction of time travel, i didn’t particularly mind if it was represented differently by other creators.
this might have changed my mind.
i can’t even describe this properly, but i feel like esta’s time travel escapades should have had a much farther reaching scope than they did. by the end, the layers of time felt so convoluted and twisted that i feel like that entire reality would have more likely self-imploded than have reached that level of muddled mess.
of course, the vast majority of people reading this book probably didn’t feel the need to pick apart every possible outcome and ways that esta’s interference would change the future and therefore the past, but i did because i am dumb. i gave myself a migraine by the end of the book, trying to work out everything that had happened with time and everything that i believed should have happened with time.
basically what happened is that i put wayyy too much time and effort into trying to work out things that didn’t need to be worked out. and i would have had a less-headache filled time if i hadn’t done that.
but, other than that, this was HUGELY enjoyable and entertaining.
the characters? i’d die for them.
the magic system? impeccable.
THE AESTHETIC? dark and gritty and early twentieth century which is my absolute fav!!
oh it was so good. i hope i can pick up the next one soon.
so to wrap up: don’t get overly caught up in the scientific side of the time travel aspect. you’ll love it!
(also if you’re an actual scientist- i apologize for the many many many scientific and factual errors i made here. i’m literally just a seventeen year old girl with no education on any of this, and i know that i don’t know real science. so please don’t come after me.)
///
ahhh so much to say! i’m hesitating between 4 and 5 stars, so i’ll get back soon with a rating and review :)
///
i heard this pitched as renegades meets six of crows (from a dash of ash on booktube :) and if it does not deliver i will riot.
also i absolutely adore the time travel trope so i have high hopes for this one haha.
AND OH the author herself said this was kinda like magical newsies, so it feels like it was literally written for me.
(i’m really setting myself up for disaster with these high of expectations. i probably should tone them done but i kinda just can’t)
(oh, and right away, a warning- if you don’t want to read a whole ton of nonsensical ramblings on time travel, don’t even bother with this entire review. i will leave a like two-line overall opinion on the book at the bottom, but otherwise...)
okay but seriously. most of my existential crisises revolve around the concept of time, and from there, time travel. (excluding the mini-crisis i just had about how to spell the word “existential”.) i also spend a lot of time psyching myself out over that concept, and that’s kinda what this book made me do (yet again).
see, i believe that if time travel were a possible thing, (like your typical sci-fi-y idea of time travel, not the time-is-relative-so-depending-where-you-are-in-the-universe-and-the-gravitational-pull-on-you-it-might-pass-by-at-different-speeds-relative-to-the-speed-it-goes-at-on-earth-think-interstellar-for-an-easier-explanation, which is a whole different concept to get stuck in.) someone traveling to the past couldn’t possibly change the future. because the past is the past is the past is the past. it can’t be edited, or changed. even if it is someone’s present, they can’t rewrite history with their actions. idk how to explain any of this, hopefully (but most likely not) you get the picture.
going in to this, though that is my preferred depiction of time travel, i didn’t particularly mind if it was represented differently by other creators.
this might have changed my mind.
i can’t even describe this properly, but i feel like esta’s time travel escapades should have had a much farther reaching scope than they did. by the end, the layers of time felt so convoluted and twisted that i feel like that entire reality would have more likely self-imploded than have reached that level of muddled mess.
of course, the vast majority of people reading this book probably didn’t feel the need to pick apart every possible outcome and ways that esta’s interference would change the future and therefore the past, but i did because i am dumb. i gave myself a migraine by the end of the book, trying to work out everything that had happened with time and everything that i believed should have happened with time.
basically what happened is that i put wayyy too much time and effort into trying to work out things that didn’t need to be worked out. and i would have had a less-headache filled time if i hadn’t done that.
but, other than that, this was HUGELY enjoyable and entertaining.
the characters? i’d die for them.
the magic system? impeccable.
THE AESTHETIC? dark and gritty and early twentieth century which is my absolute fav!!
oh it was so good. i hope i can pick up the next one soon.
so to wrap up: don’t get overly caught up in the scientific side of the time travel aspect. you’ll love it!
(also if you’re an actual scientist- i apologize for the many many many scientific and factual errors i made here. i’m literally just a seventeen year old girl with no education on any of this, and i know that i don’t know real science. so please don’t come after me.)
///
ahhh so much to say! i’m hesitating between 4 and 5 stars, so i’ll get back soon with a rating and review :)
///
i heard this pitched as renegades meets six of crows (from a dash of ash on booktube :) and if it does not deliver i will riot.
also i absolutely adore the time travel trope so i have high hopes for this one haha.
AND OH the author herself said this was kinda like magical newsies, so it feels like it was literally written for me.
(i’m really setting myself up for disaster with these high of expectations. i probably should tone them done but i kinda just can’t)