Finally! I got through The Last Magician and The Devil's Thief and began book three!
Let me start off by saying Wow, this book is a beast! I follow Lisa Maxwell on all of her social media accounts, and it took her quite a while to get this novel out. The reason was that the novel was too long and had to be split into two.
Yall. The Serpent's Curse was 750 pages. 7-5-0. Could you imagine how big it would have been if she'd tried to fit all of the plot?
This novel picks up right where The Devil's Thief left off: Esta and Harte are separated, but still in search of the stones that Harte mistakenly sent out of New York City. Not only do they have the giant task of finding the stones, but they also have to figure out how they are going to be able to travel back in time to 1902 with the stones (they can't exist in a time where they already are).
From the beginning of this series, Maxwell has teased a future confrontation with Harte's father, and she does not disappoint. Harte thought he'd never see the man again, but when he shows up in San Francisco, his father is there. The man has a new wife and son and Harte, who has declared himself a bastard from the beginning, immediately sees himself in Sammie, his younger brother.
Esta is on the road, traveling with two characters we met in book two: North and Maggie. They are a young couple who, unknowingly, are working in a network of mageus headed up by the main villian: Nibsy Lorcan. Now, Nibsy is stuck in NYC, but he's up to plenty of shenanigans in an attempt to get back the stone Harte left in NYC.
The rest of the novel includes mischevous plans to steal the stones back, illnesses, and even more rampant time travel.
There is alot going on in this novel. If you haven't recently reread the entire series, I would highly suggest doing so before diving in to this one. I would have been completely lost.
My little heart was SO happy though. That slow burn romance that built in books one and two? Yeah. it started RAGING in this book. I CANNOT wait to see what happens in The Shattered City, which releases in the spring of 2022. It's going to be an epic finale to see how all of these stories wrap up.
Thanks, Abbie