New York hides a war of secret societies, time-traveling thieves, and dangerous relics that can alter history. A gifted pickpocket is sent into the city’s past to pull off an impossible heist before reality itself is rewritten. The Last Magician is a twisty, atmospheric fantasy brimming with con games and dark glamour.
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Start or resume Shelf TalkThese picks are popular with readers who enjoyed this book. Possible spoilers below.
In The Last Magician, did you enjoy the secret-society time travel, with rules, consequences, and a romance forged across centuries?
If you loved how Esta slips through time to outmaneuver the Brink and the Order—and the charged, against-the-odds chemistry with Harte—Passenger delivers that same pulse. Etta Spencer is hurled into a lineage war between the Ironwoods, navigating strict rules of passage while racing across eras with privateer Nicholas. The treasure-hunt stakes, coded clues, and dangerous guardians will feel familiar after the chase for the Ars Arcana, while the cross-century partnership gives you the emotional spark you got from Esta and Harte.
In The Last Magician, did you enjoy the precision heist to steal the Ars Arcana under the Order’s nose?
Drawn to the meticulous, everything-can-go-wrong theft in The Last Magician? In Six of Crows, gang leader Kaz Brekker assembles a crew—think echoes of Dolph’s planning with Harte, Jianyu, and Viola—to break into the impenetrable Ice Court. The layered cons, shifting loyalties, and knife’s‑edge timing mirror Esta’s gambits in 1902 New York, while the character backstories hit with the same emotional heft you felt watching the Mageus risk everything to smash the Order’s hold.
In The Last Magician, did you enjoy Dolph’s motley crew—Harte, Jianyu, Viola, and Cela—each bringing distinct talents to a dangerous caper?
If the found-family dynamic of the Mageus crew hooked you, The Gilded Wolves leans into that pleasure. Séverin gathers Laila, Zofia, Enrique, and Hypnos for a string of artifact heists in 1889 Paris, where each member’s specialized gift—and baggage—matters. Like Esta juggling trust and betrayal within Dolph’s circle, every success demands collaboration, code‑breaking, and daring midnight jobs, with standout moments of camaraderie that recall your favorite scenes in the Old Bowery.
In The Last Magician, did you enjoy Esta and Harte’s morally gray choices as they play thief and savior at once?
If you appreciated how Esta swindles and steals for a greater cause—and how Harte’s secrets complicate every promise—The Lies of Locke Lamora doubles down on charming duplicity. Con artist Locke and his ally Jean run long cons through Camorr’s criminal underbelly, matching the crafty masks and uneasy alliances you saw among the Mageus and the Order. The escalating war with the Grey King hits the same nerve as the Order’s stranglehold: every win costs blood, and every plan has a knife in its shadow.
In The Last Magician, did you enjoy the head-spinning time-loop revelations around Esta, Harte, and the Book?
If the late-book rug-pulls—where time’s rules bend and secrets about the Ars Arcana reframe everything—thrilled you, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August offers that same dizzying payoff. Harry is reborn into the same life with full memory, recruited by the Cronus Club, and pulled into a covert struggle to stop a future catastrophe. As messages move backward through time and loyalties wobble, you’ll get the intricate reversals and causality puzzles that made The Last Magician’s twists so addictive.
