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I wanted to love this book so much. Having read The Last Magician, I hoped it would become one of my favorites.
Unfortunately, it didn't.
The results left me disappointed. I enjoyed reading this book and found it decent. The story, however, left me wanting more.
It tells the story of Esta, who lived in modern-day New York City and steals ancient mystical artifacts for a mysterious professor. Unknown to us, mages (or people with magical abilities) live among us in secret, and Esta can jump backwards in time. And in this world where magic users exist, there is a magical barrier called the Brink that has kept Long Island's magicians shut for centuries. As the Order seeks to wipe out the last of the mages, Esta is the only hope for the future: in order to save the world, she must travel back to 1902 and steal an ancient book.
And to do this, she must infiltrate Dolph Saunders' gang, the most notorious crime boss in New York City.
That sounds amazing, right?!
The Last Magician was packed with great ideas, but many of them were executed with little effort on the part of Lisa Maxwell. Esta, for example, has the ability to travel back in time, so she's tasked with infiltrating Dolph Saunder's gang in 1902. Lisa Maxwell sets Dolph up to be this badass crime boss with a dark past. Despite Maxwell's best efforts, Esta's friendship with Dolph and his gang never fully developed.
My perception of the characters throughout this book was that they were merely tolerating one another, and it did not sell me on their relationship. The experience left me feeling hollow. What makes me care about these characters if they aren't connected?
Esta and Harte were the only characters in The Last Magician with significant development. Therefore, I really enjoyed their relationship. This book would have been better if it had developed characters with the care it showed for Harte and Esta.
Esta is from the future, which adds drama and tension. However, her motives for returning to the present, besides returning the magical book to her mentor, are pretty thin. It didn't matter to me whether she made it back today, since I didn't buy her familial bonds.
This book gives you a sense that this world has known magic for centuries, even if it is not fully explained.
In addition, this book is quite long. There was way too much time wasted. Its premise piqued my interest in this book, and I was eagerly expecting the big heist. The story spent too much time on elements that were unnecessary.
The book would have been outstanding if Maxwell had tightened up the pacing and developed interesting, believable relationships among the main characters and side characters.
I enjoyed The Last Magician, but it wasn't as good as I wanted.
You can see all my reviews here
The Kill Artist introduces us to Gabriel Allon, a renowned art restorer and spy/assassin who is pulled out of retirement to track down the dangerous Palestinian agent known as Tariq. A threat to derail peace talks between the Israeli Prime Minister and Arafat after assassinating the Israeli ambassador in Paris, and who also killed his son and wife.
I found this book to be difficult to get interested in because of its genre. It was difficult to follow the plot in the first section because of the rapid change of characters and settings. You never felt like you were getting to know anyone or that anything resembling a story had begun. As the story moved forward, I became annoyed by some clichés. But the book takes an even-handed look at the situation in the Middle East and addresses both sides' victimization claims. The book complicates the distinction between good guys and bad guys in history and politics. This is even though there were clearly good guys and bad guys among its characters.
Although the book was above average in that regard, I didn't find it to be noteworthy.
You can see all my reviews here
This series follows a young boy/man named “Straw Hat Luffy” who seeks to become a pirate. Honestly, the first chapter of this volume, where Luffy is a young boy who has a wholesome friendship with a pirate crew led by Captain Shanks.
My first impression of Luffy was pleasant. After this chapter, we have a ten-year time skip. Having read this first volume, I found some minor issues or nitpicks in the remaining portions.
I found the pacing to be quite enjoyable and exciting, although there were also some points where I found it unfulfilling. In some areas, I felt that the arcs or points were incomplete, too convenient, or rushed. Several elements escalated quickly, which meant I had to reread a few panels back to fully comprehend what was happening.
The second aspect is the motivations of the characters. I felt that character motivations were missing. It was common for characters to tell us what they wanted (e.g. Koby joining the Navy and Luffy becoming a pirate) without explaining why or exploring their motivation. Meanwhile, we have Zolo, who dreams of becoming the greatest swordsman of all time. Because of the pacing issues, the backstory of his motivation didn't hit very hard, since he was a better sword fighter than his childhood friend who passed away unexpectedly. It seemed underdeveloped.
As a protagonist, Luffy wasn't my favorite. I need to see more depth in him before rooting for him. I won't expect him to be the most likeable character in this volume, but I'd like to see more complexity in him in the future. Besides his relationship with Captain Shanks, I'd like to know more about his parents, his hometown, his reasons for becoming a pirate, etc.
It's a very easy and quick read, and I also think it's a great concept for a series. This volume was a pleasure to read, despite my slight nitpicks in the past.
Warning:
There is some disturbing content in the manga, including self-mutilation, shooting someone in the head, smoking, putting a cigarette out in someone's eye, and some fat shame. Of course, you can enjoy it regardless of your age.