Assassin's Creed: The Magus Conspiracy

If you love to read and love this game series you will love this book. It was interesting and helped pull me out of a reading slump.

In 1851 Simeon Price is aboard the HMS Birkenhead when the ship goes down and after trying to rescue his friends and shipmates from below decks he abandons ship and absconds from the army.
Meanwhile in England Pirrette is performing the closing act for the Aurora Troupe circus, an honour that has been afforded to against the gut feelings of the circus owner, Major Wallin. The amazing piece of action is going well until Pirrette sees three men attacking a woman in the audience and changes the act so she can rescue the woman. Thus our two major characters are set on a path that will bring them together to hunt for a shadowy character known as The Magus, who is searching for a weapon developed by Ada Lovelace, the woman Pirrette has rescued.
I had no idea that this book had a tie in with gaming and would say it can be read entirely as a stand alone - as I did. I loved the setting. The details of the ship, the Birkenhead, the worldwide developments like the Irish famine and the Indian mutinies, the descriptions of London at a time of horrendous pollution and poverty are all wonderful and very evocative.
I liked the characters - Pirrette is strong willed and fiesty, whilst Simeon is more principled and Kane is elusive and shadowy - they are well drawn and fitting.
The story moves along at a reasonable pace, with a fair amount of detailed action and keeps the reader engaged right to the end, with a couple of twists and turns as the characters wriggle themselves out of difficult situations.
Although there is no real magic the book has an other worldly air to it.
With thanks to Netgalley and Aconyte Books for the chance to read an arc copy in return for an honest review.

The Magus Conspiracy begins in 1851, with an action prologue taking us through the sinking of the HMS Birkenhead where we are introduced to the first of our two protagonists: Simeon Price. After a peculiar encounter with a hooded figure as the ship went down, he heads to Vienna to train beneath a man called Kane. Once a sailor, now an Assassin.

And our other followed character starts her journey in London. Pierrette, an acrobat and entertainer with a circus has a chance encounter with Ada Lovelace during one performance, and after becoming friends, the performer is given a strange notebook full of code and a name: Magus.

Both storylines bounce around Europe, before ending as we began, in London. The Assassin-Templar war that is so familiar through the Assassin’s Creed franchise is brought forth in new and inventive ways, with Heartfield nailing the assignment in every single chapter. In an interview with Ubisoft she mentioned that she tried to bring across the style of the games but into the written format, and it wholeheartedly comes across.

Heartfield is an amazing author; her writing is enthralling, with even the smallest moments captivating. In particular, her descriptions of Pierrette’s acrobatics and the circus tricks were so vivid I could picture them as I read on. It fits perfectly into the genre of action-adventure video games in which the book is written for. My heart was pounding through every fight scene, in utter awe at every beautiful literary skyline.

Sometimes in the war between the Templars and the Assassin's you need some downtime and that's what this novel felt like. If you're a fan of the games and have read the novelizations of said games many times it feels like world changing, history altering events that will shape the future of humanity. The Magus Conspiracy felt more like the times between those huge, universe shifting events, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Beginning in the early 1850s the story of The Magus Conspiracy follows two main characters, Simeon Price and Pierette, a member of a traveling circus. A chance encounter with famed mathematician Ada Lovelace wraps Pierette into the ever growing war between the Assassin's and the Templars. From there the book travels across various parts of Europe, mostly London and Paris, but with brief sidetrips elsewhere.

Conspiracy, betrayal and the usual narrative twists and turns follow both characters as they try to track down the mysterious character known as the Magus who is trying to get their hands on the Analytical Engine, a computer being designed by Lovelace and Charles Babbage. The book has the familiar ties to the real world and blend historical with fantasy in a way that has become very familiar to fans of the Assassin's Creed series.

There is plenty of action and political intrigue that is all very well written and keeps pushing you forward to find out what happens next. The two main characters, while not fully fledged members of the Assassin's Order, spend plenty of time on the rooftops hiding and watching events unfold. It doesn't feel, necessarily, like the main course of an Assassin's Creed plot, but more like a side story that's going on at the same time with plenty of direct and indirect links to the main story.

Overall, it's a really great addition to the Assassin's Creed lore as a whole and has some ties to the video games, Syndicate in particular, and is worth checking out if you're a fan of the franchise and want to immerse yourself further in that world.

The Magus Conspiracy begins during The Great Exhibition in 1851 after talking about the sinking of the HMS Birkenhead and it never stops. Following solder Simeon Price and acrobat Pierrette Arnaud as they try and come to terms of what their mutual friend Ada Lovelace wrote before her death and what it could mean for the world if it fell into the wrong hands embroils these two into the never ending conflict between the Assassins and Templars a conflict that leave both scarred and wondering what Ada got herself into.

As the story unfolds the two are rarely together but that never feels like a determent to the story. Seeing how they come together and how their paths cross is really the meat of this novel with multiple historic events playing key to how they develop as characters. The hints of the larger Assassin's Creed world is a nice touch and kept me wanting to read more.

The way Katie Heartfield wrote the novel I was never left wondering how a scene played out, no matter if it was a fight or if it was a part of Pierrette's acrobatics. I was never left questioning what was happening but when it was all said and done I wanted more time with the characters and hope to get more with them.

The war between Assassins and Templars wreaks havoc in the Victorian era, in this breakneck thriller which opens up a whole new chapter of the Assassin’s Creed universe and of course I really enjoyed reading it as it's full of the rivalries between Assassin's and Templars.
I liked the storyline and the writing but I would prefer it to be more action packed. It seems that all the action happened towards the end. However I really liked how we got to the ending and the plot twists.
I also really liked our main characters and especially Pierrette, who is strong willed and smart.
As with every Assassin's Creed novel I really liked the historical elements and the historical figures that we meet.

I recommend this book even if you are new to the Assassin's Creed franchise.

As always, I want to start by saying that this was given access to an early a copy of this title to review. My review is honest and left voluntarily.
The Magus Conspiracy is everything we didn’t know we needed for an Assassin’s Creed story. This fast paced thriller is sure to hook fans of the games, novels and hopefully new fans to the fandom. Set in Victorian London and grounded in historical fact we see the tension and battle between the Templars and Assassins reach new heights! (I’m sorry for the pun, I couldn’t resist).

London, 1851 – When Pierrette, a daring acrobat performing at the Great Exhibition, rescues the mathematician Ada Lovelace from a gang of thugs, she becomes immersed in an ancient feud between Assassins and Templars. But Lovelace is gravely ill, and shares her secrets with Pierrette, sending the acrobat in search of a terrible weapon which she’d been developing for a shadowy figure known as “the Magus”. Pierrette’s only ally is Simeon Price, Lovelace’s childhood friend, who belongs to a Brotherhood devoted to free will. With Simeon’s aid, they uncover a startling web of political assassinations destabilizing Europe. As they race to foil the Templars’ deadly plot, murders and bombs are everywhere they look, but hope is nowhere in sight.

Being a fan of the Assassin’s Creed (AC) universe I knew I would enjoy this book if not love it. I wasn’t prepared for how much. A punchy thriller with a daring herorine, witty banter and much more this was an amazing entry into the AC cannon. I also want to say I had a bit of geek/fangirl moment with other historical figures showing up, Ada Lovelace, Ruskin, Rossetti and William Morris to name a few. It was like one of my wildest dreams come true. AC and Historical figures interacting and being part of the narrative? You get one very happy reviewer.

On top of this the writing style and plot are top notch. Heartfield gives us a real sense of our surroundings and the people that inhabit them. The wonder of the Circus, the fight of the ‘innocent’ common man, the war between Templars and Assassin’s and many other wonderous things. You literally feel like you are transported to the 1800s and one thing I loved it was without the romanticism of the period. There’s dirt, there’s grim, there’s danger. In short it is perfection.

The characters are also amazing, Pierrette may have become one of my favourite heroines and I do hope we get to read more of her adventures in the future. It may sound a bit weird but I also loved how she wasn’t always on top, she got injured, she made wrong calls in short she was entirely human and so you end up loving her early on. The same can be said for Simeon (although I did take a little longer to like him). He has faults, he makes mistakes but he learns and grows for them. The banter between the two is just, perfection. I hope it isn’t the last we see of them. But despite this the other supporting cast all have a time to shine and show their growth and skills. Even the Historical figures have their moments (again this created a major fangirl moment for me!).

As always I don’t spoil books in my review but I will say although I had my suspicion who the Magus was the way we learn along with the characters and can start to piece together the evidence was brilliant. It built tension and suspense, it kept you guessing yourself and really helped immerse you in the world as if you were along side Pierrette and Simeon.

As a final note, despite the somewhat programmatic era the novel is set in Heartfield and Aconyte manage to do what they do best genuine inclusivity that does realistically reflect the time. It isn’t there for the sake of it, it isn’t in your face. It’s natural, normal and just how it should be.

In case you hadn’t guessed already I adored this book. Definitely a new favourite. I would recommend to any AC fan, new or old, or any fan of historical thrillers! You will not be disappointed!

ARC provided by Aconyte Books and Netgalley.

As someone who's been a big fan of the Assassin's Creed games for years, I was thrilled to get this ARC for the newest novel and I really enjoyed it!

The plot is fast paced and has an intricacy that is appreciated the more into the mystery you get, with a plot twist that felt satisfying and like I should have picked up on the clues earlier. The characters are also witty and interesting, in particular Pierrette who is a wonderful addition to the series' lacking cast of female assassins, accompanied by an extended cast of historical figures from the time, which altogether reminds me a lot of the older AC games. The novel very much channels their spirit and provides references for fans while also being independent enough that someone who has never heard of Assassin's Creed will enjoy it.

I read this book really quickly. When I am not reading, I love gaming and one of the franchises that I love playing - and reading is Assassins Creed. I really enjoyed it and couldn't put it down.

This is really a 4 1/2 stars review but there aren't actual halves so I was happy to round up.
First of all, I have never played Assassin's Creed, not because of any moral or philosophical stand about video games but rather as someone who peaked as a gamer in the late eighties and early nineties and didn't pick up again.
Second, knowing virtually nothing about the game made NO difference to my enjoyment of the novel. Kate Heartfield has written a gripping and fast-paced work. I really enjoyed it. The use of multiple viewpoints was as well done as anything I have read. The dialogue was delightful and natural. The characters were well-rounded and complex—the likable, very likable, and unlikeable ones well worth disliking.
Reading an uncorrected proof meant I encountered a couple of peculiarities but they didn't detract from my enjoyment.
My younger self disdained novels drawn from games or movies but I realize now it was because I hadn't encountered any good ones. If they had been as well-written and as enjoyable as this forty years ago . . . I would have had even more to read.