The Magus Conspiracy is a 2022 novel written by Kate Heartfield (The Embroidered Book) as part of the Assassin's Creed franchise. It was published as an eBook on August 2nd 2022, with print publication to follow later in the year. It is the first installment in the The Engine of History trilogy.
Pierrette Arnaud, a French acrobat performing at the Great Exhibition in 1851 London, ends up rescuing the mathematician Ada Lovelace from a gang of thugs, and as a result becomes involved in the Assassin-Templar War. The terminally ill Lovelace shares her secrets with Pierrette, chief among them a weapon she'd been developing for a shadowy figure known only as "the Magus". Teaming up with Simeon Price, Lovelace's childhood friend and a member of the Assassins, they uncover a startling web of political assassinations destabilizing Europe and race to foil the Templars' latest plot.
The Magus Conspiracy provides examples of:
- The Cameo: Henry Green appears in later chapters and Ethan Frye is also mentioned.
- Historical Domain Character: Pierrette meets the real-life early programmer Ada Lovelace.
- Queer Establishing Moment: Pierette is described as having had past relationships with both men and women.
- Switching P.O.V.: Simeon Price and Pierrette have multiple POV chapters throughout.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Ada Lovelace dies a few chapters into the book as a result of her terminal uterine cancer, as what happened to her in real-life history.
