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City of Dark Magic: A Novel
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City of Dark Magic: A Novel
Unavailable
City of Dark Magic: A Novel
Audiobook13 hours

City of Dark Magic: A Novel

Written by Magnus Flyte

Narrated by Natalie Gold and Orlagh Cassidy

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

Cosmically fast-paced and wildly imaginative, this debut novel is a perfect potion of magic and suspense

Once a city of enormous wealth and culture, Prague was home to emperors, alchemists, astronomers, and, as it's whispered, hell portals. When music student Sarah Weston lands a summer job at Prague Castle cataloging Beethoven's manuscripts, she has no idea how dangerous her life is about to become. Prague is a threshold, Sarah is warned, and it is steeped in blood.
     Soon after Sarah arrives, strange things begin to happen. She learns that her mentor, who was working at the castle, may not have committed suicide after all. Could his cryptic notes be warnings? As Sarah parses his clues about Beethoven's "Immortal Beloved," she manages to get arrested, to have tantric sex in a public fountain, and to discover a time-warping drug. She also catches the attention of a four-hundred-year-old dwarf, the handsome Prince Max, and a powerful U.S. senator with secrets she will do anything to hide.
     City of Dark Magic could be called a rom-com paranormal suspense novel—or it could simply be called one of the most entertaining novels of the year.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateNov 27, 2012
ISBN9781101604960
Unavailable
City of Dark Magic: A Novel
Author

Magnus Flyte

After the uproar over the publication of his first novel, City of Dark Magic, Magnus Flyte retreated to his dacha in the Urals, where he enjoys exploring underground tributaries of the Ufa, observing the mating habits of the spotted nutcracker, and smelting. Mr. Flyte is currently at work on a half-hour television comedy about sixteenth-century ethnographer Sigismund von Herberstein, entitled Ural I Love.   Magnus Flyte is a pseudonym for the writing duo of Meg Howrey and Christina Lynch. Howrey is the author of the novles The Cranes Dance and Blind Sight. She lives in Los Angeles. Lynch, who lives near Sequoia National Park, is a television writer and journalist.

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Rating: 3.289477464114832 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Written under a pseudonym by Meg Howrey and Christina Lynch, I think "rom-com paranormal suspense" is probably an accurate description for this one. I loved the Prague setting and the musical theme focused around Beethoven. Instead of the usual time travel where the character travels through time (kind of like Alice falling down the rabbit hole), the authors decide instead to enable our lead character to experience different segments of history while staying localized - more like a drug-induced hallucination. There is an awful lot going on in this story and as impressed as I am that the two authors were able blend their writing styles to maintain the same voice throughout the novel, I got the feeling that they had to scramble a bit near the end to try and tie off all the various plot points. The addition of a smart-talking dwarf who seems to be a lot older than one would presume adds an interesting cache to this urban fantasy story, but inclusion of an arch villain in the form of a former CIA agent, now US Senator adds a weird political power/cold war espionage angle that makes this just seems rather at odds with the story. That, and I am trying to understand what message the female authors mean to convey by making the strong female lead engage in unnecessary casual sex.Overall, a good premise for an adventure suspense story that is probably best suited to readers looking for a bit of light fluff urban fantasy reading and doesn't mind the occasional gratuitous sex scenes thrown in.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I was really torn on this book, because I truly wanted to like it. You read the description and it has just the right kind of weirdness that should have been up my alley. There's a lot to love here, a mixture of Beethoven, alchemy, mystery, and such a vivid setting.

    I had a hard time getting into it at first, because the prose has a breezy, almost chatty voice to it that felt shallow. Characters felt quirky as opposed to well-drawn, and the whole book had a bit of a "aren't we clever" tone to it. In fact, I would argue that the most realized character of the book was Prague itself, and the rest of the cast merely felt like caricatures.

    Sarah isn't believable as a sleuth either, as I think others have pointed out here. She tends to stumble upon things by luck, which is a shame because as a scholar she should have been well-equipped to do serious investigation. Of course, the mystery itself is solved about half way through the book, and the rest is a jumbled mess of sub-plots that with the exception of the obvious villain are never resolved in order to make way for a sequel.

    The other issue I have with this book is that it doesn't fulfill on it's promise. The hook at the beginning of the book is not just the adventure, but the character. They go to great lengths to set up all of Sarah's quirks very quickly including her lack of belief in romance/love, and how she "follows her nose" for frequent sex. Later in the book, other characters talk as if she has undergone some other change here, but there isn't anything in the actual story that supports those claims. Ultimately, she's back to where she was afterwards, seemingly unchanged or affected by the experience, or at least not believably so.

    There's been a lot of complaining about the sex in this book, which I'm fine with in principle, but felt out of place in many cases to the point of being jarring. This last point in particular I have been trying to wrap my head around, because I needed to confirm with myself that I would feel the same way about ithad Sarah been a male character. After considering for several days I conclude that I would feel the same. The issue isn't who's having the sex, it's the fact that it seems to be there for it's own sake. If this were a romance novel, it would be fine, but there isn't any romance in this book. If this were erotica, that would also be ok, but the book isn't that either.


    The book does have it's funny moments, and I do believe it's intended to be a funny book, particularly through the use of Sarah's inner monologue and Nico's quick wit. There are some great lines, but they often don't seem to fit the severity of the scene, or vice versa.

    Ultimately, I think the challenge with this book is that it can't decide what kind of story it is trying to tell, and ends up being a smattering of everything. Add in the "aren't we clever" tone to the writing, and it becomes a disappointing read. Which is a shame, because the premise of the book has a lot to love.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    When I began reading this book, I was merely motivated by the fact that I wanted a fast paced read with a bit of naughtiness to it, and that is precisely what I got in this book. Are some of the situations implausible? Yes. Does it seem too far-fetched at times? Yes. Is it also extremely interesting, sucks you in, and keeps you glued to the story? Abso-freaking-lutely! The characters may seem almost caricature-y, and at times one dimensional, but they're also fun and easy to follow as characters. They're not "hollow" characters, they're just not explored fully, at least not in this first book, entirely. Mostly, we concentrate on our protagonist Sarah, who is a young college student who finds herself in Prague, studying music and documenting music for an archive, however, finding that her mentor has committed suicide upon her arrival. From this point on, she finds herself part of a big web of dark magic, myth, mystery, old-school royalty, alchemists, and the musical life of Beethoven. The ending really threw me for a loop, but I didn't mind it. For me, the read was a good ride!
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Sarah, a Ph.D. student in music and teacher to a blind girl named Pollina, gets a mysterious note giving her the chance of a lifetime: come to Prague, and catalog a family's holdings related to Beethoven. Soon after she gets this note, she learns that her mentor died while in that same place, apparently suicide. Now she can't say no, and Sarah soon finds herself embroiled in intrigue and mystery.First of all, if you think you want to read the book don't read the publisher summary that was in my library catalog - it gives waaaay too much away. Secondly, if you enjoy adventures and thrillers a la Dan Brown that add a twist of music and history and alchemy, this is a fast-paced over-the-top story with all of those elements. Personally, it didn't work for me. Part of the trouble, I admit, is that I'd just come from reading some books where the writing itself was paramount, poetic - and this is serviceable, a lot of dialog, moves the action along, which I turned out not to be in the mood for. I never really got to know the characters or care about their motivations, and Sarah's attitude towards sex (you know what, I'm horny, I'm just gonna screw the next guy who makes a pass at me in the bathroom...) really grated on me. The intricate plot is what kept me reading, to see how all the pieces fit together, and ultimately I was disappointed because the mystery that was introduced wasn't actually resolved, but hopefully will be in the sequel.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    MORE SEX IN THE CITY THAN CITY OF DARK MAGICWhen I saw this at the library, I snatched it up because I'm interested in Prague, mysterious quests and time travel. Sarah Weston, a musicologist working on her Ph.D., receives a strange visitor; a dwarf named Nicolas Pertusano delivers an invitation for Sarah to use the summer to take on the task of organizing the music collection at the Lobkowitz Museum in Prague.No sooner does Sarah accept the job than strange events begin to occur, like a break-in at her apartment and word that her academic mentor took drugs and committed suicide. But Sarah finds that the museum houses unimaginable treasures, including handwritten manuscripts by Sarah's idol, Beethoven. It's also home to the handsome and mysterious Max, heir to the Lobkowitz properties.Somebody seems to want Sarah to get out of the Museum and Prague, and she begins to fear for her life, as other members of the museum staff are killed. Then Sarah finds that the drug her mentor took was something that allows the mind to see and hear events that occurred through the centuries, and her research into Beethoven's life takes on a whole new dimension.Although the book description promises paranormal suspense, romance and tons of Prague atmosphere, it read more like a soft-core porn version of Sex in the City, with Sarah Weston playing the Carrie Bradshaw part and Prague standing in for NYC. For me, there was way too much information about Sarah's sexual escapades and far too little about the city or the dark magic.It was hard to suspend my disbelief when the authors make so many factual errors and sneer at people and places they don't deem cool enough. Sarah refers to a disgrace possibly resulting in her having to get a job at a small women's college in Idaho where they've barely heard of Prague and think Beethoven is just the cartoon Schroeder's idol.They write that Sarah receives an inch-thick stack of Czech 100-crown notes before her trip to Prague because that's what it takes to pay for a taxi ride from the airport to the city center. In fact, it would take only about seven of those notes. They're also unclear on basics, writing numerous times that flights from Boston and other east coast cities take 11 hours to get to Prague's Ruzyne Airport. Well, there are no nonstops to Ruzyne from Boston, so it could take 11 hours for the whole trip, but the references imply strongly that the flights are nonstops, in which case it would take only about eight hours. And these are just errors from the first chapters of the book.All the errors, attitude and raunch made this book a flight of fancy that never leaves the ground.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I was prowling the new books section of the library the other day, and got sucked in by the descriptor on the back of the book. It promised mystery, magic, music, and Prague. We just finished a Buffy marathon, so when there was the mention of Prague being over a hell-hole, it was too much to resist. Plus, it was a debut novel, another passion of mine.So , did it all work? Yep, it delivered. More of a thriller than I expected it to be, but there was still a good bit of irreverent humor, and history, too. It also looks to be the start of a series, or at least to have a sequel in the offing. Another Charleston County Library win!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Book Description
    Release Date: November 27, 2012

    Cosmically fast-paced and wildly imaginative, this debut novel is a perfect potion of magic and suspense

    Once a city of enormous wealth and culture, Prague was home to emperors, alchemists, astronomers, and, as it’s whispered, hell portals. When music student Sarah Weston lands a summer job at Prague Castle cataloging Beethoven’s manuscripts, she has no idea how dangerous her life is about to become. Prague is a threshold, Sarah is warned, and it is steeped in blood.

    Soon after Sarah arrives, strange things begin to happen. She learns that her mentor, who was working at the castle, may not have committed suicide after all. Could his cryptic notes be warnings? As Sarah parses his clues about Beethoven’s “Immortal Beloved,” she manages to get arrested, to have tantric sex in a public fountain, and to discover a time-warping drug. She also catches the attention of a four-hundred-year-old dwarf, the handsome Prince Max, and a powerful U.S. senator with secrets she will do anything to hide.

    City of Dark Magic could be called a rom-com paranormal suspense novel—or it could simply be called one of the most entertaining novels of the year.

    My Review:
    I enjoyed this book very much. It is very fast-paced and crosses over just about every genre. It’s a mystery, a thriller; it has science and history and music. Romance. Comedy. Time-travel. Don't miss out on this one - I think you will enjoy the ride!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Disorientated by an authorial voice that is distinctly female. So who is Mr Magnus Flyte? Two women, it turns out. So this chick-lit impression was not unreasonable. But it's quite good chick-lit. A bit silly sometimes, often suspend-judgement-here, but really quite an entertaining adventure. Lara Croft meets Beethoven.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    In spite of a couple of sex scenes, this mostly reads like a YA novel. I'm probably interested enough to read the sequel, but I won't be rushing out to buy it. Mostly, it was just an ok story with ok writing and only-sort-of developed characters.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This is not the usual type of book for me, but something must have intrigued me. There were a few times when I wondered if I wanted to continue reading the book, but I am glad that I finished it, and even read the sequel, and enjoyed both!!
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I am very upset about this book. After the first few minutes of listening to the audio book, I fell in love with it. I loved Sarah deep knowledge of music. But once in Prague, she's all about the sex and does a guy in a dark bathroom. Doesn't even know who it is. This is after a different guy, whom she met 2 minutes before, helps her to masturbate at a dinner table shared by a dozen other scholars. By chapter 12 she's been arrested for art theft, which she couldn't have done because she was having sex, and there is not a single sign of any magic, dark or otherwise. So no. Not for me. Not finishing this book.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Sarah Weston is an expert on Ludwig Von Beethoven, sure, but she is still really surprised when she is invited to Prague to work on an exhibition of Beethoven artifacts owned by the House of Lobkowicz. It turns out that the position was originally held by Sarah's mentor and PhD adviser, but he supposedly committed suicide a few days prior. Upon arriving in Prague Sarah makes friends with, among others, the current Price Lobkowicz and a little person named Nico. However, she is unsure whom she can trust as there is clearly a conspiracy going on that dates back not just to the KGB in the 1970s, but also to Beethoven himself.Another novel that felt like it was trying too hard to do too much (though this one did not feel too long). There wasn't anything particularly wrong with it, but I didn't feel very thrilled by the mysteries and conspiracies. I also couldn't really connect with the characters, which was surprising since there is a great deal of accurate historical fiction involved. My hopes might have been too high - I love magic and adore Prague - but I just felt vaguely disappointed. I would argue that there is not actually any magic in the book at all. Also, while there is not technically a "cliff-hanger", almost all of the plot lines are left open going into the next book. Which I might not read.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I can't finish this. Only 20% in and I'm not only confused, I'm bored and mildly baffled at Sarah's character. I'm not a prude, but the sheer amount of sexual tension/acts in the first part of this book really threw me off. I'm just done.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Preposterous, silly, enjoyable high-brow historical magical mystery farce.

    Not a fantasy: not serious enough. Not a mystery: not convincing enough. Not magical realism: too un-profound. More like a long fable told by a super-intelligent, really drunk raconteur.

    Check your disbelief at the gate, buckle in, and enjoy.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I am giving this book 5 stars not because I absolutely loved it but because there was nothing about it that I disliked in any manner. It was extremely well written and kept my attention. It was also well balanced between romance and fiction so that it wasn't just one or the other which is hard to find.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book had, for me, an uneven mix of good and bad. At times it seemed like I was reading the work of a bunch of peurile guys sitting around fantasizing about elements to add for a fun story: brilliant and beautiful heroine who loves sex, handsome and rich hero, cardboard evil woman (one for each of the books), an abundance of flatulence jokes, anonymous sex, instant sex, solitary sex, athletic sex, a bit of murder, a bit of mayhem, a travelogue, and in the second book, Vienna), hallucinogenic toenails, alchemy, and the obligatory dwarf.[Much to my surprise, the bunch of peurile guys I imagined to be using the pseudonym Magnus Flyte actually turned out to be two female writers working in collaboration: novelist Meg Howrey and screenwriter Christina Lynch.]In this sort of college version of Dan Brown (history/mystery/art/evil/blasts from the past), we follow the escapades of Sarah Weston, 26 when we first meet her, who is a graduate student of neuromusicology. She has been invited to Prague to be a part of a team of academics curating a museum collection at the Lobkowicz Palace, where she will work on authenticating the papers of Beethoven, whose work is her specialty. Sarah believes she has been selected on the recommendation of her mentor, Dr. Absalom Sherbatsky, who preceded her there but died mysteriously in a seeming suicide. He had always championed Sarah because of her seemingly heightened power of sense, which, however, is not as great as that of her precocious, blind 11-year-old piano student Pollina.Pollina is distraught that Sarah is going to Prague. She warns her: "Prague is a threshold ... between the life of good and...the other. Prague is a place where the fabric of time is thin.”How does Pollina know this? It’s all part of the “spooky action at a distance” (as Einstein called quantum entanglement, or QE). Sarah doesn’t refer to QE directly, although she’s all over the ideas of dark matter and dark energy and the “relativity” of time. In Prague, Sarah joins forces with the heir to the castle - Max, and his friend the dwarf Nico, to discover why Dr. Sherbatsky died, why others are being murdered, and why even Sarah’s life is in danger for trying to get to the bottom of everything. In addition, she helps Max in his quest for the Golden Fleece, depicted in this series as a book that might contain “the mystical theory of everything, or spells of ultimate power, or maybe just a load of crap.” In order to find out, Sarah needs to take the hallucinogenic toenails….Evaluation: This book incorporates an eclectic blend of art, music, and history, and has both positive and negative aspects. I’ve mentioned some of the negative; but I would be remiss not to point out that there are some very nice epistemological discussions of science versus magic, some great travel info (if a bit too much), and wonderful reflections on the power of music, “the language that transversed time.” So true.If you would appreciate a "zany" sort of "mad-cap" mystery with lots of travel and art information, this book will definitely fit the bill.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    MORE SEX IN THE CITY THAN CITY OF DARK MAGICWhen I saw this at the library, I snatched it up because I'm interested in Prague, mysterious quests and time travel. Sarah Weston, a musicologist working on her Ph.D., receives a strange visitor; a dwarf named Nicolas Pertusano delivers an invitation for Sarah to use the summer to take on the task of organizing the music collection at the Lobkowitz Museum in Prague.No sooner does Sarah accept the job than strange events begin to occur, like a break-in at her apartment and word that her academic mentor took drugs and committed suicide. But Sarah finds that the museum houses unimaginable treasures, including handwritten manuscripts by Sarah's idol, Beethoven. It's also home to the handsome and mysterious Max, heir to the Lobkowitz properties.Somebody seems to want Sarah to get out of the Museum and Prague, and she begins to fear for her life, as other members of the museum staff are killed. Then Sarah finds that the drug her mentor took was something that allows the mind to see and hear events that occurred through the centuries, and her research into Beethoven's life takes on a whole new dimension.Although the book description promises paranormal suspense, romance and tons of Prague atmosphere, it read more like a soft-core porn version of Sex in the City, with Sarah Weston playing the Carrie Bradshaw part and Prague standing in for NYC. For me, there was way too much information about Sarah's sexual escapades and far too little about the city or the dark magic.It was hard to suspend my disbelief when the authors make so many factual errors and sneer at people and places they don't deem cool enough. Sarah refers to a disgrace possibly resulting in her having to get a job at a small women's college in Idaho where they've barely heard of Prague and think Beethoven is just the cartoon Schroeder's idol.They write that Sarah receives an inch-thick stack of Czech 100-crown notes before her trip to Prague because that's what it takes to pay for a taxi ride from the airport to the city center. In fact, it would take only about seven of those notes. They're also unclear on basics, writing numerous times that flights from Boston and other east coast cities take 11 hours to get to Prague's Ruzyne Airport. Well, there are no nonstops to Ruzyne from Boston, so it could take 11 hours for the whole trip, but the references imply strongly that the flights are nonstops, in which case it would take only about eight hours. And these are just errors from the first chapters of the book.All the errors, attitude and raunch made this book a flight of fancy that never leaves the ground.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I received this book as a Goodreads ARC giveaway. This was a great book and I really enjoy it
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was fun. A readalike for Deborah Harkness' Shadow of Night, but more of a James Bond-like romp, with spies, alchemy and music history rather than witches and vampires. Musicologist, grad student & free spirit Sarah Weston is offered a dream summer job in Prague of cataloging rare Beethoven manuscripts, after her mentor mysteriously commits suicide there. When she arrives at the Prague castle, she finds a variety of scholars there, cataloging the newly restituted royal family's treasures that are gradually being recovered from past Nazi as well as Communist seizure. She is drawn into an adventure involving "time travel" of sorts, where through alchemical drugs she sees layers of history being enacted in front of her, including that of Beethoven with his mysterious "Immortal Beloved". She and Prince Max embark on a suspenseful and fast paced quest to solve a mystery through the ages despite danger and alchemically induced nightmares. I have the impression this will be a series.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    When Sarah Weston, a graduate student receives an opportunity to go to Prague to catalog Beethoven's manuscripts in a family estate,she finds herself in an unusual mix of characters and mysterious circumstances that may all be part of the death of her mentor. Time travel, history, secret passages, and an amusing cast of characters make this a great read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    As with all time-travel books, you'll suspend your disbelief, and a bit more so with this one. It does have an interesting twist that will appeal to music lovers. Beethoven reaching out through the ages to play for his "Immortal Beloved," murder, lost treasures, and the pursuit of the Golden Fleece, all culminating in a one way trip through a hell portal for the antagonist. A little sex, alchemy and love keep the story moving, but it's uneven storytelling. Good for a summer/beach read.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Disappointed. The title and description are misleading. The main character goes to Prague for a summer job cataloging Beethoven's manuscripts. She ends up being a sleuth in a big mystery. It would have been ok if that is what we expect, only the heading on the back cover leads us to believe that there will be time traveling, magic, alchemists.. Well not much of that. I forced myself to finish it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Just finished this book and it is a roller coaster of history and present day. Prague is not a place I have read much about, but I absolutely loved the premiss of this book. I found it entertaining and easy to read. As a huge fan of history, I love authors that are able to combine the present with the past in a cohesive story. There were a few things about the book that bothered me a little, but overall as one other reviewer said "deliciously madcap novel has it all...." I would go on another adventure with Magnus Flyte.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Can honestly say I'll be completely bias - as my family hails from the Czech and I love it's history - I knew I'd love this but even besides that this book is beautiful written and extremly creative. It was a book once I started reading I had a hard time concentrating on anything but the book and hated when I had to put it down to do something else. Worth the read!!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Entertaining wild romp filled with history, romance, comedy, action and magic. All set in the ancient city of Prague where the threshold between past and present is thin and seeped in blood. Co-writen by two imaginative young women. SRH
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book (received from Netgalley) did not get off on the right foot with me. The publisher apparently thought it would be oh-so-amusing to put this little note at the very beginning: "The manuscript of the book you are about to read arrived in the mail one day at Penguin headquarters in New York with no cover letter. It was written on stationery from the Hotel La Mamounia in Marrakech using a manual typewriter, and postmarked on the Isle of Mull. The return address was simply 'Flyte, Magnus.' When the editors sought details about the author, they found them to be conflicting. He may be American. He may have ties to one or more intelligence organizations, including a radical group of Antarctic separatists. He may be the author of a monograph on carnivorous butterflies. He may live in Venice, Vienna, Vladivostok, or Vermont. City of Dark Magic may be his first novel. I hate cutesy author profiles. This has an archness to it, an aren't-we-clever-ness, which I find completely off-putting – and that's without even bothering to bring up the little fact that a writer sending in a book as described would have their manuscript circular-filed before the echoes of the manual typewriter died. This just … isn't funny. In point of fact, two women wrote it. Just say so. Adding to the bad taste that left in my mouth - The Goodreads ad that keeps popping up for it: "What do a music student, a U.S. senator, a 400 year-old dwarf, and a time-traveling prince have in common? A mystery in Prague. 'This deliciously madcap novel has it all' – Conan O'Brien(Really? Conan O'Brien a) reviewed a book and b) called it "deliciously madcap"? Are we talking about the same Conan O'Brien?) It irritated me because the "400 year-old dwarf" thing was a complete spoiler for me. I was going to put spoiler tags on it, but it's in the ad, and in the GR synopsis, so … *shrug* OK. Whatever. The other irritation is – "madcap"? I … no. No, it's not. Madcap: wildly or heedlessly impulsive; reckless; rash: a madcap scheme. Synonyms: Farce, romp, frolic. Bringing Up Baby is the first movie to come to mind and also in a search. Bringing Up Baby does not have a body count. (Arsenic and Old Lace, also a madcap comedy, does certainly have a body count, but all those killed are a) killed off-screen, b) are complete strangers to the viewer, and c) are killed by well-meaning old ladies. And it's very well written. A&OL is funny, which is helpful in a comedy.)A body count racked up by government baddies and the CIA and the KGB and whatever else is in here (what isn't in here?) and including among its number a loved one of a main character and someone rather nice and inoffensive who never did anything to annoy me unlike the main characters - ? Not madcap. Sarah Weston is a music student in Boston; her mentor went to Prague to work on the music section of the creation of a museum for the straggling heirs of a Czech royal family, from a massive amount of treasure that had either survived or been recovered from the Nazis and the communists. There are hand-written papers from Beethoven in the collection, which is how Sarah's mentor got involved, and he has recommended her to come and assist him. This job offer comes hand-delivered by a dwarf retainer of the Lobkowicz family, and is followed shortly by word of Sarah's mentor's death by suicide. There is some good stuff in here. The writing was solid. It just wasn't "madcap", or altogether consistent. I seem to say this a lot lately, but – I wanted to like Sarah. One stumbling block for that is … well, she's a sl- no. I'll be nice. She is an enthusiastic connoisseur of the sex act. The – no, I have to say it: the sluttiness didn't really seem to fit in with the rest of her personality, but there is an Encounter on her very first evening in the Palace. Two, really, with two different men, one at the table in the middle of dinner with someone she has barely met, followed by one in a bathroom – and the male partner in the latter remains a mystery to her for several chapters. I'm sorry. I don't like starting off a book completely disgusted with the main character I'm expected to spend the next couple hundred pages with. As for the rest of it … I don't see farce here. I don't see madcap. If this had been written as a serious mystery/fantasy/whatever with a sense of humor, it might have worked; the reason this made it to three stars instead of less was that there were moments that actually had me by the metaphorical lapels, and had me fascinated. But … it was trying to be a farce. Actually, I think it was trying to be the Pink Panther – and I hate to admit it, I didn't find that terribly funny, either. Either time. Most of the impulsive behavior (see "madcap" definition above) encompasses sex, which just annoyed me more than anything. Perhaps the fact that Sarah is given the ability to see Beethoven, and he farts a lot - ? Maybe that was supposed to be funny. Gas is always funny, right? Wait, there's a dwarf – is that supposed to be inherently funny? What looks like a toenail in a box, which Our Heroine ingests? Tee hee? Yeah – no. I didn't think so. It was all of a piece with that weird little intro – trying to be arch and coy and funny. And failing. I don't know. I said there was some good stuff in here; there certainly was a lot of stuff in here – kind of like the masses of all kinds of treasure and artifact the experts are combing through in the Palace. But where they ended up with a beautiful, elegant museum showcasing all the wonderful things, this – this was just a bit of a mess. Spy caper? Comedy? Fantasy? Mystery? Political commentary? Tick off "All of the above". If the writer(s) (or editors) had just picked one - even two - of these and concentrated on doing that well, this could have been good.At least now I can live the rest of my life knowing Beethoven was gassy. Yay me.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Great mix of facts, history and fantasy! The story is real enough to keep me reading on, yet has great jumps into the fantasy world.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I have a soft spot for urban fantasy. I don’t know if it’s the paranormal haze that overtakes the story or if it’s the ridiculous quality that some stories take on when fantasy and paranormal mix, but in this book, it’s the latter. That ridiculous quality is the draw for me.Sarah Weston is a talented music student in Boston but a student with few lucrative prospects in her path. When she’s offered a very profitable summer job in Prague cataloguing Beethoven’s manuscripts for a new museum, she jumps at the opportunity. Sarah arrives in Prague and is immediately hit with bad news --- her mentor, the man who most likely recommended her for the position, is dead of an apparent suicide. She has trouble believing the story which gets even stranger when odd things begin happening to her. Weird symbols start appearing in unlikely places, she accidently stumbles on a Cold War conspiracy involving a very prominent U.S. Senator, and then there’s the time travel inducing drug she takes without knowing what it does. Throw in a romance with a prince and you’ve got a very busy summer that also includes putting together an exhibit on Beethoven.A standard rule I have when reading a book such as this --- remove all sense of reality then enjoy at will. City of Dark Magic is a fast read, silly, yet entertaining. It’s campy and you want to keep reading because it’s compelling in its strange way. I wanted to know what else could be thrown in the mix. This book is a huge mashup of genres: paranormal, mystery, thriller, time travel, and romance. Prague, with its long and sometimes dark history, is a good setting for it all but I do wish the city itself had played a larger role in the story. It’s a location and not much more.Sarah’s the center of everything weird going on but she’s not the most interesting character for me. There are two others: Pollina, a blind musical prodigy who keeps warning Sarah with cryptic references about Prague, and Nicolas, a little person with a penchant for stealing valuable objects and who hints at being alive for close to 400 years. Pollina and Nicholas play scant parts in the story but they also made it for me. You don’t know much about either but each time one of them shows up, something interesting happens. I like characters like that.Then we have the romance, which is more like sex in weird places rather than a straight forward romance. Sarah falls for Max, the heir apparent of the Prague royal family and also heir to an enormous fortune. Frankly, I had no idea what Sarah saw in him. He gets slightly more interesting as the story goes on but he’s sort like a light bulb --- on one second, off the next but the two work as a couple.I gravitate toward books with any time travel element. Here, it’s a bit different, less actual travel to the past and more watching the past thanks to a drug that allows users to see the remnants of history but not interact with it. Think of it as watching a movie. The concept is cool. In fact, it works extremely well and is one of the best parts of the book. Points for creativity need to be awarded for this. Sometimes you want a book that simply entertains and City of Dark Magic does that. There’s a bit of everything and when one scene seems impossible, know that the next will top it. Go with it. It’s a good ride and a great way to escape reality for a bit.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The premise of this book was a great hook. Sarah Weston is a grad student specializing in Beethoven. When a former professor dies in Prague, Sarah is handpicked to replace him at Prague Castle, readying the muscian's papers and other finds over the summer in preparation of the Castle's opening as a public museum. Prague is a dark place, where there are princes and magic and dwarves and a possible murder. There are also a lot of characters and a lot of storylines cropping up and down throughout this perhaps too long book. There's one other gimmick. Magnus Flyte, whereabouts and true career unknown, has supposedly mailed this novel to Penguin for publication with absolutely no way to reach him.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Sarah Weston is a doctoral student enamored with all things Beethoven. When she is offered the opportunity of a lifetime to spend the summer in Prague overseeing the Beethoven collection at the newly minted Lobkowicz Palace Museum, she briefly hesitates before accepting. Sarah is a little wary of the scope of her job, but knows she'll never have another opportunity like this in her lifetime. She is not only in the same room with musical manuscripts written by Beethoven, but she is walking in his footsteps as she wanders around the palace. Sarah also finds it hard to believe that Dr. Sherbatsky, her mentor, could have committed suicide while conducting such prestigious work on the Beethoven manuscripts.The more Sarah reveals the more confused and wary she becomes. What does Dr. Sherbatsky's death have to do with Luigi and the Lobkowicz family? Can she trust Nicolas Pertusato, the little person that claims to be four hundred years old? She is attracted to Max Lobkowicz Anderson, the current Prince, but he's keeping secrets from her so can she trust him? How is current intrigue linked to the mysteries of the past and Beethoven? City of Dark Magic isn't about magic per se, but it does weave alchemy, the magic of science and beauty of music along with history into the story. There are obvious dark elements at play in the background but these are the obvious machinations of influential people craving more power. Sarah Weston is the focal point of the story as she has the knowledge of music and the innate ability to "walk through time" to see events from the past. Of course this ability is greatly enhanced by an alchemical drug . . . apparently the same drug that Beethoven had used to help him "hear" better. The authors have carefully crafted a story that incorporates historical tidbits and the wonders of the city of Prague into a modern story. It isn't possible to separate the past from the present and that seems to be the underlying theme to this story. Sarah wants to gain better understanding of Beethoven and his art and this only possible through careful study of his past. Max wants to protect the past and better understand all facets of his family's history, good and bad.It took me awhile to become engrossed in the story, but once I did I found it hard to set this book aside. I rather enjoyed seeing Sarah evolve as an amateur sleuth and the constant surprises wrought by her discoveries. The cast of characters includes an eleven-year-old blind, musical prodigy (Pollina) that sees more than people realize, the four hundred year old dwarf that simply desires an end to his life, the current Lobkowicz Prince on a quest to locate and protect the Golden Fleece, a power hungry Lobkowicz cousin and US senator, and a host of various scholars. The more the authors reveal, the more mysteries there are to uncover. City of Dark Magic provides the reader with murders, international intrigue, historical intrigue, and a bit of romance. Although I did enjoy reading City of Dark Magic and liked all of the characters and settings, I found the sex scenes to be somewhat extraneous and felt they added nothing to the story. I look forward to reading the sequel and can only hope that many of the characters, especially Pollina and Nicolas, make a return.