City of Dark Magic by: Magnus Flyte (2012)
448 pages
Genre: Fiction/Paranormal
Publisher: Penguin Books
Source: The Library
Purchase: Barnes and Noble | The Book Depository
Goodreads Summary: 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
When I first started reading City of Dark Magic I thought it would be a challenge to actually enjoy it since I felt like the content about famous classical music was over my head, but luckily after plowing through the first chapter I became more confident and started feeling less dumb. This was a good thing since no one wants to read a book that makes them feel dumb. I had such a hard time writing this review so I apologize for its briskness.
City of Dark Magic was a very unique novel and nothing what I was expecting, but an enjoyable read all the same. The main character, Sarah, was a funny special kind of interesting person that I can say I immediately enjoyed reading about. I also found Prince Max to be intriguing and charming along with the many other very different minor characters. The only negative thing I have to say about the characters is that it was beyond frustrating that the readers don’t get a lot of time reading about Sarah and Max interacting. My favorite scenes were when they were working together. I also had a few moments where I just wanted to yell at them to TALK to each other instead of assuming things, etc. I guess I just wanted some more romance and even more action since there wasn’t a lot of action during the whole book, although the ending was fantastic.
The paranormal part of this book was a very pleasant addition. It was perfectly different. Without giving anything away… I’m just going to say that the author manages to mix the past and the present and a mystery seamlessly.
Even though City of Dark Magic wasn’t perfect, it was a delightful read and I plan to read the sequel soon. This book would be a great choice for fans of classical music, history, Prague, and a good adventure mystery novel.
