City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte Book Review! The Novel Strumpet Says This Is Perfect For People With Social Media ADD! Time Travel! Sci-Fi! And More!
God bless The Novel Strumpet! It’s been oh so long since we’ve heard her random musings, book reviews and opinions! Sadness…
So, for her return to the Fanboy universe, Strumpet has done a review of City Of Dark Magic! How can you not be excited when the main character is “an olfactory nymphomaniac!” When I think of my nymphomaniacs, I really like them olfactory.
The truth will set you free!
Check out the first Novel Strumpet book review of 2013!
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City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte
This novel’s been out for a couple of months and I was intrigued by some of the reviews and descriptions I read about it. I agree that it’s fun, fast paced, genre defying, etc. however I think these are also its weaknesses.
The main plot centers around Sarah Weston, a Beethoven scholar and olfactory nymphomaniac, who is invited to Prague to finish the work of her beloved mentor who evidently committed suicide while working on Beethoven materials for a soon to be opened museum by the Lobowicz heir, Prince Max. Needless to say, things are not what they appear to be and soon Sarah realizes that her mentor didn’t commit suicide but was murdered. Add to that the mysterious owner of the castle she’s working in, another series of deaths, letters and overheard conversations that lead to ideas of conspiracy and you have a good mystery novel.
However, she also discovers a drug that allows her to walk through the fabrics of time, which may or may not be tied in to dark matter, and the idea that past, present, and future is all happening simultaneously. Also, she finds clues to leading alchemists throughout history and an order set on protecting The Golden Fleece. So now we’re in slight sci/fi and fantasy territory.
And, she becomes more immersed with the owner of the castle (Prince Max) she is working in and learns that his cousin (also a possible heir to the title) may be working with the most respected Senator in the U.S. to try and take his inheritance, if not his life. So now it’s a quasi-political thriller romance.
And so on…
One second your in a paranormal romance, then a time traveling sci/fi romp, then a historical mystery, then a political thriller…none of them really blend into each other seamlessly. At best there’s so much going on you can’t really lose interest because it never stalls, at worst it’s so schizophrenic the action makes no sense.
I found it hard to like Sarah, mostly because she changes so often – one second a dedicated Beethoven scholar, then a Nancy Drew/Scooby-Doo type detective, then a horny woman (I’m really not making too much of this, she passes by a statue nearly every chapter that turns her on, not kidding), then back again – it’s hard to really get a feel for her. Kind of like the novel itself.
Not to say I didn’t like it, I did. It was fun, and I loved all the stuff dealing with Beethoven and the time travel drug, the sort of homage to Prague’s unique atmosphere, and the mysterious symbols and alchemical tributes, but it just needed focus. Perhaps the author (well authors) needed a familiar to help them channel their imaginative energies. I feel like taking any of the genres it strived to be and focusing on that one would’ve worked. There were so many to choose from. I felt like I was a little gipped on nearly every level because you can’t get too deep into any theory, problem, etc.
I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s not worth the read, just beware. If you aren’t someone who has twelve windows opened on your browser and several apps running on your phone simultaneously you might just find this read too chaotic. I think it can only appeal to people who suffer from social media ADD since they won’t be as jarred by the constant shifts. 400+ pages and I don’t think the book found its identity once.
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