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Cosmically fast-paced, wildly imaginative, and with City of Lost Dreams—the bewitching sequel—on shelves now, City of Dark Magic is the 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.
And the story continues in City of Lost Dreams, the mesmerizing sequel, which finds Sarah in the heart of Vienna, embroiled in a new web of mystical secrets and treacherous lies.
- Sales Rank: #114824 in eBooks
- Published on: 2012-11-27
- Released on: 2012-11-27
- Format: Kindle eBook
From Publishers Weekly
Cleverly combining time travel, murder, history, and musical lore, this is a breezy, lighthearted novel. Sarah Weston is researching her Ph.D. in neurological musicology in Boston when a letter arrives summoning her to Prague. Maximilian Lobkowicz, the heir to the ancient Lobkowicz fortune, is planning to turn the family palace, located within the Prague Castle complex, into a museum; Sarah's job will be to establish the relationship between one of the first Lobkowicz princes and Ludwig von Beethoven. Sarah is warned that Prague is a threshold to dark magic, passion and violence, and she suspects that mysteries await. And how. A little person gives Sarah a pill shaped like one of Beethoven's toenails that allows her to move through time, encapsulating many centuries. She not only sees Beethoven but also several of the dead Lobkowicz princes; Tycho Brahe, the 16th-century alchemist; and also Nico, who was at that time called Jepp and is now 400 years old. Plucky, impulsive, and reckless, Sarah is determined to discover the identity of Beethoven's Immortal Beloved, and time and again she's a hair's breath from death in dangerous situations. Tensions rise when Sarah's Boston violin pupil, 11-year-old blind musical prodigy Pollina, arrives in Prague and warns Sarah about forces conspiring against her. Complicating an already tangled plot, an evil senator from Virginia with the U. S. presidency in her sights schemes to kill anyone between her and some incriminating letters she wrote to her erstwhile lover, a KGB officer, while she was CIA. In a story that abounds in mysterious portents, wild coincidences, violent death, and furtive but lusty sexual congress, Flyte (the pseudonym for TV writer Christina Lynch and Meg Howrey, author of Cranes Dance) also offers a veritable guide to Prague that includes such historical references as Rabbi Loew's golem, the Golden Fleece, the Holy Infant of Prague, and a vault under St. Vitus Cathedral, where Sarah and Max find themselves in a tense denouement that promises a sequel. (Dec.)
From Booklist
The darkly charming and twisted streets of Prague provide the deliciously dramatic backdrop for this paranormal romp that fires on all cylinders, masquerading by turns as a romance, a time-travel thriller, and a tongue-in-cheek mystery. Summoned to Prague to the Lobkowicz Palace, located inside the cavernous confines of the Prague Castle, to archive Beethoven’s manuscripts and, perhaps, even to unlock the secrecy surrounding Beethoven’s “Immortal Beloved,” musicologist Sarah Weston seizes the opportunity of a lifetime and never looks back—except when she begins time-traveling, of course. Before she even arrives in Prague, bad things start to happen, such as the suspicious suicide of her mentor/predecessor at the palace. What follows is a pulse-pounding adventure, as Sarah, with the aid of a powerful mind- and time-bending drug, zips through the centuries in search of clues that will unlock a timeless musical mystery. --Margaret Flanagan
Review
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
"NEW AND NOTEWORTHY" PICK BY USA TODAY
Praise for City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte:
“This deliciously madcap novel has it all: murder in Prague, time travel, a misanthropic Beethoven, tantric sex, and a dwarf with attitude. I salute you, Magnus Flyte!”
—Conan O'Brien
“The most wickedly enchanting novel I’ve ever read and also the funniest. A Champagne magnum of intrigue and wit, this book sparkles from beginning to end.”
—Anne Fortier, bestselling author of Juliet
“An entertaining mix of magic, mystery and romance, it’s one of the most original novels released this year.”
—CNN.com
“A fantastical adventure set in the world’s most emo city. … A growing number of novels seek to erect fanciful bulwarks against the dull logistical deluge of the real world. … To read these novels is to finally and happily tread the literally magical streets of cities that will only ever exist in our naïve imaginings. The officious yet sinister London of China Mieville, Neal Gaiman, Jonathan Barnes, and Mark Hodder; the tense, swollen Istanbul of Ian McDonald; Emma Bull’s faerie-haunted Minneapolis, Rob Thurman’s monstrous New York City, Laurell K. Hamilton’s matter-of-factly supernatural St. Louis: None of them exist, yet all of them are real. To this almanac add the Prague of City of Dark Magic, by Magnus Flyte. … Beguiling …City of Dark Magicnever fails to shimmer exotically, erotically, on the page.”
—Slate.com
“A comical, rollicking and sexy thriller.”
—Huffington Post
“I was sold on newcomer Magnus Flyte’s recent novel when I looked at the clock and realized that I’d been reading for four hours without pause. … Rom-coms can, indeed, be smart, sexy, and self-aware.”
—Tor.com
“Sometimes you want a book that simply entertains, and City of Dark Magic does just 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.”
—Bookreporter.com
“The riddle of Beethoven’s 'Immortal Beloved,' alchemy and clandestine love fuse in this fast-paced, funny, romantic mystery. ... An exuberant, surprising gem.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“A story that abounds in mysterious portents, wild coincidences, violent death, and furtive but lusty sex ... [this novel] cleverly combin[es] time travel, murder, history, and musical lore.”
—Publishers Weekly
“The darkly charming and twisted streets of Prague provide the deliciously dramatic backdrop for this paranormal romp that fires on all cylinders, masquerading by turns as a romance, a time-travel thriller, and a tongue-in-cheek mystery.”
—Booklist
“A wild ride through the streets and history of Prague. … The author has crafted a beautiful work of art in this novel and I found myself drawn in as much as Sarah. A tantalizing world grows in your mind’s eye as the author’s words paint the picture effortlessly with tempestuous characters and a beautifully dark setting.”
—Bibliophilic Book Blog
“The riddle of Beethoven’s ‘Immortal Beloved,’ alchemy and clandestine love fuse in this fast-paced, funny, romantic mystery. Meg Howrey (The Cranes Dance, 2012, etc.) and television writer Christina Lynch have combined their talents, writing under the pseudonym Magnus Flyte. Brilliant musicologist Sarah Weston has been summoned to Prague to catalog Beethoven manuscripts at the Lobkowicz Palace. How can she refuse? Her mentor, Professor Sherbatsky, has defenestrated himself from the palace, and a dwarf has appeared at her door, encouraging her to go and presenting her with a pillbox containing what appears to be a toenail clipping. Yet Prague is a dangerous place, a place where the walls between worlds have thinned to precariously fragile layers. But Sarah cannot believe Sherbatsky committed suicide, and she is eager to study the manuscripts, so she begins to pack. Before she can even get to the airport, however, someone breaks into her apartment. Nothing appears to be stolen, but an ominous alchemical symbol has been drawn on her kitchen ceiling. Once in Prague, events turn both stranger and sexier. The castle lies at the center of a dispute between two branches of the Lobkowicz family. As Sarah dutifully sifts through the manuscripts, she discovers clues not only about the “Immortal Beloved,” but also Sherbatsky’s strange behavior leading up to his death. The other scholars hired that summer to catalog the castle’s contents suspect Sherbatsky of drug use, and Sarah finds herself experimenting with the time-warping drug. She also accidentally has anonymous sex in the bathroom, joins forces with a 400-year-old dwarf, lands in jail and falls in love with the prince. But Sarah has also attracted an enemy, someone who will stop at nothing to keep Sarah from discovering a secret of perhaps international proportions. Even the minor characters are drawn ingeniously in this exuberant, surprising gem.”
—Kirkus Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
80 of 84 people found the following review helpful.
Delicious
By LDavid
I was surprised to read some poor reviews of CITY OF DARK MAGIC. I'm not a regular reader of fantasy fiction, and in fact my usual book stack includes fiction of the "literary" sort, but I read CODM because I'm lucky to be a friend of a friend of one of the authors (there's full disclosure). To be honest, I wasn't thrilled to pick up the galley, but I was shocked to find how much I enjoyed this book. In the midst of the Edward St. Aubyn novels, or Andrew Solomon's new FAR FROM THE TREE, I kept hopping back to City of Dark Magic because it is just such intelligent fun.
Why? Because the book has taken the conventions of the fantasy genre and the WWII novel, rolled it up with some of the traditional spy schtick, dropped in some romance, and grounded it all in historically accurate biography of Beethoven, the astronomer Tycho Brahe, and all the patrons who supported and tormented them. There are lines throughout that made me laugh out loud ("The Nazis had been one thing. The communists another. But now there were *academics* crawling all over the palace") and that gesture to the fact that the authors are quite deliberately playing on the usual tropes of this sort of fiction. The book's small ventures into tiny objects of private interest--the search for Beethoven's Immortal Beloved, the placement of Prague as the mystical gateway between East and West, even the various tchotchkes being groomed and preserved at the palace--thrilled me, and made me feel in the presence of smart writers who understood their book as entertainment and wanted me to have a good time on the ride.
Is this book a confection? Absolutely. I don't intend to plumb the depths of the characters. But I was more than happy to go along with it, and I can say this: I've got a raft of award-winners on my night stand. But this is the book I stayed up well into the early morning to finish. Almost guiltily, but certainly with a lot of pleasure. I'll be giving this book to my reading friends for Christmas. In my opinion, it's just good, smart fun!
60 of 69 people found the following review helpful.
I was expecting contemporary fiction mixed with fantasy, but this book read more like a disjointed YA
By Christal
Originally posted at BadassBookReviews.com!
I've got to admit, when I saw City of Dark Magic on Netgalley, I was lured in by the pretty cover and promise of dark magic. I thought I was getting a fantasy novel set in menacing Prague that would be full of magic and portals to other worlds. This book actually turned out to be more of a contemporary spy novel with some alchemy thrown in to explain a few things. Personally, I didn't connect with this novel or its characters and couldn't really recommend it to anyone looking for a fantasy or even urban fantasy read, but other reviewers seem to have enjoyed the book much more than me. I think it helps to know what you are getting into from the beginning instead of expecting one type of book and getting another.
The writing in this book was a little off-putting for me. It felt like I was reading a YA novel, but there were some pretty descriptive sex scenes that negated that notion. The writing just didn't flow very well and the conversations felt especially stilted. The pacing was also oddly inconsistent; I never felt a sense of urgency until the last thirty or so pages of the book. I did think the descriptions of Prague and its historical landmarks were well done though, so the writing wasn't a totally unpleasant.
City of Dark Magic had a strange and somewhat convoluted plot. We begin thinking that Sarah will be investigating the death of her mentor but that is wrapped up pretty quickly; then it seems to connect to Beethoven's Immortal Beloved letters, but that doesn't really go anywhere. Another thread begins with the American senator, Charlotte Yates. We are given her inside POV and she is setup as the bad guy from the get-go, so no real mystery for the reader. As Sarah and Max are learning about her background, the reader already knows everything so their reactions don't have much of an impact. Finally, Max is searching for the Golden Fleece and that remains a loose end. The plot was just not very cohesive at all and many pieces felt extraneous. The alchemy and time-travel felt more tacked on as an outside "air of mystery" than actually central to the story. I am entirely grossed out by the fact that Sarah and Max were eating toenails at the beginning of the story in order to ingest the time-travel drug. Yes, actual toenails that had residual amounts of the drug from the original user. Not toenail-shaped pills, actual toenails. Yuck!
The main heroine is Sarah Weston, a doctoral candidate who ends up in Prague for the summer after receiving a mysterious job offer. I never really connected to Sarah and didn't believe her as a "sleuth." She seemed to learn everything by accident or just happened to be in the right place at the right time. The fact that she used her nose to make judgments was weird as well. She could smell when she was attracted to other people, she could smell when things were fishy, and she almost literally sniffed out a bomb. These weren't hypothetical smellings either; she actually used odors to make her decisions. It was more than a little strange. Her original characterization made it seem like she was a smart, no-nonsense kind of girl, but she made some really bad choices right off the bat that made it hard to take her seriously for the rest of the book.
Max was the main love interest, and it bothered me that other characters were telling Sarah she was in love with him after she had only met him twice. I don't have any clue where that came from. Overall, Max was a pretty bland character. Nothing about him really stood out to me. Even thinking back right now, I couldn't describe him to you for the life of me. Most of the other characters in this book also suffered from a one-dimensional characterization. There are many other scholars with Sarah and Max, but they all just blend together into an unimportant smarty soup.
The most intriguing characters in this book were Nico, an immortal dwarf, and Pols, a blind child prodigy. Of course we only got to spend a little time with each of them, but I would have been interested to learn more from their points of view. Nico is trying to find a way to die. He took an eternal life potion unknowingly and he has been alive for more than 400 years now. Pols is an absolute wonder on the piano but her condition has kept her mostly at home where she has become deeply religious and even thinks she can feel Beethoven when she is playing. I enjoyed all of their plot time immensely.
All in all, this book wasn't for me. The changing characteristics of the plot didn't do it many favors, and it seemed the writers couldn't decide what type of story they wanted to tell. The paranormal aspects weren't strong enough for me to recommend this to fantasy readers, and the mystery wasn't developed well enough for me to recommend this to readers of thrillers or spy novels. I would maybe recommend this to adult YA readers, but only with the caveat that it is more spy games than fantasy.
Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Books for providing an ARC copy of this book!
24 of 26 people found the following review helpful.
One of the Most Enchanting Books I've Ever Read!!
By Stephanie Ward
4.5 Stars
'City of Dark Magic' is a unique and mysterious thrill ride of a novel - unlike anything I've read before. The plot surrounds the Prague Castle and the army of academics who have taken over for the summer in order to restore the Lubkowicz Palace to its former glory and turn it into a museum filled with centuries old treasures. The story focuses on Sarah Weston, a music expert from Boston who is invited to help with the museum - specifically with the artifacts concerning Beethoven. Sarah can't ignore all the strange happenings that begin soon after her arrival and then people start dying. Who can Sarah trust? Who is the person behind all this chaos? And what is this mind altering drug that the Prince and her mentor were taking? Will Sarah be able to get to the bottom of everything before it's too late?
This novel was an enchanting and exciting blend of genres that I immediately fell in love with. There is so much going on during the book - murders, intrigue, mayhem, sex, drugs, time travel, alchemy and espionage to name a few - that it sucks you in and doesn't let go until the final word is read. The characters are all very interesting and distinct. I felt like they were a great cast of personalities for the book and all played their parts to perfection. I really liked the character of Sarah. She was brilliant and intuitive, but she definitely had flaws and character traits that made her feel very real. There is sex, swearing, and drugs in the novel, but this didn't bother me because it didn't detract from the main story. (Well, the drug in question may have actually enhanced the plot.)
Speaking of the plot - I barely have words to explain it. The authors paint such a vivid and beautiful depiction of both Prague and the Palace - it was easy to insert myself into the setting and the story. There are several story lines that happen at once in the book, all of which are some sort of mystery waiting to be untangled, and all seem to fit together in some way that doesn't show itself to the reader until the end. The main thread of the story is magical and breathtaking in it's entirety and I was enchanted by the way the story was told, the story itself, and the subject matter that was talked about. All of it wound together to make an unbelievably compelling novel that will resonate with me for a long time to come. It's one of those books that you feel you must re-read over and over in order to pick up on small details you missed before and also just to lose yourself in its pages again. In summary, this is one of the most imaginative and fascinating books I've ever read. It breaks genre boundaries and opens the reader up to endless possibilities. Highly recommended!
Disclosure: I received a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
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