CITY OF DARK MAGIC, Magnus Flyte

First of all, let me just say that if you’re going to use a penname, it must carry the epic and mysterious magnitude of Magnus Flyte. Goodness, he sounds like he should be a character in this book! I hope Meg Howrey and Christina Lynch (Flyte’s representatives) go meta at some point and write him into one of their later works. In the words of Shia LaBeouf, just do it.

Also courtesy of Shia LaBeouf, and one of the important lessons of City of Dark Magic: don’t let your dreams be dreams! Unless they involve fire, death and hell portals, in which case, maybe, just let them remain really upsetting dreams. But in case they’re NOT only dreams but actually prophesies, get to stopping them as soon as possible. Kind of a complicated moral, but it makes sense once you get to the end of the book.

Before you start the book, however, you should know that City of Dark Magic isn’t the same kind of fantasy book as most of the other entries I’ve read and reviewed so far. It falls more into paranormal fiction—not even supernatural, per se, because you’re not 100% sure if what causes the strange phenomena are based in magic, science, or simply cosmic forces not understood. So, don’t expect the likes of Harry Potter to show up and zap the problems away, or create them, with magic spells. The “fantasy” in this novel is subtler. Think Da Vinci Code, except with more alchemy, music and sex thrown in.

The central narrative revolves around our protagonist, Sarah Weston. She gets a letter from Prague requesting that she replace her beloved mentor, Dr. Absalom Sherbatsky, as a Beethoven expert for a museum that will shortly be opening. What happened to Sherbatsky? Oh, just the usual—he went tumbling out a window, dubiously deemed a suicide. Spurred by both the mystery and a career making opportunity, she goes to Prague to identify and catalogue documents produced by her favorite composer, as well as solve her teacher’s death. Her arrival reveals a city drenched in glorious and bloody history, some of which Sarah ends up witnessing first-hand. It also throws her in the path of a handsome if slightly uptight prince. To be fair, Prince Max Lobkowicz has to launch a museum of his family’s historic possessions and maintain diplomatic relationships with his Italian cousin who may, or may not, be interested in the family legacy. And there’s Nicholas, a midget who works for Max and who I swear was destined to be played by Peter Dinklage, down to the character’s suave manners, his spy skills, and his bassoon-deep voice.

Along with meeting a colorful ensemble of academics enlisted to set up the new Lobkowicz museum, Sarah and the reader follow a trail of odd clues to not just Sherbatsky’s demise, but the secrets hidden in the letters between Beethoven and his patron, Max’s royal ancestor, and a metal box with what appears to be a toenail. Yeah, a toenail that becomes a somewhat important plot point. I say ‘somewhat’ because the many twists and turns the story follows don’t really affect the ultimate plot. They’re interesting, and they help Sarah grow as a character, but the underlying crisis—a veritable countdown involving an American Congresswoman and a cover-up job—doesn’t come to fruition until the last couple chapters of the book. The pulse-pounding thriller plotline is more of a subplot that kind of stumbles into Sarah’s exploration of Prague, Beethoven’s history, and strange alchemical phenomena immersed in both. This might bother some readers, but Flyte does make the inclusion of Charlotte Yates and her Bond villain-level of megalomaniacal schemes interesting, if not exactly a subtle jab at American (especially Republican) politicians. She’s like a blend of Sarah Palin and Donald Trump as written by Tom Clancy.

What about the fantastical elements of the story, though? Well, it depends on what you’re expecting, but the payoff is clearly underplayed to prompt readers to pick up the book’s sequel, City of Lost Dreams. Does it work? For me, yeah, more or less. I’m not salivating to jump on the next installment, but I’m intrigued by both the characters Flyte has created and the concepts of fantastic feats like immortality, time travel (not in the way you expect), and hell portals having possible roots in science, at least in dark science. I’m still hesitant to call City of Dark Magic either fantasy or science fiction in the popular definitions. That it kind of stands in its own niche deserves recognition and appreciation, and for that I will bookmark the rest of the series for future consideration.

Rating: 4/5