It was one of those books I got from the Box Sale from the Book Depot. I paid $35+tax for it and around 45-49 other books, so yeah. The cover was intriguing and so was the premise so I decided why not? The author's name was also pretty cool too. I mean who can go wrong with a name like Magnus?
The Review of City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte:
The premise of the book is good. Music student is invited by her professor to help with categorizing one of her favorite composure's pieces for a private museum of an important rich families' belongings. Professor commits suicide before said student can leave but she ends up going anyway despite meeting an odd dwarf. No, seriously.
There's also romance thrown in, well, not so much romance, but yes, romance. Anyway, the main character is a sort of free thinker when it comes to men which is totally fine. She also has an impeccable, wait, no, above average sense of smell which she uses to decide whether or not to sleep with a guy. Okay, I can handle that.
She also has an unusually sharp ear because she can hear things/scores/whatever in music most people don't pick up on. Oh. Okay.
Oh, and she's pretty and most guys are willing to do whatever for her because she's so pretty. I mean the 'prince' and only heir of the rich family she's working for immediately falls for her even though she's a student and has no cash. Oh. Um...
And she's musically talented, instrument wise. If I remember correctly she plays piano as well as violin. Um...
Did I mention she's brilliant and has an impeccable memory when it comes to history and music? Oh, well that too.
Then she's living with this super hot male Italian roommate who totally doesn't mind cooking for or getting her alcoholic drinks but she's not sleeping with him because he doesn't have the right smell or something...yeah. Okay, that's. Urg.
Suffice to say: I did not connect nor care about the main character in any way. There was the hint of some kind of horrible past, something to do with her father but I can't remember right now to be honest. The books is also trying to be a triple threat and covering romance, fantasy (there's some rumors about a Hell portal and the dwarf I mentioned isn't a normal person), and mystery since you know, the professor wouldn't have offed himself. Which he didn't. There was a whole big explanation that spanned the whole book, which is the point of a mystery, so, great.
But then we add the 11 year old blind piano prodigy our main has been tutoring because you know, she needs a cool job, oh and the ex-ballerina who bails our main lead out once or twice and has some kind of weird connection with the governor who for some reason wants...
Yeah. There was A LOT going on and having a main character with two exceptional senses, the ability to play duel instruments, being gorgeous, and brilliant on top of all that? Mm, I finished it because I rarely drop a book and the story itself was stellar.
I didn't connect with anyone and the only character I cared about was the dwarf because he sounded interesting. The premise was great and the actual plot concept wasn't original and pretty awesome. I would've ditched the child prodigy and the ballerina.
Would I read it again?
Nope. I'm not even tempted to pick up the sequel because I don't really care if the main character and her prince (literally mind you) find the Golden Fleece. Yeah, there's that whole plot line too...
The Negatives:
The main character was too talented. She's musically gifted in two instruments, can memorize and read music and history in her sleep, has an incredible sense of smell and hearing to the point she can sense things others can't, is pretty, and brilliant. Then she falls in love/lust with a prince who falls in love/lust with her. Oh, he also pretty much hands her the job of her dreams.
Besides the main character: there was A LOT going on. The dwarf and governor could have had their own stories completely separate from Ms. Sue and they would have been interesting on their own. Heck, the whole plot line about looking for the Golden Fleece could have carried the book alone without the governor's story or the dwarf's...or the ballerina...or the blind child prodigy.
The bad guys didn't have any redeeming features and I'm all for the bad guy being truly evil but not when your main character is so damned perfect.
Final review: 3/5. If the main was more relatable and there were fewer subplots this would be have been a 5/5 book.
Until next time: comments, questions, rants and rage can be directed to the comments.
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