City of Dark Magic

Doctoral candidate Sara Westen gets a summer job (that she didn't apply for) in Prague to help a royal Czech family in the creation of a museum displaying the greatness of that family over the centuries, as they've recently been reunited with their treasures after the pillaging of the Nazis and Communists. Once there, she stumbles into international (as well as inter-chronological) intrigue, the mysterious apparent suicide of her mentor, and paranormal events of some order. Oh, and there's sex, too. Can't forget that, it's part of the sales pitch.

I don't know. I just don't know.

On the one hand, this is well-written, clever, surprising, all the twists and turns you could ask for (and then some), a novel approach to time travel and supernatural-ish storytelling. The hero, Sarah Weston is great – the kind of strong women character you can relate to. The writing is brisk, and often amusing. The conclusion is wild, heart-warming, and not what anyone would expect.

But it left me cold and apathetic. I had to force myself to push beyond page 100, and the only urgency I felt towards the finish was so I could move on to something else (although it was pleasant enough while reading, there was just nothing that kept me going). As amusing as I found some of the characters – the blind girl/musical savant, the impossible and very talented dwarf, a very American Czech prince, the gun-loving Asian from Texas, – I didn't care about any of them. I wouldn't have been surprised if the villain of the piece had twirled her moustache at some point. (yes, her moustache...I'd believe she'd have grown one just to twirl at appropriate moments).

And don't get me wrong, I'm neither a prude nor the son of a prude, but the sex was a too graphic. It felt very incongruous to the rest of the book – especially the first “encounter” Weston had in Prague, which appears to be only semi-consensual for all involved. That really put me off, and I'm surprised two women writers would've included that and put it in even a slightly positive light.