City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte

     Title: City of Dark Magic 
     Author: Magnus Flyte 
     Publisher: Penguin 
     Published: November 27, 2012 
     Number of Pages: 464 
     Genre(s): Sci-Fi, Fantasy
     Date Read: November 3, 2012
     Acquired: GoodReads First Reads

Summary: 
An interesting and unique page-turning romp that you won't be able to put down, this is the debut novel of Magnus Flyte (who is actually a team of two other authors); it's a fantastic mixture magic and mystery with just a dash of history and a little bit of science.  Set in the gorgeous and historically rich city of Prague, Sarah Weston a PhD candidate in music is surprised to find herself offered the once in a lifetime chance at cataloguing Beethoven's manuscripts at a new museum set to open in Prague Castle; Sarah doesn't stop to wonder if it really is just too good to be true. Sarah is warned that legends and myths all say that Prague is a threshold for dark and sinister happenings. It's not long after she arrives that strange things begin to happen. She learns that her mentor, who was working at the castle (another mere coincidence?), may not have committed suicide after all. He left cryptic notes, could he have been trying to warn her? Sarah tries to untangle his clues about the identity of Beethoven’s “Immortal Beloved,” and in the process she manages to get arrested, to have exhibitionist sex in a public fountain (perhaps those things are connected?), and maybe even discover time travel; all in all a pretty standard summer for a music scholar right? She also manages to catch the attention of a four-hundred-year-old dwarf, a handsome Prince, and crosses wits with a powerful U.S. politician with secrets that could change the face of government if they stay secret. City of Dark Magic has elements of so many genres but ignore the labels and just be entertained by Sarah's adventures.

Review:
Sometimes you just have to casually pick up a sledgehammer and keep going; Sarah does just that at one point and that one small phrase sums up the entirety of this book perfectly in my mind. I wondered when I read that phrase, "How does one casually pick up a sledgehammer?" especially when that one is a young, slim musicologist, it's a rather ludicrous and hilarious action to envision to me and that's really what the this whole book is about. The ludicrousness and hilariousness of day to day life and how little we actually understand about the way the world works. I was so excited when I received this book through the GoodReads First Reads program; the blurb on the back cover was 100% accurate, because it really is the most entertaining novel I've read all year.

As I read it I was strongly reminded of two other novels with similar themes of the past meeting the present and completely changing the way the characters understand the world. While reading I heard this constant little voice in my head saying to me that the story has overtones and themes that are in line with the content of Deborah Harkness's A Discovery of Witches (I have yet to read the sequel, it is however on my very large pile of books to be read though!), where Harkness's book is about the mysteries surrounding a very old book, Flyte focusses on the mysteries of music, musicians and their patrons. Both however make mentions of alchemy and magic. The other work I found my inner voice saying this reminded me of was A.S. Byatt's Possession: A Romance. 

On the whole this book has everything I love, relatable, hilarious characters, historical references that make me want to go and learn more, action, mystery and intrigue and just the right amount of believable urban fantasy thrown into the mix. Although I think I'm going to have to go back and look for the "tantric sex in a public fountain" that the back cover mentions; I remember sex against a lot of statues, but I don't remember any fountains...

The only thing I can say is I wish Magnus had introduced a few of the bigger plot elements earlier, because during the first half of the book it started to feel like Sarah wasn't really getting anywhere at times. I smell sequel though based on the ending, and that pleases me because there's nothing I love more than a really good book series!

2013 Reading Challenge

Every year for the past 4 years I've set myself a reading goal; the last few years I've set a goal far higher than I should have (usually 100 books). I do read a lot, but when I am busy with work and or school commitments I feel guilty about reading for pleasure and will often go for weeks without touching a book. For that reason this year I decided to set myself an easy goal so that if/when I manage to surpass it, I'll be thrilled! 

In 2010 and 2011 I tracked my progress on a Livejournal account that I've had floating around since high school; last year though I finally got around to joining good reads and I tracked my 2012 progress on there. I'm going to be doing the same thing this year.

Just a very small selection of my 2012 books (Wait a minute! There's a book in there from 2010 (White Cat) & 2 from 2011 (the Pearl North books)! Might be time to review my disarrayed shelving!)

This year I hope to read at the very least 52 books that I haven't read before; or 1 new book a week. I've already decided that to motivate me to keep up this pace, I'm going to run a feature I've decided to call First Read Fridays here on the blog. First Read Fridays will start next week and they will be book reviews of whatever book I've read over the last week, with the caveat that it has to be the first time I've ever read the book.

Talking about disarrayed shelving (because I've run out of bookshelves!) take a look at what I have to choose from for my 2013 reading challenge!

There are 6 piles there, each about 18.5" in height (yes I did get out a tape measure). What that means is that if I were to stack these books in one pile (which I wouldn't be able to do given the height of the room they're in) I would have a pile that reached about 111" in height, or  approx. 9.25'. For reference I am 5'10".

I probably should've chosen a book from this pile as my first book for the year, but instead I am reading a library book. Casino Royale by Ian Fleming. I became a fan of the James Bond movies in the latter part of 2012 so I decided to give the books a try as well (since I usually prefer the book to the movie); but according to the great people over at Book Riot I may soon be regretting that decision. 

To find out for sure whether or not I'll regret tackling the literary 007 you'll just have to come back for next week's First Read Friday to read my review of Casino Royale.

Have a great weekend everyone, and happy reading!
-- Ren

The Beginning

If we're going to talk about novel concepts, I suppose the most novel is in fact the beginning, so I picked a good title for this blog's first entry. Every story has a beginning, although as I was reminded by a quote, from author Cornelia Funke's Inkspell, that I read earlier tonight, the beginning isn't always the first page of the book, or in this case the first post on the blog. The idea for Novel Concepts didn't just happen; I've been determined to start a book blog several times, this will be my 4th try, the previous 3 were all under the same name and were envisioned as something more serious, and that stifled me. As you'll learn, I'm not a serious or formal person, I need some whimsy, randomness and fun to keep me interested, that's what Novel Concepts represents to me. I love the play on words within the name and it gives me the freedom to talk about whatever I want in relation to reading and writing; so that's really where Novel Concepts began, and now that beginning has been chronicled with this first page if you will.

I hope you'll consider joining me on this adventure of reading and writing. This is the first page, and it won't be the last.

-- Ren