FALSE ADVERTISEMENT. This novel is short on romance, short on suspense, and guttingly-short on the paranormal aspects promised on the cover. Protagonist Sarah is a classic case of Described-As vs What-You-Actually-Get, which is one of my greatest pet peeves. Authors cannot simply say their main character is super clever, talented, daring, and decisive... and then have her bumble around, ignoring facts and clues, and basically wandering into convenient information traps by "following her nose."The writing was confused, amateurish, and even (I HATE using this term) "fanfic-y" at times. Example: characters were mysterious because they were mysterious, or sexy because they were sexy. All of the "accents" were written in exactly the same broken, cliched manner, no matter where the characters hailed from.I couldn't finish this one. In between some of the least attractive sex I've ever read is a fun mystery involving alchemy, history, and spies. There were two parts of the story that hinged on the main character behaving completely out of character. There were two parts of the story that stretched my suspension of belief right to the edge, but I was having fun with it, so I just played along. The history sprinkled throughout was the best part for me, and it was done in a much less condescending and obvious way than those awful Dan Brown books. I would read the sequel.
What do You think about City Of Dark Magic (2012)?
An enchanting novel much like "The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova…but better on so many levels.
—Boo
Literally no conclusion whatsoever. I would highly discourage anyone from reading this.
—ANN
