Becoming Jinn Blog Tour: Review + Giveaway

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for Becoming Jinn! Today I have my review of the book to share with you - and don't forget to enter the giveaway! To follow the rest of the tour, click on the banner above.

Becoming Jinn (Becoming Jinn #1)
Author: Lori Goldstein
Genre: YA Fantasy/Magic/Mythology
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Release Date: April 21, 2015

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Synopsis:

Forget everything you thought you knew about genies!

Azra has just turned sixteen, and overnight her body lengthens, her olive skin deepens, and her eyes glisten gold thanks to the brand-new silver bangle that locks around her wrist. As she always knew it would, her Jinn ancestry brings not just magical powers but the reality of a life of servitude, as her wish granting is controlled by a remote ruling class of Jinn known as the Afrit. 

To the humans she lives among, she’s just the girl working at the snack bar at the beach, navigating the fryer and her first crush. But behind closed doors, she’s learning how to harness her powers and fulfill the obligations of her destiny. 

Mentored by her mother and her Zar “sisters,” Azra discovers she may not be quite like the rest of her circle of female Jinn . . . and that her powers could endanger them all. As Azra uncovers the darker world of becoming Jinn, she realizes when genies and wishes are involved, there’s always a trick.

Becoming Jinn is the dazzling first book in a sensational new young adult fantasy series. The story follows our main character - Azra - who turned into a mature genie on her sixteenth birthday. Azra knew her whole life that this would happen and when, but she doesn't have to like it. In fact - she pretty much hates the fact that she'll be spending the rest of her life in servitude, granting wishes and doing what other people tell her to. There's no stopping the change that happens on her birthday, so Azra begins to train with her mother on how to use her new powers and to get her magic under control. Along with all of this, Azra must also live amongst humans as one of them - which means dealing with being a teenager: school, a job at the beach, and her very first crush. Azra's life has been turned completely upside down, and she's still trying to get the hang of everything, when she begins to suspect that her magic isn't quite like the other Jinn women in her circle. She must learn how to use and control her powers before things go seriously wrong.

I have to admit that the trend of genies and Jinn going on right now hasn't sucked me in - this is only the second book I've read containing them. The first sentence of the description says it perfectly - "Forget everything you thought you knew about genies!" I had an unfounded notion that books about Jinn would be set in the past and/or would take place in a desert-type landscape. Honestly, I think that's what made me hesitant to give this trend a try - and I'm so incredibly glad that I did! This novel was the perfect one to introduce me to the mythology behind genies and Jinn and gave me a taste of what I may have been missing out on. I didn't know what to expect when I picked up this book - aside from the couple of notions I mentioned above, which is funny because the novel was about as far from those ideas as you can get! It's set in modern times and in New England - which squashed my ideas right away. There are so many aspects of the book that are amazing - and they all come together to create a truly original and mesmerizing story.

Azra was a great main character for the story. She's a teenager - so she has the whole teen attitude going on, with plenty of sarcasm and wit. She's smart, down to earth, and determined to find a way around her whole genie "problem." She's very close with her mom and will do anything for her - even if it means endangering herself. We get to see a good amount of character growth in Azra throughout the book. She begins as a girl who just turned sixteen and is very unhappy with the life she now has to live as a genie - her "fate" as people call it. During the book, Azra has to overcome some serious obstacles and trials - and she comes out the other side a stronger, more mature character. The book is told in a first person point-of-view with Azra as the narrator. I've said many times before in reviews that this is my favorite POV style because the reader gets to know the character in a much more intimate and personal way. We get to learn so much about Azra - her fears, hopes, memories, dreams, private thoughts and inner dialogue - to name a few things. I was able to immediately connect with Azra from the beginning of the book, and having an inside look into her mind and heart made me empathize with her even more. The writing style is done at a normal and effortless pace, and done in a conversational type tone - which made it feel like either Azra was telling me her story personally, or that I was right beside her throughout the entire story and experienced everything that she did. Being that connected to a character makes it almost impossible not to slip inside the world they live in - which is exactly what happened with me within the first paragraph of the book. There was such great attention to detail - vivid imagery and descriptions that made the author's world come to life around me. 

The plot itself was fascinating and unique - at least for me, due to my lack of reading in this genre. I loved to watch Azra learn what powers she had and how to use and control them. I also loved learning as much about the Jinn as I could - their history, culture, the Afrit, their powers - basically anything about the Jinn in general completely intrigued me. I really hope that we get to learn even more about the Jinn, their history, culture, and other information in the rest of the series. The story was phenomenal in pretty much every way possible, and I was entirely taken by surprise when I found out that this is the author's debut novel. I never would have guessed it was a debut because the book was so well written and rounded. It showcases the author's amazing writing ability and talent to the point that it could have been done by a veteran author - which makes it all the more amazing that it's a debut! This is one author to seriously keep an eye on - I know I will be. I can't wait to read the next book in the series to see what will happen next. I very highly recommend this novel to fans of Jinn and genie fiction, fantasy, mythology, and magic - along with those looking for something fresh and new in the YA genre. Almost anyone who reads this book will be just as enamored and enchanted as I am - you're definitely going to want to get your hands on a copy of this one!

Click here for more information about the Pre-order giveaway hosted by Lori Goldstein.

Follow the Becoming Jinn by Lori Goldstein Blog Tour and don't miss anything! Click on the banner to see the tour schedule.

My debut novel, the Young Adult Contemporary Fantasy Becoming Jinn, is a modern spin on the traditional tale of wish-granting genies. It will be released on April 21, 2015, by Feiwel and Friends, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s. The sequel will follow in Spring 2016. I am represented by Lucy Carson of The Friedrich Agency.

Too much of my day involves chatting books, obsessing over The Vampire Diaries, and perfecting the art of efficient writing through Twitter. Find me at @loriagoldstein and follow my blog at www.lorigoldsteinbooks.com or my Tumblr at http://lorigoldsteinbooks.tumblr.com. Like my author page on Facebook for fun book-related photos, tidbits, and happenings as well as news on Becoming Jinn.

Giveaway:

Grand Prize: (1) winner will win a finished signed book, signed bookmarks, and an infinity necklace like the girls in Becoming Jinn (US Only)

First Prize: (2) winners will win a full Jinn swag pack of bookmarks, magnets, plastic bracelets, temporary tattoos and a genie charm (INT)

Second Prize: (2) winners will win bookmarks, magnets, and wristbands (INT)

  

US Only & International | Must be 13 or older to enter

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Enchantress Blog Tour: Review

Enchantress: A Novel of Rav Hisda's Daughter (Rav Hisda's Daughter #2)
Author: Maggie Anton 
Genre: Historical Fiction/Historical Fantasy
Publication Date: September 2, 2014
Publisher: Plume
Formats: eBook, Paperback
Pages: 400

Description:

Fantastic tales of demons and the Evil Eye, magical incantations, and powerful attractions abound in Enchantress, a novel that weaves together Talmudic lore, ancient Jewish magic, and a timeless love story set in fourth-century Babylonia.

One of the most powerful practitioners of these mysterious arts is Rav Hisda’s daughter, whose innate awareness allows her to possess the skills men lack. With her husband, Rava--whose arcane knowledge of the secret Torah enables him to create a "man” out of earth and to resurrect another rabbi from death--the two brave an evil sorceress, Ashmedai the Demon King, and even the Angel of Death in their quest to safeguard their people, even while putting their romance at risk.

The author of the acclaimed Rashi’s Daughters series and the award-winning Rav Hisda’s Daughter: Apprentice has conjured literary magic in the land where "abracadabra” originated. Based on five years of research and populated with characters from the Talmud, Enchantress brings a pivotal era of Jewish and Christian history to life from the perspective of a courageous and passionate woman.

Praise for Apprentice (Rav Hisda's Daughter: Book I):

“A lushly detailed look into a fascinatingly unknown time and culture—a tale of Talmud, sorcery, and a most engaging heroine!” —Diana Gabaldon, author of the bestselling Outlander series

Anton, the author of the acclaimed “Rashi’s Daughters” trilogy, has penned her best book to date. Using her extensive knowledge of the Talmud and other historical Jewish writings, she immersed herself in the tractates to uncover a marvelous heroine for this historical novel… Complex discussions of Jewish law and tradition as well as detailed description of the culture and customs of the times enhance truly wonderful storytelling. VERDICT This absorbing novel should be on everyone’s historical fiction reading list." —Library Journal (starred review)

“Fascinating reading await those who dive into the vividly depicted world of Babylonian Jewry … Anton succeeds brilliantly in drawing us into the formative period leading up to the Talmud … what we have is the work of a master craftswoman set upon repairing a major gap in Jewish literature —Philadelphia Jewish Voice

“Rav Hisda’s Daughter provides a wealth of historical detail about Jewish life in Babylon and Israel in the 3rd century CE. It depicts the daily life and coming of age of a prominent rabbi’s daughter rather than propelling its reader through a traditional arc of action with a crisis and resolution. Its interest lies in its portrayal of the sorcery, incantations, and women’s customs in this exotic, faraway period of time and place, sometimes against the backdrop of war.” —Historical Novel Society

Praise for the Rashi's Daughters Trilogy:

“Anton delivers a tour de force . . . [Readers] will fly through the pages and come away wishing for more.” –Library Journal (starred review)

“A compelling combination of drama, suspense, and romance.” –Lilith magazine

Enchantress is the beautifully told second book in the Rashi's Daughters Trilogy. The book tells the story of Hisdadukh - Rav Hisda's daughter - and her husband, Rava, along with their experiences with magic, the occult, and encounters with supernatural beings. Hisdadukh is a fascinating main character for the book and I immediately connected with her. The book is told from her point of view, so we get to see more of her character than with other points of view. The reader is able to get a more clear picture of who she is - her fears, desires, emotions, and innermost thoughts. Along with the overall narrative of the story, the character of Hisdadukh really comes alive. She's brave, incredibly smart, and a powerful woman of magic. I loved getting to know her on a personal level and to experience the story beside her. Rava, her husband, is also an important character in the novel. He and Hisdadukh share a deep love for one another that's a big part of the book. Their love is constantly tested by all types of situations - magical and normal alike. I really enjoyed watching their relationship together and how strong their bond was. The plot was absolutely mesmerizing - nothing short of magnificent. The author weaves together so many fascinating concepts - magic, Jewish lore, demons, angels, and the occult - that I was in awe throughout the entire book. These topics have always fascinated me, so I found myself totally immersed in all the supernatural aspects throughout the story. Knowing that the author did a lot of research for the book, I was even more enthralled with the tales in the book and the different encounters and situations that Hisdadukh and Rava found themselves in. The writing was beautifully done - it has a completely natural flow that pulls the reader into the story and doesn't let go until the final words. The descriptions and imagery were so vivid and detailed that I felt like I could shut my eyes and experience the story beside the characters. Everything about the novel - from the setting of Babylonia to the distinct personalities of the characters and the detailed accounts of magic - were magnificent and enthralling. I very highly recommend this book to fans of historical fiction, as well as those who enjoy stories of magic and the occult, and readers who are looking for a beautifully written novel unlike anything else out there.

Maggie Anton was born Margaret Antonofsky in Los Angeles, California. Raised in a secular, socialist household, she reached adulthood with little knowledge of her Jewish religion. All that changed when David Parkhurst, who was to become her husband, entered her life, and they both discovered Judaism as adults. That was the start of a lifetime of Jewish education, synagogue involvement, and ritual observance. In 2006, Anton retired from being a clinical chemist in Kaiser Permanente's Biochemical Genetics Laboratory to become a fulltime writer.

In the early 1990's, Anton learned about a women's Talmud class taught by Rachel Adler, now a professor at Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles. She became intrigued with the idea that Rashi, one of the greatest Jewish scholars ever, had no sons, only three daughters. Slowly but surely, she began to research the family and the time in which they lived. Much was written about Rashi, but almost nothing of the daughters, except their names and the names of their husbands. Legend has it that Rashi's daughters were learned in a time when women were traditionally forbidden to study the sacred texts. These forgotten women seemed ripe for rediscovery, and the idea of a trilogy of historical novels about them was born.

After the success of "Rashi's Daughters" Anton started researching the lives of women in 4th-century Babylonia, where the Talmud was being created. Surprised by the prevalence of sorcery among rabbinic families, she wrote "Rav Hisda's Daughter: Bk 1 - Apprentice," which was a 2012 National Jewish Book Award Fiction finalist and a Library Journal pick for Best Historical Fiction.

For more information please visit Maggie Anton's website and blog. You can also connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

Buy Links:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
 

Enchantress Blog Tour Schedule:

Monday, October 6
Review at Unshelfish
Review at Book Drunkard

Tuesday, October 7
Review at Ageless Pages Reviews

Wednesday, October 8
Review at A Dream Within a Dream

Thursday, October 8
Guest Post at Bookish

Friday, October 9
Guest Post & Giveaway at Passages to the Past

Monday, October 13
Review at Book Lovers Paradise

Tuesday, October 14
Review at leeanna.me
Spotlight & Giveaway at Words and Peace

Wednesday, October 15
Review at Based on a True Story

Thursday, October 16
Review at Mari Reads

Friday, October 17
Interview at Layered Pages

Tuesday, October 21
Review at History From A Woman's Perspective
Spotlight at CelticLady's Reviews

Wednesday, October 22
Guest Post at History From A Woman's Perspective

Thursday, October 23
Review at Layered Pages
Spotlight at A Book Geek

Friday, October 24
Review at Beth's Book Reviews
Interview at Mina's Bookshelf

Saturday, October 25
Review & Interview at A Cup of Tea &A Big Book

Monday, October 27
Review at TeacherWriter

Tuesday, October 28
Review at My Book Addiction and More
Spotlight at Historical Tapestry

Wednesday, October 29
Review at A Bookish Affair

Thursday, October 30
Review at Book Nerd

Author Interview & Giveaway: The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic by Emily Croy Barker

Hey everyone! Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to a great new fantasy novel that just released, along with an author interview and an AWESOME giveaway!

The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic

Author: Emily Croy Barker

Genre: Adult Fantasy

Release Date: August 5, 2013

Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books

Description:

An imaginative story of a woman caught in an alternate world—where she will need to learn the skills of magic to survive

Nora Fischer’s dissertation is stalled and her boyfriend is about to marry another woman.  During a miserable weekend at a friend’s wedding, Nora wanders off and walks through a portal into a different world where she’s transformed from a drab grad student into a stunning beauty.  Before long, she has a set of glamorous new friends and her romance with gorgeous, masterful Raclin is heating up. It’s almost too good to be true.

Then the elegant veneer shatters. Nora’s new fantasy world turns darker, a fairy tale gone incredibly wrong. Making it here will take skills Nora never learned in graduate school. Her only real ally—and a reluctant one at that—is the magician Aruendiel, a grim, reclusive figure with a biting tongue and a shrouded past. And it will take her becoming Aruendiel’s student—and learning magic herself—to survive. When a passage home finally opens, Nora must weigh her "real life" against the dangerous power of love and magic.

For lovers of Lev Grossman's The Magicians series (The Magicians and The Magician King) and Deborah Harkness's All Souls Trilogy (A Discovery of Witches and Shadow of Night). 

Be sure to check back soon for my review of the book!

Q. Which of the characters in THE THINKING WOMAN’S GUIDE TO REAL MAGIC did you most enjoy writing?

A. Aruendiel, no question. He says exactly what he thinks, and he doesn’t mind giving offense to anyone. Not something that most of us can get away with in our daily lives.

Of course, Ilissa was also a lot of fun, too. Because she’s also honest—Faitoren can’t tell lies—but at the same time, she’s thoroughly deceitful.

Q. Are any parts of this novel autobiographical?

A. You mean, is it about the time I stumbled into an alternate world and started studying magic? Sadly, no.

There were things in my life that I deliberately borrowed for the novel. The way Aruendiel talks about other magicians—I was thinking of how my father, who was a painter, used to talk with his artist friends about other artists, about who was doing good work and who wasn’t. My dad was the kindest and most gentle person ever, but he was ruthless when it came to criticizing bad art. It’s the idea that you have a calling that you have to follow and you don’t sell out.

I gave Nora some of my interests—a penchant for memorizing bits of poetry, a love of cooking—although she’s much better at both things than I am. She’s also braver than me. You could never get me to go up a cliff like the one at Maarikok, even with a levitation spell! And I let her take a path that I considered but never took—going to grad school in English.

Q. Your heroine, Nora Fischer, is swept away by magic into a kind of too good to be true existence. Even though a part of her knew it wasn’t right she stayed. Why would she allow herself to be easily enchanted? 

A. As Aruendiel himself would point out, Faitoren enchantments are very hard to fight, because they give you something you want. Nora was feeling bruised and defeated, and suddenly she had everything that she thought she was missing.

I also think the kind of idealized femininity that Ilissa offers Nora—being beautiful, being the belle of the ball, having this perfect romantic love—is a very seductive thing, even for someone like Nora who has read all the feminist theorists and has really chosen the life of the mind. Maybe especially for someone like Nora.

Q. You have so many literary references, John Donne, Miguel de Cervantes, William Carlos Williams, Alice in Wonderland and Grimm’s Fairytales, but it’s Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice that Nora ends up with as her only possession in the alternate world. What is the significance of this particular book? Any personal connection to it? 

A. Well, Pride and Prejudice is so modern in many ways, although written and set in a premodern time. So it seemed like a good match for A Thinking Woman’s Guide, where a contemporary woman is thrown into a world where women are still second-class citizens, at best. And Pride and Prejudice reflects some of the themes that I was interested in—an intelligent woman engaging with a man who has both higher status and worse manners than she does—without being too closely parallel to the plot of my story. Finally, I love Pride and Prejudice! And so do many other readers. So I hoped it might resonate with those who read my novel.

Q. Words are a powerful tool and language is a very important status symbol in Nora’s new world. Women are uneducated and don’t speak to men the same way Nora does; something she is repeatedly frustrated by. How did you develop Ors, the language Nora must learn in order to communicate?

A. Language reflects society, so as I thought about Aruendiel’s world, I tried to imagine what sort of linguistic rules it would have to help keep women in their place. And as anyone who has studied a foreign language knows, there are all kinds of subtleties that you don’t pick up right away. You can make blooper after blooper, sometimes for years. So Nora keeps bumping up against things like the feminine verb endings, which she never noticed until Aruendiel rather officiously points them out to her.

I was also inspired by how Tolkien, who was a philologist, essentially began imagining Middle-Earth by inventing various Elvish names. He wrote poems about these characters and, eventually, fiction. I thought, wow, what a powerful tool to create a believable fantasy universe, to develop some kind of logical linguistic framework that underlies your story.

Q. You’re a journalist by trade. What was it like, switching to fiction? Where do you write? Do you set hours or just put pen to paper when inspiration strikes?

A. It took me a while to feel comfortable writing fiction. It’s a different kind of narration. Suddenly, after years of having to be super-careful about collecting facts and double-checking them, I could make everything up. That felt wonderful! But what exactly do you include, what do you leave out? Beginning writers are always told, “Show, don’t tell.” Well, in fact there’s a lot you have to simply tell, or you’ll write twenty pages and your character will still be finishing breakfast.

The journalistic skill that I found most useful in writing fiction was simply the ability to sit in front of the computer and write. Even if you’re just trying to write, even if what you’re writing isn’t great at the moment or if all you have to show after three hours is three sentences. And then to do it again the next day. It doesn’t matter if you have to rewrite it all over again—because you’ll find something that’s worth keeping, or you’ll learn what not to do. The important thing is to keep going.

Usually I write at home on my laptop—sometimes on the train when I travel. I write best during the day. If I try to write at night, I’m usually too tired to get very far. Or occasionally I’ve had the opposite problem—I get really into it and then suddenly it’s way past my bedtime and I’m useless the next day. So starting out, I wrote for a couple of hours every weekend. Then it became every spare moment of every weekend. I still owe huge apologies to so many of my friends for turning down all their lovely invitations to go to museums, parties, movies, et cetera, over the past seven years.

Q. Who would be in your dream book club? Where would you meet and what would you talk about? 

A. Henry James, Charlotte Brontë, Scott Fitzgerald, Mary McCarthy, Zadie Smith, and couple of my friends. We’d meet at Florian’s in the Piazza San Marco every third Tuesday in the month—this is a dream, right?—and talk about whatever I happen to be reading at the moment. I imagine it would be a lively group.

Q. Are you a fan of other fantasy novels? 

A. Yes, although I certainly haven’t read everything that’s out there. I tend to like the denser, more literary kind of fantasy. Unlike Nora, I love Tolkien. Also Neil Gaiman, Susanna Clarke, Alice Hoffman, Margaret Atwood, Ursula LeGuin, and Kelly Link. Kate Atkinson is best known now for her Jackson Brodie mysteries, but I’m really glad that I didn’t read her Human Croquet until after I wrote The Thinking Woman’s Guide, because in some ways that’s the book I wanted to write.

Q. Your writing is loaded with references from history, literature, and fantasy. What sort of reader did you envision for this series?

A. I tried to write the kind of novel I would want to read, so I guess in that sense I wrote it for myself. And as the book took shape and it became clearer that I would actually finish a draft at some point, I decided I would send it first to one of my oldest friends to see if she thought it was any good. She and I grew up watching Star Trek and Monty Python, reading Sherlock Holmes and The Black Stallion and Jane Eyre, and doing the ultimate in geekdom—taking Latin—so I trusted her judgment. She liked it, so that encouraged me to keep revising.

Beyond that, I was thinking that it might appeal to some of the adults who loved Harry Potter but who wanted more of a adult perspective and a strong female character at the center of the novel.

Q. The Thinking Woman’s Guide To Real Magic ends on a cliffhanger. Can you hint at what’s next for Nora and Aruendiel?

A. I’m pretty sure that Nora will find her way back to Aruendiel’s world. The two of them really need to talk and to be straight with each other, don’t you agree? And of course she has a lot more to learn about magic—and how to use it properly. 

A graduate of Harvard University, Emily Croy Barker has been a magazine journalist for more than 20 years. She is currently executive editor at The American Lawyer magazine. THE THINKING WOMAN'S GUIDE TO REAL MAGIC is her first novel.

“A marvelous plot, clever dialogue, and complex characters distinguish THE THINKING WOMAN'S GUIDE TO REAL MAGIC. With the intimacy of a classic fairy-tale and the rollicking elements of modern epic fantasy, Emily Croy Barker’s delightful debut will sweep readers into another world. Fun, seductive, and utterly engrossing, this wonderful tale of magic and adventure is a perfect escape from humdrum reality.” —Deborah Harkness, author of the ALL SOULS Trilogy


Author Links:
Website: http://emilycroybarker.com/ 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/emilycroybarker  
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Thinking-Womans-Guide-to-Real-Magic/571471996220792?fref=ts
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/emilycroybarker/

The publisher has generously offered a hardcover copy of THE THINKING WOMAN'S GUIDE TO REAL MAGIC to (1) lucky winner! Open to US only!

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Book Review: City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte

City of Dark Magic
Author: Magnus Flyte
Genre: Fantasy/Thriller
Release Date: November 27, 2012
Publisher: Penguin Books

Description:

Cosmically fast-paced and wildly imaginative, this debut novel is a perfect potion of magic and suspense

Once a city of enormous wealth and culture, Prague was home to emperors, alchemists, astronomers, and, as it’s whispered, hell portals. When music student Sarah Weston lands a summer job at Prague Castle cataloging Beethoven’s manuscripts, she has no idea how dangerous her life is about to become. Prague is a threshold, Sarah is warned, and it is steeped in blood.      
Soon after Sarah arrives, strange things begin to happen. She learns that her mentor, who was working at the castle, may not have committed suicide after all. Could his cryptic notes be warnings? As Sarah parses his clues about Beethoven’s “Immortal Beloved,” she manages to get arrested, to have tantric sex in a public fountain, and to discover a time-warping drug. She also catches the attention of a four-hundred-year-old dwarf, the handsome Prince Max, and a powerful U.S. senator with secrets she will do anything to hide.
      
City of Dark Magic could be called a rom-com paranormal suspense novel—or it could simply be called one of the most entertaining novels of the year.  

Review:

City of Dark Magic is a unique and mysterious thrill ride of a novel - unlike anything I've read before. The plot surrounds the Prague Castle and the army of academics who have taken over for the summer in order to restore the Lubkowicz Palace to its former glory and turn it into a museum filled with centuries old treasures. The story focuses on Sarah Weston, a music expert from Boston who is invited to help with the museum - specifically with the artifacts concerning Beethoven. Sarah can't ignore all the strange happenings that begin soon after her arrival and then people start dying. Who can Sarah trust? Who is the person behind all this chaos? And what is this mind altering drug that the Prince and her mentor were taking? Will Sarah be able to get to the bottom of everything before it's too late?

This novel was an enchanting and exciting blend of genres that I immediately fell in love with. There is so much going on during the book - murders, intrigue, mayhem, sex, drugs, time travel, alchemy and espionage to name a few - that it sucks you in and doesn't let go until the final word is read. The characters are all very interesting and distinct. I felt like they were a great cast of personalities for the book and all played their parts to perfection. I really liked the character of Sarah. She was brilliant and intuitive, but she definitely had flaws and character traits that made her feel very real. There is sex, swearing, and drugs in the novel, but this didn't bother me because it didn't detract from the main story. (Well, the drug in question may have actually enhanced the plot.) 

Speaking of the plot - I barely have words to explain it. The authors paint such a vivid and beautiful depiction of both Prague and the Palace - it was easy to insert myself into the setting and the story. There are several story lines that happen at once in the book, all of which are some sort of mystery waiting to be untangled, and all seem to fit together in some way that doesn't show itself to the reader until the end. The main thread of the story is magical and breathtaking in it's entirety and I was enchanted by the way the story was told, the story itself, and the subject matter that was talked about. All of it wound together to make an unbelievably compelling novel that will resonate with me for a long time to come. It's one of those books that you feel you must re-read over and over in order to pick up on small details you missed before and also just to lose yourself in its pages again. In summary, this is one of the most imaginative and fascinating books I've ever read. It breaks genre boundaries and opens the reader up to endless possibilities. Highly recommended!