A City Dreaming

By: Daniel Polansky

Narrated by: Eric Meyers

M is a magician of modest wit, dim ability, and few scruples, who would prefer to spend his easy immortality drinking artisanal beer and making eyes at smiling women. Alas, in the infinite nexus of the universe that is New York City, equilibrium is no easy thing to maintain. Canal pirates, drug-induced divinities, pocket steam-punk universes, hipster zombies, ex-girlfriends, and the devil are all taken in easy stride - but when the city's uneasy dual monarchy threatens to break into outright war, it will take all of M's cleverness to keep the capital of existence from going the way of Atlantis.

He might even have to get out of bed before noon.

Sharp, surreal, and hilarious, A City Dreaming is the postmodern fantasy adventure you never saw coming.

©2016 Daniel Polansky (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Magic well told

If you like characters doing fantastic fantasy stuff then you’ll love this one. Follow M on his travels in this urban escape.

Not really a novel

This book is a group of short stories set up by chapter. It is all about a super hipster magician who judges all the other hipsters in New York. The conclusion of these short stories is usually done with about one sentence. It reads like the author was called away and had to wrap things up quickly. Since the book is magic based the stories seam to be stream of conscious or as if they are a dream. There are some clever lines throughout the book.

loved it

gorgeous writing, kind of like an acid trip and if you've been lucky enough to live in NYC you can absolutely relate to all of it!

creative, orignal, fantastic story

What made the experience of listening to A City Dreaming the most enjoyable?

It was a little nonlinear, but once I got into the rythm of the story I found it to be fantastic. It is truly an original. Really loved this one.

What about Eric Meyers’s performance did you like?

He captured the characters and tension well without sounding campy.

Charming?

This is far more enjoyable than I expected, and I would’ve given it five stars but for the stark heteronormativity, the occasional gratuitous misogyny, and the slurs. They weren’t frequent, but also, just — heads up! They’re there. A lot of it can be attributed to M’s being one of those lovably terrible people types, I guess.

I still listened to the whole thing and parts were definitely really funny, plus some great worldbuilding!