A City Dreaming

This book follows M, a powerful, magical drifter on his travels. After being away for a long time, M decides to go back to his home in New York. Although he tells no one of his return, it's only a matter of time before they figure it out. At first I didn't like how it jumped from one adventure to the next instead of a seamlessly flowing story, but, after a while, I couldn't wait to see what mess he would find himself in next! I loved this book and would gladly read more about M, Boy, Andre and the gang!
I received a copy of this book from Net Galley.

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This modern urban fantasy reminded me of Jack Vance. It could have been Vance's Traveler in Black or his Cugel the Clever in format and character.

The book is divided into short, very readable short stories. Each of the short stories is a genuine story with a beginning, middle and end, with the ending tying up the story nicely. Although the stories are stand-alone, they chronologically track the main character's adventures in Manhattan and Brooklyn through the course of the year. As the book progresses, we become more familiar with the character, his friends and the strange and interesting world of magic he inhabits, such that by the end of the book, the characters had grown on me.

The main character is simply M, perhaps for “magician.” M seems to be hundreds of years old, but he is more of a confidence man, a lay-about, a schmoozer, a womanizer, an alcoholic and drug abuser, without substantial virtues, except, maybe, loyalty, but a rational and self-interested loyalty. His philosophy is that he wants to be a good lodger of reality so that the powers that be - the “Management” - may smile on him, or, at least, never get annoyed with him, which would result in catastrophic results. By the end of the book, we begin to suspect that M is the real deal in magic, and his loyalty to friends, and cleverness make him a heroic anti-hero.

The writing in this book is exquisitely witty. Here's an example:

“St. Loup was tall and dark as charred hardwood and very handsome. His suit was straight from La Belle Epoque, the sort of sartorial affectation which M didn't suppose was any handicap to picking up American girls on the Champs-Élysées. M knew St. Loup somewhat, in the sense that they had been running into each other for half a human lifetime. They had never had any problem, at least none that M could remember, but then again St. Loup was not on that list of people for whom M was willing to die. This was, in fairness, a very small list— this was a list that would fit on the back of a movie ticket, or the torn corner of a cocktail napkin.”

And:

““Me?” M asked, as if the suggestion had never occurred to him. “You misunderstand entirely. I'm just here to bear witness. I'm not the one who you're going to need to go tête-à-tête with if you hope to ingest the condensed wisdom of the planet. I'm not the one against whose magical abilities you'll need to measure yourself.” M sneezed again, rubbed his nose, and nodded at Flemel. “It's big man over here.”
“Him?” Corlo asked.
“Me?” Flemel asked.
“Yeah, him! Flemel here is a two-fisted killer of the old school, a real bruiser, Pelé with a pentagram, the mystical Michael Jordan.”
“He looks like raw meat at a NAMBLA convention,”
Corlo added. “OK, that was pretty good,” M conceded. “I'm going to probably steal that and use it later. But the fact remains that you're face-to-face with one of the deadliest duelists in this reality and three or four of the adjourning ones.”
“He's barely a child!”
I bet those were the last words of a bunch of people who met Billy H. Bonney.”

It helps to understand that Flemel is M's barely competent apprentice.

The stories are filled with tongue-in-cheek humor and lines that I wish I had invented and intend to steal.

I also liked the Brooklyn and Manhattan setting. I spent some time googling the locations that the author mentions in these books.

I recommend this book without reservation.

After five strong secondary world fantasy novels, this is a change of direction for Daniel Polansky. It's firmly set in a modern New York of hipsters and craft beers, but also one where the supernatural is very real. There are pirates on the Gowanus Canal, a subway ride through the circles of Hell, and goblin markets where you can buy your heart's desire. The sense of place is one of the strengths of the book. We see it all, from Wall Street financier luxury to grubby dive bars. Our hero is the almost nameless M, a magician without any visible means of support who nevertheless has a knack for navigating the city and its denizens to his advantage. If he's between homes, an apartment sitting gig will open up, if he's thirsty someone will buy him a drink. His insouciant cockiness puts me in mind of no one so much as John Constantine. In fact, there's a vaguely edgy, vaguely hip quality to the whole book that's reminiscent of mid 90s Vertigo comics.

It's an engaging read, but it's quite lightweight. I enjoyed it a lot while I was reading it, but I'm not sure how long it will linger in the mind. The lack of gravity is emphasised by the structure. It's more a series of vignettes, episodic adventures of M and his friends, than it is a complete novel. There is a loosely overarching story of two rival magical leaders, but it's mostly background stuff until the end. I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that Polansky had been writing these stories as palate cleaning diversions between his other novels and has now lashed them together as his next book. That might be a good way to approach reading it, taking a couple of stories at a time and then breaking for something else before picking it up again.

A City Dreaming is a fun and enjoyable book, just don't expect it to change your life.

(ARC received from Netgalley)