City Of Lost Dreams by Magnus Flyte

Musicologist Sarah Weston has returned to Vienna.  She is on a mission to save her protégé, a 13 year old blind pianist named Pollina.  Pollina is sick with some sort of lung infection and is getting near the end of her life.  Sarah is determined to do whatever it takes to find a cure for Pollina.  She comes to Vienna to track down a famous immunologist named Bettina Mueller, who has a history of saving those medicine has declared a lost cause.

But it isn't easy to reach Mueller.  She disappears shortly after Sarah meets her, and sends Sarah cryptic messages outlining her demands for working on Pollina's case.  Sarah has allies in Vienna.  Max is the love of her life, a modern day prince who she let go when their lives took different paths.  Nico is a dwarf and not only a dwarf, but one who has already lived four hundred years and is immortal.  Can this group of friends solve the mysteries and give the scientist the things she desires in time to help their friend, Pollina?

Magnus Flyte has written an engaging novel that adroitly mixes fantasy and history, along with musicology, the Lipizzaner stallions, time-travel, descendants of the Hapsburg empire, and alchemy.  Sarah is a strong female character, and willing to do whatever is necessary to meet her goals.  This is the second book in a series, but works well as a stand-alone novel.  The first in the series, City Of Dark Magic, introduces the reader to Sarah, Max and Nico.  This further adventure of the trio will deepen their successful entry into the reader's imagination.  This book is recommended for fantasy readers and those interested in history with a twist of whimsy.