Stravaganza: City of Stars

I don't know how she does it, but Hoffman manages to roll modern day issues with time travel and Italian history as well another dimension into one great novel. This time the stravaganti is a girl named Georgia who is suffering intense emotional abuse at the hands of her step brother and is a bit of a late bloomer. Georgia saves up enough money to buy a black, procelain pegasus she sees in the window of an antique shop. She inadvertently falls asleep with it and finds herself in Talia. Although she is as weak in spirit at the beginning of the book as Lucien was in body in the prequel to City of Stars, through her adventures in Talia she finds her own inner strength.

The second in the Stravaganza series, the City of Masks is not a disappointment. While the role of main character shifts to a new character, a fifteen year old horse-loving girl named Georgia, the continuity between the first and second book is preserved in an interesting and surprisingly smooth fashion. Lucian, the main character from the first book, still functions as a prominent character, but the actions centers around his old school friend Georgia. This story continues the connections between our world and a place in a parallel world, 16th century Talia.

After purchasing a winged horse figurine from a local antique store, Georgia falls asleep while holding her new treasure. When she awakes, she is in the familiar surrounding of a show more stable but with no recollection of how she got there. She is greeted by a surprised boy, Cesare, and Georgia’s adventures in Talia as a Stravagante begin. Posing as a boy, Georgia explores this world in the disguise of a stable boy named Georgio with her new friend Cesare and her old friend Lucien, now Luciano.

While Georgia struggles with her tomboyish appearance and ruthless stepbrother’s bullying at home, Talia offers a sort of sanctuary, a place where Georgia feels useful, appreciated and at home. In a mulit-layerd story of politics (both of state and of the heart), Georgia finds herself mixed up with a dangerous and powerful family, the di Chimici, and a yearly festival called the Stelatta. Plotting together, Georgia, Luciano and the youngest di Chimici, the “crippled” Falco, the three plan for a way to have Falco translate (permanently live) into 21st century London where he would be healed and not be used according to the whim of his powerful father. As one can imagine, much

This is a wonderful story about friendships that defy obstacles and young people who are not afraid to be who they really are, not matter the cost. show less

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I really liked the first book in this series, so I went straight on with this second book, City of Stars.



The setting is slightly different from the first book, still Renaissance Italy, but now they're in Remora (Sienna) with new main character Georgia. I really liked this book as well, the time travel, the characters, the intrigues. It was one of my favourites series when I was in my early teens. I really likes reading them a lot. Whilst reading you notice that there are quite some similarities between the book and 16C Italy; like the di Chemici family is obviously built after the Medici's and Sienna is actually quite well known for horse races.

Review for first four books: It has been a long time since I've read this book, but I remember I really enjoyed reading them back in the day. It was an original idea and fun to read. If you haven't I'd recommend you try it. But I do remember that by the time I was around the fourth book I thought it was getting a little too childish (writing style, wording and storywise). So maybe I've outgrown them by now. I've yet to read the last two books, I'm thinking about giving them a try.

I really enjoyed this book, even though there were a couple of moments where I didn't want to read any further because I was afraid of what might happen! I really want to know what's going to happen in the last one, especially if anything is going to happen between Luciano and Arianna.

Georgia is having trouble adjusting to a new stepfather and his teenaged son, Russell. She tries to avoid Russell whenever she can because he's always making disparaging remarks about her and her friends. The discovery of a small-winged horse in a local antique shop drastically changes Georgia's life. The horse allows Georgia to travel to Remora, a sixteenth-century Italianesque city. There she discovers political intrigue between twelve clans as they prepare for their annual, competive horse race. She also discovers a boy from her real world school who died from cancer. Luciano (a main character from the previous Stravaganza novel)now resides permanently in Bellezza and is a good friend of the Duchessa Arianna. When the Bellezza show more jockey, Casare is kidnapped, Georgia is the only one who can take his place. show less

I read this book a little, but honestly it kind of bored me. I know it's supposed to be exciting because there's time travel, and a gigantic horse race. But it seemed kind of young for me. Like it was something I could have love when I was eight or something. It is probably an amazing book too, but it just didn't appeal to me.