Stravaganza: City of Flowers

The third book in the Stravangza series and my continued re-read of the series before moving on to the newer books. This book deals with a new Stravagante called Sky who travels to a different part of Talia, the city of Giglia which is a version of our Florence. However, one of the ruling families in the area is having a huge wedding ceremony, much to the disgust of their arch-rival family.

A lot of the comments previously made about the first book hold with this one. It is just as well written and the level of detail really makes the world come to life. I did feel that it was a little confusing with two large families taking up a lot of the story and it was sometimes hard to remember who was who, especially with there being some show more similarity in names. It also seemed to take a while before anything really happened and Sky seems to spend a lot of time doing not very much other than hanging out with a young lad who is showing him around the city. Once the wedding starts to take place, that all changes very quickly and it becomes quite horrific when the two feuding families clash with bloodshed. It seems to be handled quite well and certainly draws the reader right into the middle of it all. I think it shows that this is an author who is not afraid of taking risks and writing what might be highly emotive and disturbing scenes. It's something that's rather lacking in a lot of young adults books and it does make for a nice change.

This is a much longer book than the first one, 496 pages compared with 352 for City of Masks but it is quite a pacey read so the length isn't all that noticeable. It's also nice to see the return of some old familiar faces, such as Lucien who seems to get into every book! show less

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In this third book, as the story moves again to Giglia, the story turns grim building up for the grand series finale (or is it?)



The story in this book is even more action packed than the first two book. The growing number of characters all make appearance in this book. This always was my favourite book in the series.



This was planned to be the last book in the trilogy, but for some reasons (money most likely) Mary Hoffman decided to create three more books (perhaps there will be even more book, who knows?). But sometimes it's better to leave it at a trilogy, because the story was really finished now after the three books. (And besides, the people who this book is aimed at (I guess about 12 years) are now so much older, show more that they like the books less (or, that happened to me).



Thinking about these books, I noticed the resemblances to Game of Thrones (the political power struggle intrigue part), there even is a wedding ending in a bloody disaster?! show less

This was definitely a great end to the trilogy. It kept me hooked all the way through. The events of the weddings was extremely well written, I felt quite horrified at the situation and it certainly got to me. I think it was all wrapped up quite nicely, if a bit quickly, but I was still left wanting more. Mary Hoffman has created a great world here, I would love to read more of it.

A thrilling 3rd book in the Stravaganza series - the di Chimici are still trying to gain power and learn the secrets of the Stravaganti, the newest one being Sky. Mary Hoffman brings all the characters from the previous books and brings them, as friends, to help rid of family rivalries and potential murderers....

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 love the Stravaganza series, about kids who find talismans who take them to an alternate renaissance world called Talia. In this one they are caught up in a feud.

This is the third book in the Stravaganza series. Sky joins Nicholas and Georgia in Giglia, the city of flowers, where the family rivalries are more and more deadly and vicious. The story seemed a little strained to me.