Hello everyone!
Back with book number two in the books series Mary Hoffman wrote about teenagers who can somehow move through space and time and end up in a different world altogether.
It was something that I found as a high school student (and thus a teenager) myself, and I could honestly relate at that point.
I can relate less now that I consider myself an adult, but that being said it isn't exactly rocket science to sit down and enjoy a book you know you liked back in the day! Which means I'm definitely going to be munching through the rest of the series.
Except ... as this is the last blog in November, I'm going to be doing more Christmas-y or seasonal blog posts through December.
Probably not Vlogmas, like so many others do, but the flare and flavour of my posts will certainly be other than what you see during the rest of the year.
But to finish us off in this last autumnal blog post - City of Stars!
Last week we did a recap and review of City of Masks, the first in the Stravaganza series by Mary Hoffman, in which we learned all about this time/space travel that a Stravagante does, but let's recap very quickly. However, you'll find the link to my previous blog post at the bottom of this one.
Lucien accidentally travels to Talia, a Renaissance Italy in a different timeline and alternate universe, to Bellezza, the Talian version of Venice. There, he ends up getting tangled in all the politics of the water-based city, including but not limited to saving the life of its Duchessa and crushing hard on a girl about his own age, Arianna. Unfortunately, being sick with cancer in his own world, Lucien is slowly dying, and one time when he can't get back home because he's separated from the talisman which enables his journeys, his body in modern London is considered brain dead and he's taken off life support. This means he will now have to spend the rest of his life in Talia.
And we'll see what he's been up to in City of Stars, too!
This book isn't necessarily about Lucien, or Luciano as he's now called, but he plays one of the prominent roles in any event.
It is, however, about Georgia, a girl mad about horses but unhappy with her home life as her mother remarried, and while her stepfather Ralph is okay, his son Russell is a nightmare and just plain disturbed, and the two adults rarely listen to Georgia when she tries to explain what kind of abuse he puts her through.
Georgia's one solace is saving up for a small figurine of a flying horse, which she ends up buying from the antique shop owner and becomes friends with the old gentleman, but the horse turns out even better than she first imagined.
It's a talisman!
And it takes her to Remora, the Talian version of Siena.
This city, just as Siena, is all about horses and organises a horse race similar to the Palio, called a Stellata, every year on August 15th. This year might finally bring luck to the Twelfth of Ram (the city is divided into sections according to the astrological signs) which is aligned with Bellezza, because a winged horse has been born.
Now Paolo and Cesare, the father-son duo who own the horse and discover Georgia, must hide both the winged miracle AND the girl, because the Di Chimici Duke is a-visiting and he's not one to be trifled with.
So they sneak Merla out of the city and disguise Georgia as a boy, waiting for the arrival of other Stravagante as they will be travelling here to attend the race.
The first to get there is Luciano, whom Georgia has a crush on and remembers from his previous life, so he's able to explain something of his story to her. The young people also run into two of the Duke's younger sons, Gaetano and Falco while listening to music made by the Manoush (who I suspect are some version of gypsies).
Georgia accidentally lets slip she's a Stravagante, and Gaetano pounces; his brother Falco got seriously injured during a horseback ride and can barely walk, but if they could somehow get him to Georgia and Lucien's time, then MAYBE the doctors in London could heal him.
All this is happening against the backdrop of family plotting in which the Duke sends Gaetano to woo Arianna as the new Duchessa and ask for her hand in marriage, not to mention preparation for the Stellata!
Luciano is initially against the idea, but he ends up helping Georgia Stravagate Falco over to London (and it does seem that anyone can do it so long as they are given a talisman, which for Falco means the silver eyebrow ring Georgia wears). The plan works, only with Falco's body clinging to life in Remora, this means the Duke is furious and seeking someone to blame, not to mention Rodolfo, Luciano's mentor who arrives with Arianna for the Stellata, is pissed off as all get-out for what the kids have done.
On top of everything else, Luciano is shocked to hear Arianna is actually considering Gaetano's suit, and she doesn't bother telling him she's actually plotting to bring Gaetano together with his cousin Francesca.
On the day of the race, Georgia must ride instead of Cesare, who has been kidnapped, and lo and behold she wins for the Ram - with a little help from Cesare himself. See, Merla also went missing during the course of the book, stolen by the Di Chimici, but Luciano accidentally found her while looking for Cesare in the powerful family's summer palace, and together the horse and rider found Cesare, who then flew her (she was big enough) to the Stellata.
So the Ram wins the race, Georgia is celebrated, but the Duke finally gives up and suffocates the dying body of his son. He also accidentally sees that Falco is alive and well, but Rodolfo erases that memory and the Bellezzans head back home to deal with their own problems.
Oh and no, Arianna didn't get married to Gaetano, who instead asked Francesca to marry him.
As for Georgia, she was in trouble back in London, but Falco ended up with Lucien's parents and we learn that during the year that passes (after Georgia's parents discover how bad Russell is and Russell steals the horse figurine again) he actually undergoes successful surgeries and is able to walk perfectly normally now, attending the same school as Georgia does. Then, as her stepbrother heads off to college, she once again finds her talisman which he left behind for her, and Falco says he has a feeling they need to go back to Talia - with his own talisman, a feather from Merla's wing, to help him.
They do get back, but they learn only a month has passed in Remora and another Stellata is being run in Franco's honour, during which Cesare rides for the Ram but lets one of the Di Chimici horses win after Falco drops down with Merla to the shock and surprise of everyone.
He disappears afterwards, but his father now suspects the Stravaganti more than ever and vows to get revenge or learn their secret - or both really!
And with that, we leave the plotting Di Chimici to their burst of inter-marriages, Luciano and Arianna in Bellezza with the adults, and Georgia and Falco in London going to school.
This one again suffered from the same problems as City of Masks, which is that scenes sometimes weren't given enough breathing room, but that being said it was enjoyable to read and I rolled my eyes a lot at the teenage antics (Arianna, you need to communicate with Luciano more!). But I agreed with the fact that Falco needed to make his own decisions and that going to modern London was a really good thing, though I was happy when Rodolfo got over his little angry fit.
For City of Flowers, the third in the Stravagante series, you'll have to come back in January 2019 though! I do promise to post it then.
But until then ... ho ho ho!
xx
*image not mine
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