Stravaganza: City of Stars

By Mary Hoffman

Sequel to City of Masks, the setting is again Talia, the parallel world very similar to 16th-century Italy, but the main character in this book is Georgia - who has a love of horses. She is desperate to buy a little, dusty winged horse that has appeared in a local antique shop. This tiny, winged horse proves to be the talisman that transports Georgia right into the rivalries and the high-octane excitement of the hugely competitive Stellata horse race. Mary Hoffman proved herself a mistress of a narrative tour-de-force with City of Masks and this sequel will not disappoint. Fans will be thrilled too that favourite characters from the first book, such as Lucien and Arianna, again appear.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Release date: Apr 5, 2010
• ISBN: 9781408810347

Mary Hoffman

Mary Hoffman is an acclaimed children's writer and critic. She is the author of the bestselling picture book Amazing Grace. Her Stravaganza sequence for Bloomsbury is so popular it has 80 current stories on Fanfiction.net. Her previous books for Bloomsbury also include: The Falconer's Knot (shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction Award and winner of the French Prix Polar Jeunesse 2009) and Troubadour (shortlisted for the Costa Book Award). Mary has three grown-up children and lives with her husband in West Oxfordshire. To follow Mary's thoughts on books and writing, go to http://bookmavenmary.blogspot.com Mary Hoffman is an acclaimed children's writer and critic. She is the author of the bestselling picture book Amazing Grace. Her Stravaganza sequence for Bloomsbury is so popular it has 80 current stories on Fanfiction.net. Her previous books for Bloomsbury also include: The Falconer's Knot (shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction Award and winner of the French Prix Polar Jeunesse 2009), Troubadour (nominated for the 2010 Carnegie Medal) and most recently David, a rich and epic tale based upon the creation of Michaelangelo's renowned statue of David. Mary lives with her husband in West Oxfordshire. To follow Mary's thoughts on books and writing, go to http://bookmavenmary.blogspot.com

Reviews for Stravaganza

[stelle_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A thrilling sequel to City of Masks it keeps your eyes locked on the pages.

[wiremonkey · Rating: 4 out of 5 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.

[floratina · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

READ IN DUTCH

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.

[nm3spring083c3mcbrid · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

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.

[bookslesstravelled · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

An interesting story