Stravaganza: City of Masks Book Review

 Stravaganza: City of Masks 

Mary Hoffman

Rating (out of 5): 5

Genre: Young Adult Historical Fiction/Fantasy

Release Date: February 1, 2011

Series: Stravaganza

Series Volume: 1

Profanity: None

Violence: Mild

Sexual Content: None 

Age Recommendation: 8+

Author Website: http://www.maryhoffman.co.uk/

Summary (found on Amazon):

Lucien is very sick with cancer and struggles with his parents' worry every day. But each night, through a magical gift from his father, his mind is transported to an enchanting city, Bellezza, a parallel city to Venice of our world. In Bellezza, Lucien discovers that he is a Stravagante, a rare person able to travel through worlds while sleeping.Befriended by a local girl and protected by an older Stravagante, Lucien uncovers a plot to murder the city's beloved ruler, the Duchessa. But to save the Duchessa and the city Lucien risks his only chance to return home to family and his real life. The well-paced, thick-with-plot story will hook the reader immediately and not let go until the superb, unexpected end. City of Masks is the first in the acclaimed Stravaganza series from the gifted Mary Hoffman.

Review:

This is my second time reading this book, and I enjoyed it just as much this time as I did the last time I read it. This is one of my favorite Historical Fiction/Fantasy series and for good reason. Mary Hoffman does an excellent job of reproducing the feel of a historical Italy while at the same time not having to be completely accurate, since it is in an alternate form.

Lucien is a young man who has cancer. While he is recovering from his latest bout with the illness he is given a journal by his father. This journal is more than a way to communicated with his parents when his throat is too sore for him to talk, it is a talisman that allows Lucien to travel to an alternate form of Venice. What follows is a tale of adventure and excitement, with a little history mixed in.  

The world Mary Hoffman builds in this book is so wonderful. It's a delightful step back in the past, but at the same time a step into another world. Bellezza is a beautiful city that makes me want to go visit Venice just to get a feel for what things are like for Lucien and his friends. The magic, or shall I say science, is delightfully woven into the story and done in such a way I almost want to look for a talisman myself. And the bits of historical information are a delight to read about. 

The characters are live and engaging and Hoffman does an excellent job of displaying Lucien's situation in a way that we are sympathetic and get a feel for what he's going through, but his illness doesn't rule the story. Each character, main and minor, feels like they have a real personality. Most of them jump off the page and stand out making them easy to distinguish from one another. And I can't help but love the good guys and the bad in this book.

I love the way this is told from third person, YA isn't often written in this POV and I really enjoy getting to read it. It could be because I prefer writing in third person myself or I just prefer the way third person reads. The reader is allowed to get into the characters heads, but we don't have to live there for the whole book. It helped me to get to know each character, and not only the main ones, but the minors as well. I liked the wide arching feel that it gave the book.

The pacing in City of Masks is very good, it's never too fast and rarely feels slow. The story goes a lot of places and covers a good deal of time but every scene feels like it belongs. I enjoyed the back and forth between Bellezza and the modern world and the transitions were very well done. It was interesting to see how Lucien reacted to each one, and how the two of them affected one another. There aren't many shockers in this book, but when you get to them they do surprise you. Even reading through this a second time I was still on the edge of my seat at certain points waiting and hoping to see what happened to some of my favorite characters.

City of Masks is a fun engaging historical read that will take you further than the past and make history fun. The other books in this series are also all very good and I highly recommend the entire series to anyone needing a good historical fiction, story about Italy, light fantasy, or just good read.

~Dawn

Missing In Venice

The following is a short story based off of the image titled Missing in Venice from The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Van Allsburg. Countless people have written their own versions of the stories found in his book and this my addition to that collection.

 

Missing In Venice

 

Even with her mighty engines in reverse, the ocean liner was pulled further and further into the canal. The ship was in chaos, everyone was clamoring to know what was going on. People swarmed the edges peering over the side of the ship at the buildings they were just squeezing past. Crowds clamored at the door to the control room demanding to know what was going on.

Atea wasn’t worried about their situation, in fact everything was going as planned. Under the cover of all the chaos she was making her way carefully through the inner parts of the ship towards her goal. She’d been planning this heist for years and excitement at how well it was working bubbled up within her threatening to burst out in laughter. But she had to keep it in, at least until she was finished. Then she could celebrate.

Her attention was focused on her goal and she swiftly made her way through the empty hallways of the ship’s interior to reach the cabin she was looking for. The lock was simple to pick and soon she was in the cabin looking at the sparse, but richly decorated room. The cabin was larger than most and the occupant had paid highly for the privacy it granted, being far from any other rooms it was almost forgettable in it’s corner of the ship. Exactly the way both Atea and her mark liked it.

The safe was right where she knew it would be, hidden in the wall above the bed. Having helped design the boat herself Atea was one of the few people who knew about the secret location. The safe opened as quickly as the door did under her experienced hand and she took a breath in anticipation as she pulled the obscure brown box out of its hiding place.

To anyone else its contents would be paltry, unworthy of all the trouble she’d gone through to acquire it. But to Atea the content’s were priceless, years of her life sat safely in the box and she was finally getting them back.

She pulled a fake box out of her bag and put it in place of the old one tucking her prize into her bag. After locking the safe once more and making sure she left no trace in the room of her ever being there she slipped back out of the room locking the door behind her.

Her trip back onto the main deck of the ship passed quickly and soon Atea found herself blinking in the bright Venice sunlight. The ship was still on course through the canal and she pushed her way forward to get a good look out at the city. People looked in awe at the ship as it passed by and Atea couldn’t help but wave at a few of them her joy at her victory showing in her smile and carefree stance. Soon the ship would reach it’s destination, and then she’d finally be free.