City of Flowers (Stravaganza)

by Mary Hoffman

Sequel to City of Masks and City of Stars, the narrative moves to the Talian equivalent of the city of Florence, where beauty and danger walk - as ever - hand in hand. The focus this time is on the new Stravagante, Sky, whose talisman is an ornate and delicate blue glass bottle. Sky is propelled right into the midst of a deadly feud between the di Chimici and Nucci families, who think nothing of sliding a knife between a man's ribs for revenge A breathtaking and thrilling drama with a very special kind of magic, continuing the stories of Luciano, Arianna, Rodolfo, Falco and Georgia, which fans will sieze upon with glee.

• ISBN10: 0747595712
• ISBN13: 9780747595717
• Publish Date: 7 July 2008 (first published 13 May 2005)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 13 March 2023
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 496
• Language: English
• URL: http://bloomsbury.com/Trade/

Reviews

3,5 stars

"The other life is just a dream."

This is one of those rare books where I don't care much for the main character, but I enjoyed everything else, especially the plot. 

The plot is slightly elevated and a lot more is at stake for the Stravaganti and Talia. The beginning is a little slow, but I enjoyed the last two thirds. The last third is extremely engrossing because so much happens. The plot progression is great. There are several events that lead to other events so naturally and it also kept me on the edge of my seat.

Each book in this series explores a different city and the atmosphere, layout, rules, trade etc. in each city is different. It adds something interesting and fresh to a series with an extremely repetitive plot. There are plot holes, especially with the time travelling aspect, but they are easy to ignore and aren't detrimental to the overall story. 

The protagonist, Sky, is boring and lacks character depth. I wasn't invested in his struggles and he didn't have much of a part in anything. However, I was interested in the arcs of many other characters such as Luciano, Arianna, Silvia, the Stravaganti Brotherhood members, Sandro, Brother Sulien, the di Chimici family and Falco/Nicholas.

The characters aren't complex, but they are likable. It's interesting to see Arianna stepping up to the mantle of Duchessa, but still living life on her own terms and Georgia's newfound confidence and self-assurance is a joy to witness. The Arianna and Luciano 'drama' is amusing so I was really happy with how it got resolved. On another note, I didn't appreciate Alice's spoilt and entitled attitude. I understand her feelings of being left out, but the way she deals with it isn't great. 

City of Flowers deals with politics and family rivalries and shows the di Chimici family in all its glory. The family is made up of characters who are good, bad and morally grey, and though the large family is difficult to keep track of, the dynamics between them and the events that play out because of their influence makes this a good read.  

City of Flowers has an engaging plot and deals with interesting concepts, but I wish the protagonist had more character depth. 

"There are some choices you can only make one. You can't go back to where you made a choice and then take the other one."