City of Flowers (Stravaganza Series #3) Book

This third book in the Stravaganza series proves - beyond the shadow of a doubt - that author Mary Hoffman has captured lightning in a bottle with these surprisingly mature fantasy novels about time travellers (the Stravaganti) who move from our world to a parallel, magical Italy, several centuries in the past. The city in this novel is Giglia (our Florence), the Stravaganti Sky Meadows, a teenage boy who has grown up with a dad known to millions of adoring fans but not to him, and a mom suffering from a debilitating depressive illness. So he finds himself transported to Giglia, where he plays the role of novice friar to Brother Sulien, who warns him that dangerous and unexpected times are ahead as a blood battle with the Nucci family is renewed in the weeks preceding a quartet of weddings within Giglia's ruling di Chimici family.

Old characters and plotlines introduced in the first novel find their endings (and new beginnings) in this one, as Arianna, the Duchessa of Bellezza, must find a way to respond to the proposal of marriage from Duke Niccolo di Chimici. But new characters come into their own too, whether it's the comforting presence of Sulien, a healer through and through, or sculptor and Stravaganti Giuditta Miele... or even little orphan Sandro, who first attaches himself as an apprentice to Enrico, the slimy spy who got his start in Bellezza and has trailed in the wake of the di Chimici ever since. What can Sky contribute in this universe, even as the roles played by Georgia and Nicholas, characters we got to know in City of Stars, resurface?

Perhaps the ending is a bit muddled, and Sky himself less of an artfully-drawn character and narrative voice than his predecessors, Luciano and Georgia. But those are only minor grievances. In effect, the tale unravels and expands gloriously, sweeping along the lines already so well-established by Hoffman: potent family drama, court intrigue, and high politics are all blended into a heady, delightful mix of fiction and fantasy.