City of Masks (Stravaganza Series #1) Book

7.5 out of 10
Ревью в моем блоге/This review on my blog
Living A Thousand Lives (please use Chrome/Yandex browser or Android/IOS to see the page; otherwise, spoiler-tags I use to make my post compact may not work)

Short-Soundtrack:
Nilda Fernandez - L'invitation à Venise
Paul Cardall - The Traveler
Lucas Vidal - New Found Life

Genre: AU, historical-fantasy, teen-ish YA
Stuff: time-travels, AU-Italy, 16th century, cancer
WOW: world-building
POV: 3rd-person, multi
Love-Geometry: none and romance is quite non-existent

Quote-Core: "How on earth was he going to fill the time in his world before nightfall?"
It's hard to write a review for this book (now I remember why I didn't do it after the first read of City of Masks ), the world created by Mary Hoffman is too rich for me to describe it fully. And how can I tell you about the characters without spoiling some interesting details? I'll try to give you a glimpse, some clues, a few notes, but believe me, you'd better dive into Stravaganza 's realm blindly.

So, we have Talia which is an AU of our Renaissance Italy, only with some benefits. And the biggest of all is magic which is called there science. City of Masks will show you Bellezza (AU-Venice), a city floating on the water and ruled by a woman (Duchessa). Here you'll meet handsome mandoliers (instead of gondoliers), visit nearby islands, witness traditional celebrations, learn about stravagation*, and see how cunning di Chimichi (a-la Medici family) are.

*Stravagation is an ability to move between worlds and times in your sleep. You need a token from the other side to be able to visit it. Suchlike travelers are Stravaganti (the plural of Stravagante). There are a lot of nuances about this phenomenon, but the story would teach you everything step by step.

Meet Lucien Mulholland. He's a 15-year-old British boy who's recovering from chemotherapy in our world. One day his dad brings home a beautiful notebook for his son to write when he's too weak to speak. When Lucien falls asleep with the gift in his hands he appears in Bellezza. The problem is the day on which Lucien (or Luciano) stravagates is the Forbidden Day for anyone who wasn't born on the main island: outsiders who violated the law will be burnt at the stake.

Now let me introduce a young Talian girl Arianna Gasparini. She's almost 16 and eager to become a mandolier which is almost impossible, 'cause only boys have this privileged. Why almost? You can pretend to be a boy after all. That's what Arianna planned to do on the Forbidden Day - the Day when the Duchessa chooses new pupils for the Scuola Mandoliera - until she met a weird guy in modern pajamas.  

There are more characters and POVs, like Rodolfo Rossi (Stravagante, magician, the Duchessa's favorite and future mentor of Luciano) and his brothers, the Duchessa herself (always masked, always cunning and smart), Arianna's family (a big one and not without secrets), William Dethridge (the first Stravagante from our 16th century), di Chimici (power-hungry and slippery), plus people of Talia.

The story, which would stitch together all the aforementioned guys, is fast-paced and atmospheric. It also deals with a sad topic (Lucien has cancer in our world), but Mary doesn't push you, she doesn't try to play with your emotions, she just tells facts and your feelings are totally yours.

The plot is complex, but has teen-ish vibes. I don't even know how to explain this thing... you'd see it yourself throughout the read. There are cruel events and mature nuances, but the way everything wrap-ups reminds me of fairytales' endings.

The romance is soooo subtle, you may miss it completely. Arianna and Luciano's relationship is more friendship-like than anything, but it's obvious that they like each other and has a future together.

All in all, I highly recommend this series, 'cause it has an amazing world-building and interesting setting that would expand with every next book.

Stravaganza (Страваганца):
' City of Masks (Город масок) #1/6
' City of Stars (Город звезд) #2/6
' City of Flowers (Город цветов) #3/6
' City of Secrets (Город секретов) #4/6
' City of Ships (Город кораблей) #5/6
' City of Swords (Город мечей) #6/6