I went on a trip to Italy for the first time this winter and it brought back a wave of nostalgia for a certain book series that I had absolutely adored as a child. In fact I loved it so much I "tried" (I told myself I would try) to learn Italian and dreamed of going to the beautiful city of Venice. 11 years later the dream of going to Venice finally came true - but I'm not making this post to talk about Venice. I want to talk about the book series.
This series is not well known from what I understand, but is called Stravaganza by Mary Hoffman. The series consists of six books, it started with three (which I had read when I was 9) and then apparently she had written three more, which I have just finished reading now. The book is set both in our modern London, England, and in an alternate version if Italy, named Talia, from 400 years ago. The premise of each book is quite simple - an unhappy teenager from Barnsbury Comprehensive finds a special talisman that transports them to a specific city in Talia where they go, change, and ultimately help to save the day.
The thing about this series, is that I love it, and I would recommend, but it is not amazing nor is it out of this world. It's no Tamora Pierce novel, no Harry Potter, but it is sweet, simple, and I truly understood why, as a child, I adored the books so much. With that being said, it's simplicity leads to cliches, lots of eye-rolling moments, and a bit too many happy coincidences. While the first three books were very strong, and ended on a good (but still open-ended note) - I feel the last three books, particularly the final ones, are lacking. With that being said, let me get started talking about each book, give a very brief summary and basically the thoughts I associate with each book.
Stravaganza: City of Masks
This was the book that started this all and to this day, I still believe it was the best written out of them all. The main character of this book is Lucien Mullohand, a 15 year old suffering from a brain tumor and doesn't have much longer to live. One day his dad gets him a notebook with marbled covered, and at night when he falls asleep with it in his hands (which is how one "stravagates") he finds himself in a city called Belleza - the alternate version of our Venice. There he befriends a girl named Arianna, becomes apprenticed to another powerful stravagante Rodolfo who is very close to the Duchessa of Belezza, and the best part - his cancer doesn't follow him there!
I've thought a lot about why this book seems so much better and I think because out of all of them, this is the one that captures the wonder and mystery of stravagating the most. While all the characters in each book are new to stravagating and all experience the wonder for the first time, this is really the moment you get introduced to a host of new, mysterious, and intriguing characters and you have literally no background to go on - you are exactly like Lucien. You are as lost as he is, as scared, as amazed, and as drawn in. This is also the book with the most tragic ending - and I remember thinking at the time, as a child, that this was the first childrens book I read that didn't necessarily end on a happy note. The thing with this book, was it made Bellezza come to life for me - so much so that even when I went to visit Venice myself I was struck by the magic of it all. I couldn't get this book out of my mind (which was what started me on the re-reading of the whole series) and all I could think was "I'm here - this is the city that I had always dreamed about".
Bellezza is exciting, different, strange, and so is Talia, and I think it was the best way to introduce the world of Talia. While all the other cities are equally interesting, one can't argue that even within Italy, Venice is an incredible place completely different from most cities in the world. City of Masks was also a great introduction to the politics and intrigue that run throughout the rest of the books. There are plots and mysteries, action, and of course - growth - and to be honest, I'll talk about this in the next book, growth is a huge thing in this series.
Stravaganza: City fo Stars
The main character of this book is Georgia O'Grady, a shy and quiet girl who loves horses and is abused and bullied by her step-brother Russell. One day, she buys a small model of a winged-horse, we are told it is Etruscan, we be later learn it comes from Talia--specifically the city of Remora (our Sienna)--when she wakes up there in the stables of fellow stravagante Paolo. There she befriends Paolo's son Cesare, as well as two Di Chimichi princes (whose father, Duke Niccolo hates the stravagante) and gets entangled in the festivities and excitement of the stellata - the annual horse race between the twelves districts of Remora. Also - there's a winged horse.
Like I said, all the teenagers who become stravagante are unhappy - and I think this is an important aspect to the book because it calls out to other unhappy kids. I wasn't a necessarily unhappy kid but I had my moments of inferiority and insecurities and this book literally took kids like me and allowed them a solid way of escape. Not only this though - but through their "escape" they change, they grow, and they come out as better and happier people back in London.
The thing that struck me about this book though was Russell. This was the first time I had read a book that directly showed a character using homophobic slurs (remember I was nine years old) and I was appalled at the type of person Russell was and I felt immensely sorry for Georgia. I felt sorry for Lucien too, but despite his sickness he was loved and as happy as could be--whereas Georgia really had no one. Her parents were blind to the abuse, she had no friends to begin with, and throughout the book Russell actively torments her and at one point even breaks her talisman. Georgia's struggle is heart-breaking and I think out of all the stravagante besides Lucien, she is at the top of the list. She becomes so strong and confident later on, and she's not super pretty or gorgeous or anything - she is described as terrifying (with her hair died red and white in tiger stripes and a wicked tattoo of a flying horse) in later books and it is great. She is really the example of how someone can change in Talia because I think--perhaps besides Isabelle, she is the one that changes the most. Maybe because she also had less of a support group in the real world (read: none) whereas the later stravagante had Georgia to guide them.
Stravaganza: City of Flowers
The next book is set in the city of Giglia (the Talian version of Florence) and centers around Sky Meadows, a teenage boy who has to take care of his sick mom single-handedly all the while believing that his father, a famous rockstar named Rainbow Warrior, doesn't care about him and his mom at all. one day Sky finds a perfume bottle that transports him to Saint Mary of the Vines and meets his stravagante brother Sulien. In Giglia he is about to witness the marriage of four Di Chimichi couples, but not all things go well when you bring the Nucci family (rivals of the Di Chimici) into the fold. Meanwhile, in the real world, Sky has a girlfriend he has to deal with--Alice, the best friend of the terrifying Georgia and the super popular Nicholas Duke (who you may remember from the previous book but I won't spoil).
Sky is like any boy bogged down by feelings of abandonment from his father, and having to deal with a sick mother. He is not abused, or ill, but to have so many responsibilities is bound to make anyone unhappy. What is great about Sky is that he is just genuinely a nice and sensitive guy. He's probably the calmest of the stravagante. Level-headed, down to earth, and just a very calming presence.
This book was initially the "ending" to the series - although it did leave a open-ended, but I think as a conclusion it worked. What happened in this book was exciting, dramatic, but it definitely felt like a conclusion and despite being sad it was the last book, I didn't need anymore (well I did, but I didn't). I wanted more as in I just wanted to see how everyone was doing, but I didn't need more as in more stories. I also enjoy how the Di Chimichi are fleshed out more - they began being fleshed out in the previous book when Georgia befriends two of the Princes, but they are fleshed out even moreso now. And of course - the politics, and the return of old stravagante, and Lucien's awesome relationship with Arianna.
This book--I think--was the most amusing in the sense that... it was so... high school. All the books talk about crushes and love interests, but this book really hits it home with Sky because he is the first stravagante to really get a girlfriend during the book. Georgia has always been pining after Lucien (now Luciano), but he only has eyes for Arianna and you just get these wonderful and hilarious moments of petty jealousy (also in the previous book but moreso now) that just make you notice how young these guys are. I'll say this now since this book is probably the most appropriate - Mary Hoffman doesn't really employ romance in her books. She has couples, and she has moments, but ultimately romance isn't her thing, but she does to couple dynamics very well when she does hint at them. Conversations between Rodolfo and Silvia, or between Luciano and Arianna are always cute and enjoyable to read through.
Stravaganza: City of Secrets
This book is set in Padavia (Padua) and the main character is a dyslexic boy named Matt Wood. Ironically, his talisman is a book he cannot read, and in Talia he works as a printmaker under fellow stravagante Professor Constantine - in Talia he can read though. In his story, Matt must deal with the enforcement of anti-magic laws and the consequences this creates throughout the city when 30 Manoush (read: gypsies) are ordered to be burned at the stake for practicing pagan rituals.
Like I said, City of Flowers was supposed to be an ending, so it was a bit weird to start things back up again with Matt. I felt this book wasn't as exciting, but it resembled something much closer to Georgia's book where it was very heavy about character growth. Matt--unlike Georgia, is a popular guy despite his inability to read. He starts off with a girlfriend (supposedly the prettiest in his year) and yet he still suffers from a crippling inferiority which leads to consequences that cause a lot of trouble. It was fun seeing Matt's growth and watching him realise that his girlfriend was there for him and that he had other great qualities despite his slight disability.
Again you see the return of old characters, you learn more things about the Di Chimichi - and as you can see the pattern is honestly starting to get a bit dry, but it still works.
Stravaganza: City of Ships
The main character of this book is Isabelle, who feels inferior to her twin Charlie who she believes is better than her at everything. She's the type of girl who relegates herself to the shadows to defend herself, yet this defense only hurts her more--a self-fulfilling prophecy. One day though, she finds a talisman that transports her to Classe (Ravenna). There she gets entangled with pirates, and finds herself participating in an all-out war between the Gate People who have allied with the Di Chimichi in the Grand Duke's quest to unite all of Talia under one family.
I must admit, I am running out of things to say about each book past City of Flowers. While I adored the first three, and I found the last three enjoyable, they did not resonate with me as much--perhaps because I did not read them as a child and there are no fond memories. I don't think that is the case though. This book was exciting and I think it did show a relatively good, if not toned down, version of what it is like to go through a war and come out traumatized. In fact, Hoffman does trauma quite while--she doesn't just glaze through it. What has happened to each of the stravagantes creates scars and she purposely stresses this--always noting when characters feel uncomfortable about discussing something, always nothing shared glances of unease, and moments where characters can't speak because of what has occurred to them. I say toned down because obviously these are kids books and she cannot go deep into the psyche of a traumatized teenager who just witnessed a massacre in a church, or felt he was responsible for the death of his own father, or, as with Isabelle, participated in a war and somehow found herself in Barnsbury, London 400 years in the past with her twin brother, but she still notes these moments of hesitation, insecurity and whatnot.
Nothing is brushed off and I think - even if the stories I find are getting a bit trite (or perhaps it is the characters I am not too fond of because nothing can beat the mysteriousness of Rodolfo and quite-witted and sharp humor of Arianna and Silvia) - I love the continuity. I love that what each character has done has affected them, both good and bad and that some of these things continue to affect them book, after book, after book. I think that goes with the whole idea that ultimately - these books are about character growth. About these teenagers finding a space where they can become confident in themselves again and find unhappiness again despite what has troubled them. That's ultimately what this series has been to me - has felt like to me. Talia is ultimately a metaphor for a safe space where teenagers who are trouble can grow in to terms with who they are, how they feel, and it is a space where they can slowly but surely (through the aid of wonderful mentors) realise that they are meant for something and they important to someone.
Stravaganza: City of Swords
And so this leads me to the last and final book -- which to be honest I felt was the weakest. The epilogue to City of Flowers was open-ended but in a way where it simply allowed readers to imagine themselves, what happens next. Swords ended on an open-ended note that just felt incomplete. Someone had just died and there are bound to be consequences from that--in the epilogue!
This book centers around Laura, a friend of Isabelle, who self-harms and after buying a mini-knife, finds herself waking up in the city of Fortezza just after Prince Jacopo has died, leading to a succession problem between his rightful heir and daughter Lucia, and his illegitimate child Ludo (who Laura falls in love with and whose feelings are reciprocated). The stravagante surprisingly side with the Di Chimichi on this matter (or rather, they side with Lucia) and so poor Laura, what to do when the love of her life is her enemy?
I think what gets to me in this book is how fast Laura and Ludo fall for each other. I have never been a fan of "love at first sight" and this couple truly is love at first sight. They literally lay eyes on each other and that's it, and in a way I would've been more OK with it had there been a bit more development on either side but right from the start they are just ridiculously devoted to each other even though it feels like such a superficial love. All Laura talks about it is how beautiful the Talian's look and Ludo in particular and I just don't understand. Part of me felt like this was just a side-effect of her depression and her desperation to get a hot boyfriend, but after what happened in the epilogue I was disappointed. Hoffman hasn't been shy about relationships that don't work out, and Laura and Ludo had all the makings of a relationship that should not have worked out - so why did it? I still don't know and the fact that Laura pines are Ludo so much just made me lose much of my enjoyment through the book.
I hesitate to say that Laura is a weak character - because I think that is the point. She is not Georgia, she is not Isabelle. Of course she is going to start out weak and meek - she self-harmed! I couldn't feel sorry for her though. I know that she really was just escaping and thinking Talia could solve all her problems and it was only later that could truly come to terms with herself, but it was just hard to get through. I think the problem really was Ludo. I don't know why she had to fall in love with him - I feel like her story of awakening could have occurred without her instantaneously falling in love with a guy so hard and fast that she... well - she does what she does.
I am sad to say that truthfully, I could not enjoy this book--despite this being a series that I do clearly love and enjoy and have many thoughts on. Matt and Isabelle's books may have seemed slightly lack-luster, but I still found their characters engaging and their struggles worth following page after page. I'm just sad that if this is to be her final book, this is what it had to be. Masks may be my favourite, but Flowers definitely provided a great ending that Swords does not. To be honest though, I don't want Hoffman to continue writing this series. There are only so many ways you can write about unhappy teenagers from London without things getting repetitive and contrite. Like I said, a bit too many happy consequences.
What I wouldn't mind reading though? How Rodolfo and Silvia got together, and Arianna and Luciano's life after the ending of City of Swords because... well, that is bound to be interesting whether Stravagantes are involved or not! (or perhaps I'm just a sad crazy shipper).
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