Gr 7 Up-In this third installment in the series, Sky Meadows, a London teen, finds himself drawn magically to a land called Talia, which resembles Italy of the 1500s. Brought to the city of Giglia by a monk named Brother Sulien, Sky learns that he is one of a secret fellowship of Stravaganti, people who can travel between certain times, places, and dimensions. Sky, along with several other London Stravaganti teenagers, quickly becomes enmeshed in Giglian intrigue; when the ruthless Duke Niccol? di Chimici decides not only to marry off all his sons in a grand ceremony, but also to ask for the unwilling Duchessa Arianna Rossi's hand in marriage, a feud erupts, and the Stravaganti have their hands full trying to halt the bloodshed. Readers who are new to the series will have a hard time keeping the bewilderingly large cast of characters straight and will have many questions about issues that fans of the series already understand or take for granted-why does Arianna always wear a mask? How are the Stravaganti "chosen?" Sky, son of a white single mom and an absent black rock star, is an engaging character with worries of his own, and the world of Talia is presented in vivid sensory detail that immediately sweeps readers into the story. Arianna is not a particularly compelling character in this installment, but the swirling intrigue, romance, and deadly feuding will keep fans happy. A must if you already have the first two books in your collection.-Eva Mitnick, Los Angeles Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A crackerjack conclusion to a superior historical fantasy trilogy. British teen Sky Meadow has his hands full taking care of his invalid mother when an antique perfume bottle sends him to a magical alternate Renaissance Italy as the newest "Stravaganti." Masquerading as a novice friar, Sky is tasked with preventing violence between the rival families of Giglia (the equivalent of Florence), as the di Chimici (Medici) clan prepares to cement their dominance through multiple dynastic weddings. But the Machiavellian Duke Niccolo also has plans for the young Duchessa of precariously independent Bellezza (Venice), embroiling the Stravaganti and their allies in labyrinthine plots and counterplots. Hoffman sensuously evokes a world drenched in sunshine, perfume and the glitter of gems and lace, where scientific and artistic brilliance intermingle with poverty, cruelty and political vendettas. While character development is perfunctory, nobody will care; not when feuds, floods, tournaments, banquets, poisonings, spies, sculptors, rock stars, princes, orphans, weddings, stabbings and a final climactic duel supercharge a narrative which somehow manages to artfully resolve the plot threads of all three volumes. Bonus: Fans should flock to the history section to investigate the fascinating setting. (Fantasy. 11+) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Stravaganza: City of Flowers by Mary Hoffman wraps up the trilogy begun with City of Masks (about which PW said, "The Renaissance backdrop [and Venetian-style city] set an elegant mood for the time-travel toggling"). Here, a small blue glass bottle (another talisman of the Stravaganti) sends teenage Sky, whose mother is suffering from an illness, back to Giglia (the City of Flowers) in Talia-he even meets Lucien Mulholland from the launch title. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Gr. 7-10. This sequel to Stravaganza: City of Masks 0 (2002) and Stravaganza: City of Stars 0 (2003) introduces Sky, a 17-year-old-old biracial boy who takes care of his ailing mother. Like the young people in the previous books, Sky finds a talisman and travels from modern London to sixteenth-century Talia, an alternate-history Italy. Sky befriends a monk and soon finds himself in the midst of political intrigue and mortal danger. With many characters from the earlier books converging for a quadruple marriage ceremony involving members of the ruling di Chimici (Medici) family, the cast becomes so large that a helpful three-page list of "Dramatis Personae" is appended, along with a detailed note on the Medici/di Chimici connection. Although Hoffman writes well, keeping the many strands of story tightly woven and managing the shifts of time and place with ease, the explanatory references slow the story's movement, especially in the beginning. Still, Sky emerges as an engaging character, and the series' many fans will welcome this opportunity to revisit Talia through his involving story. --Carolyn Phelan Copyright 2005 Booklist

This third installment of the series returns to Talia, a world loosely mirroring sixteenth-century Italy, and introduces Sky, a twenty-first century time traveler or ""stravagante"" who travels to Talia to end a bloody family feud. The novel's elaborate back story and long list of characters make a sluggish and sometimes confusing start to an otherwise imaginative fantasy tale. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.