From the Stacks: City of Swords

Here it is everyone: A Bonus From the Stacks post. Today I'm talking about one of my great loves...Italy...well okay, an alternate version of Italy, but still. It's amazing. There's romance, and travel, and secrets, and a magic of sorts, and of course an adventure/war type situation. Welcome to the City of Swords.

City of Swords by Mary Hoffman
ISBN: 978-1-59990-842-7

Summary

"Laura is a member of a special group. She's a Stravagante, a person who can travel through time and space.

One day she finds a mysterious silver sword that acts as her talisman. It enables her to stravagate to sixteenth-century Fortezza in Italy, where she meets a swordsmith named Fabio. Laura also meets the charming and attractive Ludo, and they instantly fall for each other. The only problem? A rivalry is brewing in Fortezza that will force them to fight on opposing sides. Ludo is battling to overtake the Fortezza crown, while Laura finds herself supporting the Stravaganti, the ones responsible for preventing Ludo from succeeding. Will Laura and Ludo be able to overcome the odds?

The ultimate test of love unfolds in Mary Hoffman's heart-pounding new Stravaganza novel."

My Thoughts

This is the sixth book of the Stravaganza series and for now serves as a temporary final book. I've read posts on the author's blog that she does have plans for more books (there are twelve city-states in Talia so there is a potential for another six books), but for now everything is concluded...which makes me deeply sad because I so love these books.

Okay, so I don't often say this, but I take slight issue with the summary for this book. Why, you ask...well, it says Fortezza in Italy, which is completely untrue. Fortezza is in Talia, the alternate version of Italy that the Stravaganti travel to/from in the books. In fact Fortezza is loosely based on the real Italian city of Lucca. The summary listed on Mary Hoffman's web site is better (in my opinion):

"Laura has a secret -more than one. When she finds a dagger-shaped paperknife in Mortimer Goldsmith's antiques shop, it seems to speak to her. But it has a sharp blade and takes her to Fortezza in Talia, known as the City of Swords. There is a tussle in Fortezza over who will rule the city when the old Prince dies and Laura finds herself caught between factions, one led by the devestatingly attractive Manoush, Ludo..

But there are other Stravaganti to help her both in 16th century Talia and 21st century London. It is just a terrible twist of fate that her heart is on a different side from her duty. Meanwhile, Luciano and Arianna are supposed to be getting married in Bellezza. But Luciano is involved in the Siege of Fortezza and Arianna fears there will be bloodshed at the wedding.

She is right, but whose will it be? The gripping climax to the Stravaganza sequence."

This book nicely ties up some of the strands that have been dangling since the beginning, but still leaves plenty of room just in case the other books become a reality. Personally, I would love to see the full twelve books, one for each city-state, because traveling to each of these places has been so amazing for me. It is made all that more powerful since I have been to Italy. I was only there for a week, but I completely fell in love with the beauty and culture of the country. When I first read the first of the Stravaganza series that takes place in the alternate version of Venice, I knew the basic layout of everything and it made for an incredibly enjoyable read for me. 

In fact, along with a friend of mine from college who also loves these books, we have planned to someday go on a Stravaganza tour of Italy. We are going to travel to each of the cities in Italy that correspond with the alternate versions in the books and then we can take pictures and have book discussions and fully immerse ourselves in this world. Right now that tour stands at six cities, but I'm still hoping that by the time we can actually afford the trip, we'll be able to hit all twelve.

Anyway, in City of Swords we get to delve deeper into Laura's life. She has been mentioned in previous books, but this time we see why she is unhappy, which leads to her becoming a Stravagante. I loved the irony of a self-harmer being taken to Fortezza, the city of swords, and honestly being there helps Laura to see that cutting herself is not the thing to do, when surrounded by the ever-growing war between the di Chimici family and the Stravaganti. This book also brings the Manoush in again, sort of in a more lead role as Laura's romantic interest is Ludo, a young man we met in previous books.

The battle in Fortezza ended basically as I expected it to, but it was learning exactly why Laura was unhappy that made the ending work for me, that and a certain wedding that I had been waiting for for several books now. Again, the wedding was sort of something that could be predicted early on, and it does somewhat satisfy me as the current ending to the series...but seriously, Mary Hoffman, I want more. I know this struggle with the di Chimici and the Stravaganti isn't even close to over yet and it will bug me to not have the issue fully resolved. I sincerely hope you get to write the other books, because I will be waiting for them.

All in all, I guess this book only gets 4.5/5, because of the couple rather predictable elements involved. It is still a great read. 

Here's the Stravaganza official web site: http://www.stravaganza.co.uk/

City of Swords on Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/stravaganza-mary-hoffman/1110929989?ean=9781599908427

City of Swords on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Stravaganza-City-Swords-Mary-Hoffman/dp/1599908425/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1355084759&sr=1-1&keywords=city+of+swords

Other Readings

I'm off work today and I work third shift tomorrow, so I'm hoping to be able to read a book or two (maybe three) so I'll be set on my regularly scheduled From the Stacks posts for the rest of the month. All bonus From the Stacks are other books I've read this year and haven't been able to fit in to my review posts. Anyway, I'm off to read...hoping to finish Alchemystic today.