From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up-This second volume of the trilogy continues the story begun in City of Masks (Bloomsbury, 2002). Georgia, a 15-year-old with a hateful older stepbrother, finds herself transported to 16th-century Talia (Italy), when she goes to sleep holding a little winged horse figure she bought in an antique shop. She awakes in a barn where a coveted, rare winged horse has just been born. She quickly finds herself involved in the intrigues and conflicts between rival families and the preparation for the Stellata, the annual horse race among the competitive elite families. The di Chimici family is seeking to extend its power and control and sees the race as another step in reaching that goal. At the same time, its patriarch is devastated by an accident that left his youngest son, Falco, crippled. When Falco, dismayed at his now limited future, meets Georgia and learns that she can travel across time and place, he resolves to stravagate permanently to her time, where modern medicine may be able to give him a normal life. Georgia eventually helps him to get to England, but his transition to life there seems somewhat contrived and too neatly resolved. The book climaxes with the horse race and Falco's death in his own time when he becomes a modern-day boy. The concept of stravagation is appealing and is used well to create an adventure tale that takes readers back into the 16th century with all its drama. Fans of the first book will find the sequel equally appealing.Jane G. Connor, South Carolina State Library, ColumbiaCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Booklist
Gr. 6-10. Cruelly teased and tormented by her older stepbrother, Georgia feels trapped in an impossible family situation, with horseback riding as her only escape. After she buys a small statue of a winged horse, she discovers that it is a talisman with the power to transport her through space and time from modern London to Talia, a sixteenth-century, alternative Italy. Georgia first appears to Cesare, son of a horse master in Remora (Sienna), where he has recently witnessed the miraculous birth of a flying horse, a good omen. Still, there's trouble ahead for Cesare in Remora and for Georgia in both worlds, now that she has become one of the Stravaganti, time travelers between London and Talia. Readers of the Stravanganza: City of Masks (2002) will be pleased that several of the main characters reappear, which develops their stories a bit further while introducing a vivid new setting and an involving narrative focused on Georgia. The lovingly created, richly detailed locales are one of the distinctive pleasures of the series, along with the subtle portrayals of both major and minor characters. In other novels, shifts in point of view and setting often confuse the reader and impede the narrative, but here they propel the story, carrying readers along for an adventurous ride. This leaves readers with the hope of more to come. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Book Description
Georgia is an ordinary girl, living in London with her mother, stepfather and bully of a stepbrother and coping with the difficulties of growing up. But all that changes when she buys a tiny figurine in the form of a winged horse and suddenly finds herself swept up into the world of the Stravagante. Her talisman, the figurine, transports her to Remora the Talian parallel to Siena, Italy. There she meets Lucien, the Stravagante we first met in City of Masks and many other fascinating people who are in the midst of preparing for the Stellata, the city's annual horse race. Intrigue, romance, and the rare appearance of a true winged horse ensure an exciting adventure to rival the first in this captivating series.



About the Author
Mary Hoffman is the author of Amazing Grace and other wonderful books for children. The Stravaganza series is an exciting new direction for her acclaimed writing.

ANNOTATION

In this follow-up to "City of Masks," the life of young Georgia takes a sudden turn when she buys a tiny figurine of a winged horse and suddenly finds herself swept up into the world of the "Stravagante."

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Fifteen-year-old Georgia, who loves horses as much as she hates her bullying stepbrother, buys a figurine of a winged horse and finds it has magical powers that transport her from present-day London to the sixteenth-century world of Talia where, in the city of Remora, similar to Sienna, Italy, she finds danger and intrigue as well as friendship and a chance to perfect her riding skills.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Characters travel through space and time, encounter mysterious creatures and more in an assortment of new installments. Of the first book, Stravaganza: City of Masks, PW said, "The Renaissance backdrop [and Venetian-style city] set an elegant mood for the time-travel toggling." This time a miniature model of a winged horse (another talisman of the Stravaganti, a brotherhood of scientists who use talismans to travel between time periods) sends 15-year-old equestrian Georgia to a 16th-century version of Tuscany in Stravaganza: City of Stars by Mary Hoffman. There Georgia gets caught up in the intrigue surrounding the birth of a real winged horse. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Children's Literature - Christopher Moning

Mary Hoffman's second time travel, parallel universe novel is set dually in modern day London and sixteenth century Remora, Talia, a city loosely based on the Italian city of Siena. Georgia has issues with her stepbrother, Russell. Sometimes he is so nasty she just wants to get away. When she purchases a winged horse from an old shopkeeper, Georgia finds herself farther away than she dreamed possible. She is transported four hundred years into the past. The horse is a talisman that allows her to "stravagate"—to travel back and forth through time and space. In Remora, Georgia is astounded to come upon a real winged horse, and equally astounded to find Lucien, a boy from her school who has died in her world, yet lives healthily and happily in Talia. Georgia quickly becomes embroiled in intrigue, politics, and romance in her new, fascinating world. She helps a handicapped boy from a privileged family permanently stravagate to London so that he can get the medical help he needs. The catch is that his Remoran body must die for his London body to live. A host of characters inhabit this imaginative if predictable tale. The "Straganza" series could provide plenty of material to keep Hoffman busy for years to come. 2003, Bloombury, Ages 10 to 14.

School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up-This second volume of the trilogy continues the story begun in City of Masks (Bloomsbury, 2002). Georgia, a 15-year-old with a hateful older stepbrother, finds herself transported to 16th-century Talia (Italy), when she goes to sleep holding a little winged horse figure she bought in an antique shop. She awakes in a barn where a coveted, rare winged horse has just been born. She quickly finds herself involved in the intrigues and conflicts between rival families and the preparation for the Stellata, the annual horse race among the competitive elite families. The di Chimici family is seeking to extend its power and control and sees the race as another step in reaching that goal. At the same time, its patriarch is devastated by an accident that left his youngest son, Falco, crippled. When Falco, dismayed at his now limited future, meets Georgia and learns that she can travel across time and place, he resolves to stravagate permanently to her time, where modern medicine may be able to give him a normal life. Georgia eventually helps him to get to England, but his transition to life there seems somewhat contrived and too neatly resolved. The book climaxes with the horse race and Falco's death in his own time when he becomes a modern-day boy. The concept of stravagation is appealing and is used well to create an adventure tale that takes readers back into the 16th century with all its drama. Fans of the first book will find the sequel equally appealing.-Jane G. Connor, South Carolina State Library, Columbia Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews