Have you ever felt like you don’t really belong in your family? Maybe it’s the way they look, act or even the talents that they have, that you just don’t. It’s frustrating feeling like the black cloud of the family, which Matt Wood has felt forever in Mary Hoffman’s City of Secrets. The forth Stravaganza book takes place in the small independent city-state of Padavia. Though it’s far from the di Chimici Empire, there is still a lot at stake here. Many things are going wrong and seemingly setting up for the greatest disaster yet, but can Matt’s Talian friends save the day?
First, In Talia, things are thick after the last book. The new di Chimici Grand Duke, Fabrizio, is out to get Luciano, who he believes to have killed his father. Luciano did not, since it was a duel, and besides that, the old duke Niccolo cheated by poisoning one of the blades that eventually was switched and killed him. So after fleeing Giglia, and proposing to his sweetheart, the Duchessa of Bellezza, he has been sent to Padavia to study at the university where he will be safe. But, Arianna, his fiancée, is still worried that trouble will come to him even in a free state, especially when he’s so far away.
Back in London, it is Matt’s birthday and he is given another book token by his senile aunt. The thing is, Matt can’t read. It’s not that he’s incompetent, he’s just severely dyslexic, and can read simple sentences or words. He’s also weighed down by the fact that his younger brother is ‘perfect’ and scared that his also ‘perfect’ girlfriend, Ayesha, might not want to be with him because he’s not good enough. But once he goes to Talia, and masquerades as Matteo Bosco, a printer in the university’s scriptorium, he meets new people there and back home that allow him to just be who he is, not to mention that in Talia Matt can read.
Bad things are brewing in Padavia though. The grand Duke knows that Luciano is in Padavia and makes a request to the governor, Messer Antonio, but Antonio simply says that he disagrees with him, and the old Duke died by his own hand. Fabrizio doesn’t like this so he passes a series of anti-magic laws in all the cities in his empire that are against any occult practices and the old religion that follows the goddess. The Duke’s cousin, Cardinal Rinaldo di Chimici goes to Padavia and presents the laws, and Messer Antonio passes them. But his own wife follows the goddess and won’t convert or hide it, and an entire race of people, the Manoush, are visiting the city and they also follow the goddess. Antonio isn’t budging about the laws either, and so if he finds out about the Manoush in his city, he will be forced to push the penalty on them; death.
This book is really good so far. There is a slower start than some of the others, not a lot of action in the first few chapters, but I bet it will get much better. I predict that some of the things mentioned in the first half, like the evil eye Matt has an interest in, Arianna’s visits and the new magic laws are going to cause a lot of trouble, and a lot of grief to the people of Talia and Padavia. I hope Messer Antonio won’t find the Manoush and if he does, which I bet he will, I hope that he changes his mind before too much happens. Hopefully this ending won’t be as terrifying as the last book’s ending.
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