Reviews

Re-reading my childhood books. Really nice reading experience but falls bit short from the emotional end and has bunch of show don't tell. The main character doesn't really do much and the book would have gained a lot for having a stronger mc with more agency. The overall story and plot was fun and heartfelt in some places but this bookseries' magic system def needed some more work than just abstract "strong mysterious powers" and travel between worlds.

Content Warnings

gemgem1101's review against another edition

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5.0

This book was wrapped up so beautifully !
When Georgia discovers that her Tailian talisman is missing & the idea of not being able to go back to Remora , made her ( & me ) very sad!! I was like , it cannot end this way.

I found it odd that Georgia had a boyfriend only for a little while ( she should’ve stayed single !) & then they ended it before her exams ( & she was happy?)

& the progress Falco made! Made me very happy ( although I don’t know whether it was stupid or clever of Falco to fly in his own memorial Stellata when he is supposed to be dead ?)

Overall a brilliant book & I’m already starting the next one!

5 / 5 ⭐️

alexjae's review against another edition

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5.0

I read this when I was probably around 12...which was a while ago, but for the benefit of any young adult readers looking for a good read, I figured I would throw in my thoughts on some of my favorite books from that time. I loved this series, waited for the newest edition to the series, and devoured the whole book a few hours after buying it. They are all, especially the first three, a perfect blend of fantasy and slightly backwards Italian Renaissance history, as well as a good dose of lessons on the problems of not fitting in with other kids. While some books for this age group can be a little heavy handed when doling out advice to pre-teens, I felt like Hoffman had a good idea of how to create a character that evolved over the course of the story by becoming more confident in who they are but also did not make the story overwhelmingly centered on that.

Most importantly though, I loved this book most because of its story. First off, the condensed myth of Italy is that there were two brothers raised by a she-wolf and their names were Romulus and Remus. When they were older, they fought and Romulus won - founding Rome. In the series, Talia is formed after Remus wins thereby forming Remora. Going off of this if you basically think of every historical fact being just a little different and a little more magical, you can actually get a pretty good basic understanding of Italian history. Funnily enough years after I read this, I went to Siena, Italy (which is what the city in this book is based off of) and as soon as I walked into the main square all of these random pieces of City of Stars popped back in my head. It was one of the coolest feelings, we had just decided to stop last minute and I thought I had known absolutely nothing about this city But as soon as we walked into the square everything about the Palio horserace flashed back into my head!

I also think this book provides an excellent female character to lead the story. Georgia is probably one of the characters that changes the most drastically over the course of the story and it is nice to see a girl who becomes confident in her own skin and solves major problems on her own.