Stravaganza: City of Masks

Venice is one of the most beautiful cities in the world and is situated in a lagoon in northeastern Italy. The city is built on water and you get around there only in a gondola. Most famous though is it for the Carneval, people dancing all night in beautiful gowns and their faces covered with the most fantastic masks....

All this goes through Luciens mind as he falls asleep, his red notebook in his hands, hoping for a good night sleep. Unfortunately this is not what is happening, for he finds himself standing in the middle of a grand plazza in a city he thinks looks like Venice in the 16th century...
This is when Luciens nightly adventures start. During the day, he lies in bed, for he has a brain tumor and is getting chemotherapie, and in the night he tranports himself to this whole new world called Talia, a world full of magic, to the city of Bellezza. Lucien becomes Luciano once he arrives there and is the apprentice of Senator Rodolfo, the grandest man in the lagoon and closest friend to the ruling Duchessa. He learns everything he needs to know about his special talent to stravagante between worlds. Accompanied by his new friend Arianna he explores the city and realizes more and more how different both cities are, which become even more clear when his health improves greatly in our world and his parents take him to Venice. But the happiness only lasts a few weeks, for the next appointment with his doctor tell him that the tumor is growing back....
Trying to get over his dissappointment and the false hope he makes a big mistake: He stays longer in Bellezza than he is allowed to, which means that his parents find is body unconscious...

When I first picked up this book I would never had thought that the story of a cancer-striken boy and a rebellious girl would transport me into this world of magic and still give a reaqlly good story, which was not just plain flat and where could not neccessarily foretell the ending.
You should definitely read this book if you are a fantasy fan and just love Venice, for it gives you a good description of the city built on water and it makes you want to get onto the next airplane to Italy. City of Masks is definitely the best book out of the Stravaganza series so far, so don't miss to read it.
All in all I would rate it a 9.5