City of Masks, by Mary Hoffman

City of Masks, by Mary Hoffman
Young Adult, 2002

When Lucien find himself transported to a parallel sixteenth century Italy (Talia), he finds a release from the cancer that is slowly draining his life away. There he finds adventure, romance, and a city-state to save. But as wonderful as this all is, will he survive back in London where his home truly is?
An interesting take on time-travel (of which I typically can't stand, but this time was well done), any beef I had with this book concerns the plot. I didn't understand why it couldn't just be 16th century Italy instead of a parallel country. And the Duchessa did seem awful lax about people trying to kill her. In the end though, I was surprised to find a decent read. I'm not a big series fan, so I probably won't pick up the rest, but this one was good.
Graded a B-.