The Stars Dispose

this is one of my all time favorite books, the imagery is so vital to the story that,i still think of this book years after i have read it and its following story. i'm a chef and i delight in her mixing of the art world and the food realm with the magic of the times she writes about, the ice sculpture scene is still one of the most emotional things i have read. i think she unveiled what it must have been like to be michelangelo at that time and place with true passion,his and the authors!i would love to see this as a movie

Tomasso is twelve years old & his world, as an apprentice to his father the Chef of the House of Medici, is in the great kitchens of Renaissance Florence - where bastards roam & astrolgers rule; heirs plot & marriages are made. Caterina de' Medici's world is in the upstairs shadows, learning with her handmaid, Tomasso's sister, to survive long enough to attain her inheritance. Amid the layers of master & servant lies the world of the Occult - older than Christianity working its astonishing magic. Meanwhile plague & barbarians are knocking at the doors of the pretty Italian city.I am in awe of this author's writing craft. She has the skill to sketch before you a great feast, a magnificent sculpture, a dazzling spot of magic & enchanting cats! I would disappear for hours into the worlds she has created, fed by her well chosen words, authentic details & breadth of view.If you love historical fantasies with just the right balance of fact & fantasy as to make the read seamless, then this is a book for you. For my full review & eInterview with Michaela Roessner do visit my site [...].

For someone who is almost constantly lamenting the lack of detailed, meaty, satisfying books, this book was a real "find". The recipies and other food descriptions sent me into the kitchen with the desire to recreate some of them for myself. The descriptions of settings and characters are very detailed, and Roessner's unbelievable attention to detail regarding the history and other facets of time and place in no way overshadows her attention to character development. Even as a history major, I have never found the Renaissance to be my favorite setting for historical fiction, but this book won me over. My only complaint comes with the way the children in the book are portrayed. Through the entire book, I never once felt that the thoughts and words given to the young characters (most of whom were supposedly in the 8-12 year range) were "age-appropriate". Granted, children of that era were reared much differently from children of our own era, but every time one of them said or thought something, I was distracted by how very adult they sounded. But, if you can get past that, there was little else to distract from this magnificent narrative. I'm already on my library's waiting list for the sequel!

When I first read the back cover, I thought this was one of those books I would use to pass the time waiting for the bus, but which wouldn't hold my attention for long. To be honest, the appeal was in the size, not the content... I found that I could not put it down. It took me a little while to figure out who the little kitchen goddess is (I won't reveal the secret; besides, I suspect I was just slower than most on the uptake...) but I was certainly drawn into the family's lives. The relationship between Tomasso and Michaelangelo felt a little contrived, but it didn't bother me enough to detract from the appeal of the book. The atmosphere of the book seemed authentic and sometimes I could almost smell the stew bubbling away. (Now, I'm a sucker for any book that includes recipes, but that's not the only thing I liked...) When I was finished, I did not put THE STARS DISPOSE into my pile of finished paperbacks (the ones I'll be taking to the used book store to trade in on more paperbacks.) It's a keeper, so I can read it again and relive the magic.

The Stars Dispose is an unusual historical fantasy. More attention seems to be placed in providing a rich description of the food rather than a system of magic. However, the plot is a slow seduction of the reader, giving view to just enough of the threat facing the characters that the reader is eager to turn the next page. A plethora of Italian names may be confusing, but a glossary at the back helps.