Description
Welcome to Florence, 1517, a world of intrigue, opulence, secrets, and murder. The Medici family rules the city from their seat of wealth, but the people of Florence remember the few decades they spent as a Republic, free from the Medicis and their puppet Pope, Leo X.
Sharp-witted seventeen-year-old con-woman Rosa Cellini has plans for the Pope and the Medicis - and, more specifically, the mountain of indulgence money they've been extorting from the people of Tuscany. To pull off the Renaissance's greatest robbery, she'll recruit a team of capable misfits: Sarra the tinkerer, Khalid the fighter, and Giacomo, the irrepressible master of disguise. To top it all off, and to smooth their entrance into the fortress-like Palazzo Medici, Rosa even enlists the reluctant help of famed artist and local misanthrope, Michelangelo.
Old secrets resurface and tensions in the gang flare as the authorities draw closer and the Medicis' noose pulls tighter around Tuscany itself. What began as a robbery becomes a bid to save Florence from certain destruction - if Rosa and company don't destroy each other first.
Get ready for an absolute swashbuckling riot, beginning with a 'mud' pie to the Pope's face, and ending with a climatic heist that would give Danny Ocean a run for his money. Bursting with snark, innuendo and action, Medici Heist is your next un-put-downable obsession.
Review
I must confess that I love a good heist story, and this one set in 1517 Renaissance Florence had me hooked! This is a ripping read in the vein of Ocean’s Eleven.
Con artist Rosa Cellina - whose mother and entire town of some 5000 people were butchered at the hands of the greedy Medici family - wants revenge. To get it, she gathers a brilliant cast of skilled characters with a plan of robbing the Medicis and their puppet Pope Leo X of their wealth. The cast is Sarah the Tinkerer, Khalid the Fighter, Agata the Apothecary (witch), Giacomo the mad master of disguise, and even the legendary artist Michelangelo who can help them be introduced into the right circles.
Each have their own reasons to want revenge on the Medici family and their ridiculous hold over the people. It is time to move Florence back to being a republic and remove their repressive overlords. But can this daring plan even hope to succeed? Or will our team be uncovered and lose it all? With some people working against them and a few surprising helpers’ success hangs in the balance...
This is an enlightening and entertaining period novel that showcases the opulence of the time and place. It contains themes of revenge, working together and unlikely success against the people who hold all of the power that teens everywhere will be drawn to. There is enough romance, action and audacity to keep readers aged 13 and older turning the pages right to the end.
