Navola

by Paolo Bacigalupi

'One of the amazing feats of worldbuilding which I've encountered this year, or really in the last few years.' Lev Grossman

Navola is a city built on trade.

Its palazzos and towers are conjured from its merchant wealth: barley and rice, flax and wool, iron and silver, arms, armies, lives and kingdoms are all traded here.

And presiding over it all, the Regulai bank. By guile, force of arms and the cast-iron might of their money and promises, in just three generations the Regulai family have risen far from their humble origins: merchants beg their backing, artists their patronage, princes an invitation to dine at their table. The Regulai say they are not political, but their wealth buys cities and topples kingdoms.

Soon, Davico di Regulai will take the reins of power. But the boy is not well-suited for his role. His heart is soft where it should be hard. He is credulous when he should be suspicious. He is tired of being tested and trained to inherit a legacy he is not sure he wants.

But Davico is inextricably tangled in fate’s net and his doubts can only summon ruin.

In the shade of Navola’s colonnaded porticoes, his family’s enemies gather and plot.

In the shadows of its deep catacombs, assassins sharpen their stiletto knives.

In the kingdoms of Cerulean Peninsula, princes and despots muster their armies.

Davico’s only hope rests in the heart of a girl whose own family was destroyed by the Regulai, and in a crystalline orb the size of a human head, said to be the eye of a long-dead dragon.

• ISBN10: 1035908638
• ISBN13: 9781035908639
• Publish Date: 4 July 2024
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 16 April 2024
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Head of Zeus
• Imprint: Head of Zeus -- an AdAstra Book
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 576
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

Navola is a beautifully written immersive epic political fantasy(ish?) novel by Paolo Bacigalupi. Due out 9th July 2024 from Knopf Doubleday on their Knopf imprint, it's 576 pages and will be available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. 

Despite the dragon eye on the gorgeous cover, this feels a lot more like a historical political epic novel than a fantasy. There are fantasy *elements* but it's more evocative of Umberto Eco than GRR Martin. It's very lush and immersive and transportive, but also directly and realistically based on "real world" Italy. Readers are swept away to the Renaissance Italian city-states and enfolded in the political machinations and murky jockeying for power in the sumptuous palazzos and noble residences of Navola. 

For sensitive readers, there is quite a lot of graphic violence included which, while integral to the plot, is nevertheless disturbing. Typically of the subgenre, the author uses long descriptive passages to develop the plot and sometimes the pacing seems uneven, rushed in some places and very slow in others. 

Four stars. One for readers who are aware and accepting of graphic violence, murder, and political machinations. It's not clear what the author's overarching message is meant to be, might makes right, political juggernauts crush decency and humanity, or something else. Still not sure it was worth the very well written prose to get through nearly 600 pages of blood, rape, body horror, mutilation, murder, and conquest. 

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes. 

[Metaphorosis Reviews]

3.5 stars, Metaphorosis reviews

Summary
In the city of Navola, Davico DiRegulai is the heir to the quiet power that controls the city and much of the region. But the DiRegulai legacy is one of trickery and violence, and Davico is a poor fit.

Review
For some years, I confused Paolo Bacigalupi and Christopher Paolini – for no reason other than that I knew nothing about either and both had Paol in their names. Gradually, though, it seeped through that they were different people, and that I kept hearing good things about Bacigalupi. So, I took this opportunity to read one of his books. It’s not what I expected. One of the mentions of Bacigalupi that I kept seeing mentioned his book, The Windup Girl. I still haven’t read it, but perhaps I should have started there.

Navola, rather to my surprise, relies heavily on Italianate language and references. On the one hand, that’s great – I can’t think of many other English language books that do this, and it was a fun chance to exercise my long-rusty Italian skills. On the other hand, it’s so heavily Italian inspired that it felt often like a Neapolitan alternate history rather than a third-world speculative story. That’s in part because there’s very little actual magic in this fantasy story; it’s much more on the Mary Stewart Crystal Cave line than, say, J.V. Jones’ Baker’s Boy. That’s fine in itself (sometimes a plus), but I frankly felt that if I knew more of the history of the Italian peninsula, I’d recognize a lot of what was happening. It seemed to me from very early on that there were echoes of Naples, Rome, the Borgias, Leonardo Da Vinci, and a host of other (not always contemporaneous) matters. For me, that real world similarity made the book much less interesting.

Bacigalupi is certainly a skilled writer. The prose is rich and flows smoothly. However, I would also have liked to feel much more engaged by his protagonist and other characters. There was a distance and almost clinical/mechanical feel to things that kept me from really investing as I’d have wanted to. Also, while the Italianate references were fun for me, I felt a non-Italian speaker would have been fairly confused at times.

The base story – person growing up to defy expectations – is a familiar one, but often here felt subsumed to the descriptions of Machiavellian intrigue and manipulations. I wish, honestly, that Bacigalupi had brought this personal element more to the fore. To my mind, that would have made a more engaging and involving story.

Overall, interesting, and obviously a help in properly identifying Bacigalupi. But I’m not sure that I feel a need to go on to his other books. I’m willing, but, on the basis of this one, will likely not search him out. If the opportunity does arise, I’ll look for a book that’s more firmly either fantasy or science fiction, and less alternate history. This one was well written, but not gripping.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.