Navola is the tale of Davico di Regulai, the young male heir to a mercantile empire. His father and grandfather plotted and manipulated to sit at the top of the pile in the province of Navola. Davico will have to be a schemer if he is going to successfully navigate his inheritance. But what if he does not want it? Being head of the di Regulai empire is a poison chalice. Davico cannot walk away but he is not a man full of guile. Does he have what it takes to sit in the center of the web?
What Is Navola by Paolo Bacigalupi?
It’s worth mentioning that Navola is not a complete story. I had no idea when starting, and, even now, can find little confirmation that this is the first book in a series. The end of Navola is left open and surely another volume must follow.
Navola is the story of the coming of age of Davico. The boy who has everything and yet nothing. He lives a life of luxury, but he is not free. He is penned in by the weight of expectation and the attention of his security teams. He has an adopted sister, a hostage taken by Davico’s father, after one of his many schemes. She is his friend and confidant, until one day, she isn’t. Happiness and alliances are fleeting in Davico’s world.
Paolo Bacigalupi shows us Davico’s life. His wants and dreams and how they rub up against reality. We see complicated Machiavellian politics and the construction of trade deals. Later we will see deceit, betrayal, and unspeakable brutality.
The book is steeped in Italianate history. Navola is a work of fiction, but it channels the machinations of the Medicis and Borgias. While the book has a fantasy setting, there is little magic. Just a curious artifact that looks over the entire story; a severed dragon’s eye.
Why Read Navola by Paolo Bacigalupi?
There are many types of fantasy novel. Some are all plot and action, like Fourth Wing. Some are world-building and quests, like the Lord of the Rings. Others are grim, like the works of Joe Abercrombie. Some are steeped in history, like the books of Guy Gavriel Kay. Yet others are dense and wordy, like Peake’s Gormanghast.
Where does Navola fit in?
Well, it’s nothing like Fourth Wing and doesn’t have a quest. Most of the action takes place in a single palace. It is certainly dark and steeped in real-world history; Bacigalupi’s prose is rich and filling. If it resembles any of the above, it is more like Guy Gavriel Kay and Gormanghast.
Navola is a dense read. There’s a “Chekov’s Gun” from the outset; a dismembered dragon’s eye, imbued with sinister power. It goes off before the end of the novel but barely. There is not the pay-off we were looking for.
But is the novel worse for that? Sometimes a great author doesn’t give the reader what they want, they reveal something else. Something the reader never dreamed of. So it is with Navola. It confounds expectations.
I cannot unreservedly recommend Navola. Its denseness may make it impenetrable to some. Its Machiavellian twists and turns might lose others (I count myself among these others – when the inevitable betrayal came, I could barely remember the slight that caused such a violent thirst for revenge.)
There is a thin line for books. Some I have cast aside because I found them too abstruse (often because they kept using words like abstruse when “difficult to understand” would have done). Others, and I’m looking at you Neal Stephenson, I work at, worry my way into, finishing absolutely in love. The effort becomes part of the payoff. The mental equivalent of completing a tough workout.
And that is Navola. It did take some effort to persevere with. I kept thinking it was about to burst into life and then the flames would damp back down to a low smolder. Even when the powder keg did finite, Bacigalupi controlled its explosions. What we were left with was a slow powerful burn. Events that shocked and revolted us; we too want payback from some of the events of this novel. Bacigalupi made us care for his characters and almost none of them are safe.
This is a rich novel, steeped in history. It has a realness that evades many fantasy novels. Whether you need such realness in your fantasy is probably a personal choice, but Navola has an authenticity that sets it apart from the rest of the pack. I wouldn’t want every novel to read like Navola but now and then it’s great to read something with such deep foundations. I completed Navola with fire in my belly, a cliffhanger ending, and a desperate need for more.
If you would like to pick up a copy of Navola by Paolo Bacigalupi you can do so here, in the US, and here, in the UK. (Affiliate Links)
If you enjoyed this review, check out my other book reviews, here.
I received a copy of this book in order to write this review.
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