Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A fantasy story that's wrapped in the cloak of historical fiction. I really love History and this really felt like a Renaissance set story, with the exception of the fantasy elements I kept thinking I was going to meet the Borgias and the Medici's! There are, however, dragons, time loops, ethereal figures,
Davico is the latest in a long line of bankers and money managers and his father is one of the ruling committee members of Navola. There is an assassin who acts as his fathers enforcer and some well-meaning staff but Davico is essentially left to his won devices and would much rather be outside, dealing with flora than crunching numbers.
For someone with such a ruthless father, Davico is really quite naïve and slow to see the danger around him. I mean the man bankrupts a rival than takes one of his daughters into his household as a "sister" for Davico (see Hostage for future good behaviour). You'll have to wait a while for the explanation on the eye but you'll be glad you waited!
I did find the language used by the characters throughout as a bit of a tongue twister. I'm good at languages and can work through several but Latin was never my friend and I had to keep googling things to make sure I was right. A glossary and/or a map would have been fab to flick to but that's really my only grumble.
I really enjoyed my stay in Navola and I'd definitely revisit. I'm going to put this back on my TBR shelf so that I re-read it and maybe take more in 2nd time around now that I've kind of got my head around the language.
Davico is the latest in a long line of bankers and money managers and his father is one of the ruling committee members of Navola. There is an assassin who acts as his fathers enforcer and some well-meaning staff but Davico is essentially left to his won devices and would much rather be outside, dealing with flora than crunching numbers.
For someone with such a ruthless father, Davico is really quite naïve and slow to see the danger around him. I mean the man bankrupts a rival than takes one of his daughters into his household as a "sister" for Davico (see Hostage for future good behaviour). You'll have to wait a while for the explanation on the eye but you'll be glad you waited!
I did find the language used by the characters throughout as a bit of a tongue twister. I'm good at languages and can work through several but Latin was never my friend and I had to keep googling things to make sure I was right. A glossary and/or a map would have been fab to flick to but that's really my only grumble.
I really enjoyed my stay in Navola and I'd definitely revisit. I'm going to put this back on my TBR shelf so that I re-read it and maybe take more in 2nd time around now that I've kind of got my head around the language.
Too slow, but beautiful writing and story, will definitely appeal to readers who like heavy world building.
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Confinement, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Grief, Death of parent, Classism
Minor: Rape, Torture, Excrement, Trafficking, Cannibalism
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The Regulai name is legendary. Davico di Regulai’s ancestors include warriors, politicians, and bankers who shape not just the city of Navola but the world around them. Davico was raised to be the perfect heir to his master manipulator father, but Paolo Bacigalupi’s engrossing new novel Navola is a tale of what happens to people who get caught up in the webs of those who practice to deceive...
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Done, done, done, I am done! Oh joy.
This was not the reaction I was expecting when starting this book. I enjoyed Ship Breaker, and then NetGalley had a fantasy novel by the same author, so here I am.
We are in a kind of Renaissance Italy, a Venetian republic/Florentine republic of sorts, with hints of magic. There are nobles and merchant/banking houses that embrace the mafia lifestyle. Backstabbing is a feature, not a bug. Sounds like fun, right? I liked the very first pages, and how Davico (a very unwilling heir to the most powerful mafia family, sorry, it was banking house) talked about his father.
“He liked to say that he traded in goods, but more in promises, and he never failed to collect.”
After that, the further I read, the more annoyed I became:
😡 There is a lot of fake Italian/Latin/whatever. I had no trouble understanding the stuff, but it felt grating, annoying, pretentious. This sort of thing went on and on: “He sought to play in politics, where the art of faccioscuro is both sword and shield, and he held neither. He imagined he could sit parlobanco with your father.” Me: please stop already.
😡 There are many irritating editing errors, the most I’ve ever had in an ARC. I had to reread certain sentences several times before they made sense.
😡 (They drink a lot of tea. Is it a nod to all the tea-drinking in modern sci-fi? Anyway, why are we drinking so much tea in fake Renaissance Italy? And why are their cheeses always described as “bitter”? This is a crime against cheese, that’s what it is!!!)
😡 Davico, I am sorry, you lack depth, which means that you are not well-written. (This goes for all the other characters as well.) You are also annoying. The constant self-doubt, a naïveté that is almost aggressive, the “I don’t want this destiny, poor little meeeeee”, and being very juvenile in general… I got tired of them all after almost 600 pages. Davico grows a bit of spine ca 80% into the book – too little, too late.
😡 Infodumps! We are bombarded with endless descriptions and exposition: the ancient philosophers of this world; pages and pages of their mythology; a lot about their herbs and mushrooms (because Davico likes them). Last but not least: immediately after a Red Wedding wannabe event we are treated to several pages of the history and workings of this world’s banking system. But why?
😡 So the narrative stutters, loses momentum, gets lost, doesn’t go anywhere. It’s a bad sign when the reader asks “is anything at all supposed to happen in this book?” about 30-40% through.
😡 Sex, sex, sex. Sex? Sex, sex, sex! I’m no prude, but the whole society seems to be obsessed. Davico is a horny teenager, but when everyone behaves and talks like teenagers, it gets annoying. The one steamy sex scene makes a dirty voyeur out of the reader, it feels like pornography. I did not feel the characters’ passion. I wanted to go wash my eyes. How was this done? I am mystified.
😡 As the plot finally (finally!) thickens a bit towards the end, there is a lot of blood, gore, torture, humiliation, as well as blood, gore, torture, humiliation. The book gets as obsessed with those as with sex. Ouch.
😡 I wondered why so many Checkov’s guns failed to fire in this book. Then I came to the end, and it was written in a very clear “let’s have a sequel, maybe?” way. Where is my closure?
My reasons for that extra star:
👌The dialogues were very well-written, I enjoyed them.
👌Celia was interesting. We should have followed her instead.
👌The magic stuff was cool. When it did appear, I felt that I was reading a different (better) book.
👌When Davico goes to a neighbouring kingdom to negotiate, his hosts decide to cruelly test him. The test involved a vicious war horse. That was a good scene.
Judging by other reviews, I seem to be an outlier. You might want to check if you agree or not ;)
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the free e-book!
This was not the reaction I was expecting when starting this book. I enjoyed Ship Breaker, and then NetGalley had a fantasy novel by the same author, so here I am.
We are in a kind of Renaissance Italy, a Venetian republic/Florentine republic of sorts, with hints of magic. There are nobles and merchant/banking houses that embrace the mafia lifestyle. Backstabbing is a feature, not a bug. Sounds like fun, right? I liked the very first pages, and how Davico (a very unwilling heir to the most powerful mafia family, sorry, it was banking house) talked about his father.
“He liked to say that he traded in goods, but more in promises, and he never failed to collect.”
After that, the further I read, the more annoyed I became:
😡 There is a lot of fake Italian/Latin/whatever. I had no trouble understanding the stuff, but it felt grating, annoying, pretentious. This sort of thing went on and on: “He sought to play in politics, where the art of faccioscuro is both sword and shield, and he held neither. He imagined he could sit parlobanco with your father.” Me: please stop already.
😡 There are many irritating editing errors, the most I’ve ever had in an ARC. I had to reread certain sentences several times before they made sense.
😡 (They drink a lot of tea. Is it a nod to all the tea-drinking in modern sci-fi? Anyway, why are we drinking so much tea in fake Renaissance Italy? And why are their cheeses always described as “bitter”? This is a crime against cheese, that’s what it is!!!)
😡 Davico, I am sorry, you lack depth, which means that you are not well-written. (This goes for all the other characters as well.) You are also annoying. The constant self-doubt, a naïveté that is almost aggressive, the “I don’t want this destiny, poor little meeeeee”, and being very juvenile in general… I got tired of them all after almost 600 pages. Davico grows a bit of spine ca 80% into the book – too little, too late.
😡 Infodumps! We are bombarded with endless descriptions and exposition: the ancient philosophers of this world; pages and pages of their mythology; a lot about their herbs and mushrooms (because Davico likes them). Last but not least: immediately after a Red Wedding wannabe event we are treated to several pages of the history and workings of this world’s banking system. But why?
😡 So the narrative stutters, loses momentum, gets lost, doesn’t go anywhere. It’s a bad sign when the reader asks “is anything at all supposed to happen in this book?” about 30-40% through.
😡 Sex, sex, sex. Sex? Sex, sex, sex! I’m no prude, but the whole society seems to be obsessed. Davico is a horny teenager, but when everyone behaves and talks like teenagers, it gets annoying. The one steamy sex scene makes a dirty voyeur out of the reader, it feels like pornography. I did not feel the characters’ passion. I wanted to go wash my eyes. How was this done? I am mystified.
😡 As the plot finally (finally!) thickens a bit towards the end, there is a lot of blood, gore, torture, humiliation, as well as blood, gore, torture, humiliation. The book gets as obsessed with those as with sex. Ouch.
😡 I wondered why so many Checkov’s guns failed to fire in this book. Then I came to the end, and it was written in a very clear “let’s have a sequel, maybe?” way. Where is my closure?
My reasons for that extra star:
👌The dialogues were very well-written, I enjoyed them.
👌Celia was interesting. We should have followed her instead.
👌The magic stuff was cool. When it did appear, I felt that I was reading a different (better) book.
👌When Davico goes to a neighbouring kingdom to negotiate, his hosts decide to cruelly test him. The test involved a vicious war horse. That was a good scene.
Judging by other reviews, I seem to be an outlier. You might want to check if you agree or not ;)
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the free e-book!
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
*ARC received from Netgalley - all opinions are my own*
TLDR: Should have been marketed as Historical Fiction instead of Fantasy as it doesn’t suit the genre at all with only a few mentions of an alleged dragon eye. Great writing and Baciglupi does an excellent job of making you feel a part of Navola but it was just too slow for me and I’m not a fan of Historical Fiction - but if you are, Navola is a fantastic read.
I DNF’d Navola at 37% and if I’m being honest, I had to drag myself to read as far as I did. Navola is not the book I expected it to be or one that I enjoy reading. At 37% the way through there is still nothing happening and we are still world building and learning about absolutely everything and it’s just too much. I think this book was poorly marketed and think it will sadly receive quite a few negative ratings because of this - note I did notice the marketing has changed since I initially read about Navola in Feb ‘24 and hope this will bring the appropriate audience to Bacigalupi as he really is an excellent author from what I’ve read of Navola, it’s just not what I personally like to read about.
I enjoyed the history, characters (our mc Davico was wearing on me though) and world of Navola and I hope to come back to it someday when I’m in the headspace for a very slow-paced read about the intricacies of politics. I can’t fault Navola too much from what I’ve read however the pacing could be sped up, even a little bit, and I was getting fatigued about the extremely heavy sexism and just general attitudes towards women. Example being Davicos father buying a 14 year old slave to “warm his bed” when his wife passed but it’s fine because she rules the household now she’s older but is still heavily “slave marked”/ scarred on her face. Like father like son though because Davico spied on his maids naked, had salacious thoughts of his adopted sister and later in life called her a whore and said she tarnished his name when he believed her to be a courtesan.
dark
sad
slow-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I received an eARC of this book through NetGalley, courtesy of the publisher, Head of Zeus, in exchange for an honest review.
With echoes of Renaissance Italy, The Godfather, and Game of Thrones, Navola is a stunning feat of world-building and a mesmerizing depiction of drive and will.
When I first saw the blurb and the above quote about Paolo Bacigalupi's novel Navola, I was greatly intrigued, for it seemed exactly like the type of book I would enjoy and maybe even say it was written for me. Unfortunately, and I am sad to say this, Navola was not the book for me.
Despite the intriguing premise and the promise of complex political machinations, intrigues, conspiracies and events that would keep the reader flicking through the pages long into the night Navola slowly muddles through its plot. Although I don't mind slow starts, especially in epic fantasy, the writing drags out and frequently unnecessarily emphasises lust, desire, sex, nudity and seduction (especially by female characters), thus forcing the reader out of the enjoyment of the plot and making them wonder why the author keeps stressing this and going on and on about this.
It does not provide any new information or insight about the characters we didn't know or deduced previously, nor does it deepen our understanding of the characters and plot. One has to continuously wonder why the author has dedicated so much space to emphasise that the main protagonist and narrator was a horny teenager that was simultaneously fascinated by sex and revolted by it?
However, Navola's biggest "crimes" (in my opinion) aren't its dragged-out writing or the unnecessary emphasis on sex or the portrait of characters (women portrayed as seductresses, or femme fatales or naive innocents), but rather the fact that I just stopped caring about the characters and the plot at a certain point in the book. I just wanted to reach the ending so I was done with the book because I could not anymore. This is a terrible shame because this book has an excellent premise, but the execution just fell flat to me.
1 star 💫
Sadly, this wasn’t the book for me and I did not finish the book. This was marketed as an epic fantasy but it is not, with only mentions of a dragon’s eye. If you’re one who is interested in historical fiction with heavy political themes, this is the book for you.
Overall, the book is very slow paced and I really wish there was a glossary so I could follow what I assume is Italian or Latin phrases, which were partly explained, and go back for reference. I wanted to keep going to keep trying to give the book more and more of a chance, but I sadly couldn’t stick with this one. It’s very hard for me to not finish a book so i was disappointed.
There wasn’t anything at the beginning that happened to truly draw me in and feel connected to Davico as the main character. I don’t empathize or relate to him. There is a lot of information thrown at you so it was a little hard for me to follow along. I believe a glossary and a map could help with that.
I haven’t read very many first person books in a while and it was refreshing to see, especially as there are parts where Davico is talking to us, the reader. Davico starts the story off as a young boy who looks up to his father, a man with strong political power. There are time jumps over several chapters that disrupt the flow of the story and quite frankly reading the chapter where he hit puberty made me uncomfortable. It could have been the way it was written or how I am as a person but that was a no go for me. I can understand and am all for curiosity, but that’s not the way to do it and made me feel even more disconnected from the character. He became someone I didn’t want to root for. Celia is probably the most interesting character here due to what has happened to her and how she’s choosing to survive but not a lot is going on to further drive me to finish either of their stories.
I received an eARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Sadly, this wasn’t the book for me and I did not finish the book. This was marketed as an epic fantasy but it is not, with only mentions of a dragon’s eye. If you’re one who is interested in historical fiction with heavy political themes, this is the book for you.
Overall, the book is very slow paced and I really wish there was a glossary so I could follow what I assume is Italian or Latin phrases, which were partly explained, and go back for reference. I wanted to keep going to keep trying to give the book more and more of a chance, but I sadly couldn’t stick with this one. It’s very hard for me to not finish a book so i was disappointed.
There wasn’t anything at the beginning that happened to truly draw me in and feel connected to Davico as the main character. I don’t empathize or relate to him. There is a lot of information thrown at you so it was a little hard for me to follow along. I believe a glossary and a map could help with that.
I haven’t read very many first person books in a while and it was refreshing to see, especially as there are parts where Davico is talking to us, the reader. Davico starts the story off as a young boy who looks up to his father, a man with strong political power. There are time jumps over several chapters that disrupt the flow of the story and quite frankly reading the chapter where he hit puberty made me uncomfortable. It could have been the way it was written or how I am as a person but that was a no go for me. I can understand and am all for curiosity, but that’s not the way to do it and made me feel even more disconnected from the character. He became someone I didn’t want to root for. Celia is probably the most interesting character here due to what has happened to her and how she’s choosing to survive but not a lot is going on to further drive me to finish either of their stories.
I received an eARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.