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A review by littlepiscesreading
Navola: A novel by Paolo Bacigalupi
5.0
When the arcs were first offered I pounced on the sample chapter and instantly plunged into love with the beauty of Navola’s language, on the far-flung mysteries of its wide world. I had to know what followed that dazzling cliffhanger. And it did not disappoint.
The world of Navola is wide and vast. And while its intricacies could be dense, it wasn’t intimidating. In Davico’s telling it flows from the page smoothly and with ease. He sits in the scittorium surrounded by scriveri, numerari and abacassi, and we learn the world in the context of itself. I love fantasies woven through with language and enjoyed it immensely here. My interest and fascination were piqued as well by Davico’s lessons with Dellacavallo on the wonders of the natural world.
A world that was so easy to fall in love with. Navola’s beautiful palazzos and twisting alleys, the wild Romiglia, and whispers of deserts passing beneath a dragon’s wings. The interludes offered a brief glimpse of the world outside of Davico and I loved them for it and for the anticipation they built for what would follow. I wanted to sit by as minstrels spun their lush myths. And it made the book all the more hypnotic as Davico grew and the mire of the city and its politics cast darker and darker shadows across all of it. Bacigalupi builds tension the way a storm rolls in, first flickers of atmosphere, rising, rising, rising, to devastating crescendoes.
Often I’ve written about my love of stories about stories. The thrust of this book is politics and all the treasons that entails but it’s woven so well with all the stories that the characters tell themselves. Both about themselves and the people around them. When Davico was warned to be careful lest he come to believe his own disbelief in himself. The repeated refrains of twisty Navolese and their bloodthirsty neighbours. His growing understanding in a world where alliances can be the sand of an hourglass is so wonderfully illustrated throughout.
It can be difficult to read at times. Davico often makes gross commentary on characters’ fatness. The violence is harrowing. There are often instances of sexual violence and coercion. None of it is shied from. It is a brutal book. A beast of a book in so many ways. And I loved each and every page of it.
The world of Navola is wide and vast. And while its intricacies could be dense, it wasn’t intimidating. In Davico’s telling it flows from the page smoothly and with ease. He sits in the scittorium surrounded by scriveri, numerari and abacassi, and we learn the world in the context of itself. I love fantasies woven through with language and enjoyed it immensely here. My interest and fascination were piqued as well by Davico’s lessons with Dellacavallo on the wonders of the natural world.
A world that was so easy to fall in love with. Navola’s beautiful palazzos and twisting alleys, the wild Romiglia, and whispers of deserts passing beneath a dragon’s wings. The interludes offered a brief glimpse of the world outside of Davico and I loved them for it and for the anticipation they built for what would follow. I wanted to sit by as minstrels spun their lush myths. And it made the book all the more hypnotic as Davico grew and the mire of the city and its politics cast darker and darker shadows across all of it. Bacigalupi builds tension the way a storm rolls in, first flickers of atmosphere, rising, rising, rising, to devastating crescendoes.
Often I’ve written about my love of stories about stories. The thrust of this book is politics and all the treasons that entails but it’s woven so well with all the stories that the characters tell themselves. Both about themselves and the people around them. When Davico was warned to be careful lest he come to believe his own disbelief in himself. The repeated refrains of twisty Navolese and their bloodthirsty neighbours. His growing understanding in a world where alliances can be the sand of an hourglass is so wonderfully illustrated throughout.
It can be difficult to read at times. Davico often makes gross commentary on characters’ fatness. The violence is harrowing. There are often instances of sexual violence and coercion. None of it is shied from. It is a brutal book. A beast of a book in so many ways. And I loved each and every page of it.