Navola
Reddit take
Not enough linked mention summaries yet; the source excerpts below are the evidence.
Pros
- I still had it at five stars though.
- My favorite novels from 2024, in order: ... - Navola by Paolo Bacigalupi
- I have heard a lot of good things about "Navola" by Paolo Bacigalupi (historical fantasy-type). I think he has written other things as well in the fantasy/sci fi genre that people seem to like!
- This was my favorite book of 2024. I couldn't put it down!
- This is literally the Medici with their names changed and literally the Sforzas with their names changed and literally the Pazzi with their names changed and I fucking loved it. Fantastic.
Cons
- I found it hard to care about the fate of the largely unpleasant and super-rich cast, and it took a long time for the protagonist to get interesting. Still, a decent enough intrigue book.
- I'm 80% through and have had to skip whole chapters where all the unbeleivably verbose hammed-up turbo Italianness prose just stunned me me like a giant wet orageno-scented shart straight to the face.
- But I just didn’t like it. So much of it felt pointless (like seriously why have the dragon eye in the book? The opening made it feel like it would be central and so much tension was built up around it but it literally didn’t matter) and...
Sentiment
6 positive (60%) · 0 mixed (0%) · 4 negative (40%)
Trust + time weighted score: +24% · raw score 20%
What redditors said (10 of 10)
I still had it at five stars though.
My favorite novels from 2024, in order: ... - Navola by Paolo Bacigalupi
I found it hard to care about the fate of the largely unpleasant and super-rich cast, and it took a long time for the protagonist to get interesting. Still, a decent enough intrigue book.
I found it hard to care about the fate of the largely unpleasant and super-rich cast, and it took a long time for the protagonist to get interesting.
I have heard a lot of good things about "Navola" by Paolo Bacigalupi (historical fantasy-type). I think he has written other things as well in the fantasy/sci fi genre that people seem to like!
I'm 80% through and have had to skip whole chapters where all the unbeleivably verbose hammed-up turbo Italianness prose just stunned me me like a giant wet orageno-scented shart straight to the face.
This was my favorite book of 2024. I couldn't put it down!
But I just didn’t like it. So much of it felt pointless (like seriously why have the dragon eye in the book? The opening made it feel like it would be central and so much tension was built up around it but it literally didn’t matter) and I hated Davico as a mc — the book keeps telling me he’s too soft hearted for the politics of Navolo, and while I’d have loved to read that book, Davico isn’t a good person at all, at any opportunity he has to be a good person he isn’t, he’s just kinda stupid kinda incompetent and kinda cowardly.
This is literally the Medici with their names changed and literally the Sforzas with their names changed and literally the Pazzi with their names changed and I fucking loved it. Fantastic.
In the end, I am giving this book 5 stars, because I was gripped throughout despite my quibbles—I kept reading throughout the night!—and I was floored by the end. If you want a story that has less magic, if you want a story that isn't afraid to get dark, if you want a story that knows it has to make you smile and laugh to make you cry, if you want a story that steps away from tropes, if you want a story that has interesting and clever political intrigue, or if you just love the Italian Renaissance like I do, you should give this book a try.
Compare
Navola vs CirceNavola vs PiranesiNavola vs Howl's Moving Castle
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