Navola – Bacigalupi Paolo (2025)

This fantasy novel set in an alternative history brings Renaissance Italy together with The Godfather and Game of Thrones. Davico di Regulai is the heir to an immensely wealthy banking family that secretly controls finance and, through it, the power of the flourishing city-state of Navola. His father and grandfather possess an extraordinary ability to manage intricate intrigues and behind-the-scenes struggles, recognising true intentions beneath human pretence. Davico is expected to take over their commercial, political and military empire, but even with the best teachers, can he match his predecessors? Set in an alternative Renaissance Florence surrounded by rival states and threatened by other kingdoms and empires, the novel combines magic, swords, power struggles and conflict with a focus on finance and trade. Banking loans, contracts and debts become as dramatic as tournaments and wars. The di Regulai family owes much to medieval banking dynasties such as the Medici and the Fugger family, but beneath the deception and treachery something deeper and more dangerous is waiting. Ancient magical power lies dormant in a petrified dragon’s eye on Davico’s father’s desk.