Damiano
R.A. MacAvoy’s Damiano alternates between philosophy and travelogue.
Set in a fantasy version of the Italian Renaissance, Damiano receives the call to adventure when his city/town is taken by condottiere with ambitions. As, basically, the leading citizen, he attempts to treat with commanding General Pardo, and finds out he just wants to loot the place (preferably repeatedly) instead of welding it into a bigger state.
Damiano is enthusiastic for his city, and thinks it can be more than a sleepy little place at the foot of the Alps. It can certainly do better than to be looted semi-regularly. So he refuses to help Pardo, and goes to help the rest of the town, which has fled into the hills.
Damiano starts this journey quite naive, and without a well defined goal. He wants something more for his city, he wants peace, but he’s not sure what that would look like. And that is the philosophical side, as he struggles with what he really wants. His quest takes him all over northern Italy, and he puts himself into the path of temptation—and he turns it down, determined to find something better.
I have a couple of problems. The plot is a bit thin for my tastes, as all the energy are on character and philosophy. And after everything else, the ending both makes sense, and is out of character for the rest of the book. It’s good, and I want to read the rest of the series, but neither am I in a big hurry for it.
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