The novel is set in Sicily over a period of about 20 years: 1698 - 1718, when Sicily was under both Spanish and Savoyard rule. Sicily at this time was recovering from an outbreak of plague, a serious earthquake, and frequent attacks from the Barbary pirates.

Sicilian Avengers is the story of the conflict between the evil, greedy and ambitious Don Raimondo Albamonte, a Sicilian aristocrat, and the Beati Paoli, a secret, oft times violent, organization committed to punish Don Raimondo for his various crimes. A battle of good versus evil. It is also a family saga with the main protagonist, Blasco de Castiglione, following the standard pathway of the "hero's journey", when events and family truths come full circle.

Reader be warned: this is a lengthy tome, combining two books, both well over 500 pages each. This definitely has to be read as a physical book due to both its size and the cast of characters. The writing style may not be to everyone's tastes - the descriptions are detailed and plentiful. No-one can deny that this novel is not well researched. I do think it would be more enjoyable to the modern reader with a little bit of diplomatic editing to reduce the size whilst maintaining the overall context.

2-2.5 stars
This has the potential to be good historical fiction. There is plenty of intrigue and action, with a bit of romance. The problem for me was that it was way too long. Too much description of the environs, clothing, etc., to the point that it was a slog. I had to force myself to finish Book 1 (I had to resort to skimming to get through it and it still took me a month) and I didn't even attempt Book 2. The book has 1432 pages--too much for me!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a free e-ARC of this book.

Wonderful book that is immersive from the gate . Great character development with a plot that is propulsive and intricate.

Great for fans of historical fiction and also criminal sagas

Please read my full review at BookTrib: https://booktrib.com/2024/10/22/historic-sicilian-saga-reveals-mafias-clandestine-beginnings/

For more reviews and bookish posts visit: https://www.ManOfLaBook.com

Book 1:

When I started reading this book, it reminded me of Alexandre Dumas’ swashbuckling adventures. Like Dumas’ novels, this book has been serialized before publication, with each chapter ending in a place to make the reader come back next week.

I greatly enjoyed the humor, storytelling, and wit due to the excellent translation by Stephen Riggio who put in a lot of effort to capture the feel of the book and give us clueless readers valuable context in the footnotes.

Sicilian Avengers: Book One by Luigi Natoli is packed with adventure and suspense mixing history and fiction seamlessly. The historical detail and vibrant descriptions make the allies and streets come alive as if they were characters in the novel.

The themes of betrayal, friendship, intrigue, and justice start slowly but are brought more and more to the foreground as the hero’s journey of Blasco de Castiglione, the protagonist, advances. As a fan of The Three Musketeers, I have to say that Blasco reminded me a lot, maybe even too much, of D’Artagnan. I don’t know if it’s on purpose or not, but one has to be blind not to see it.

The rigorous research into this book shows. I understand that Mr. Natoli scoured historical sources, reports, and descriptions of celebrations and ceremonies.

The book captures the essence of an era that was brutal but made Sicily what it is today. I can see why this book is considered a masterpiece in its native land.

Book 2:
Book 1:

Sicilian Avengers: Book Two by Luigi Natoli continues from where Book One left off. Our hero, Blasco de Castiglione is now a professional soldier, in love with Violante, a beautiful nun-to-be, and with the beautiful widow Donna Gabriella who has captured his heart. The parallels between him and Dumas’ famous Musketeer, D’Artagnan, became more pronounced as I kept reading.

As Umberto Eco noted in the afterward accompanying the two-volume eBook, this is not a historical novel but a popular novel Mr. Eco goes on to thoroughly distinguish the two genres and I certainly agree. A pet peeve of mine is when authors write a story that takes place in the past, and call it “historical fiction”, which disappoints amateur history buffs life myself and takes away from the enjoyment of the novel.

Stephen Riggio did a masterful job translating this book, an Italian classic I understand, keeping the literary elegance of it. The streets of Palermo come alive, and his footnote allows non-Italians to embrace Natoli’s world.

I did feel that this novel was too long, but it’s still a good, and exciting read. As a “popular” novel it describes a world that, most likely, never existed but we all wish it did. While there is still adventure, the theme is, of course, love.

A gripping fantasy of love and honor, with some twists and turns to keep the story going. Both books were very immersive and reading them back-to-back was tiring, but pleasurable nonetheless.

Thanks for the opportunity to rad this book. While I am fascinated by the beginnings of the mafia, I just couldn’t finish this one. I found it to be meandering and lost it’s message many times. Best of luck to the author. I will not post this review to any of my review sites, as I don’t want to cause any harm to the author.

I didn't finish this; there was too much fictionalizing for a non-fiction book, which made me distrust it. Also, it seemed at times to drown in over-writing and detail of minutiae, losing sight of the long view. I finally realized that while this might be just the book for those with an interest in this specific area of Sicilian history, it wasn't for me.

2.5 rounded to 3

Sicilian Avengers by Luigi Natoli is a compelling historical literature.
The writing and details were done so well. I was engaged and kept turning the pages.
I’m looking forward to book two.

Thank You NetGalley and Radius Book Group for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Thank you net galley for the advance reader copy of this novel. I didn't finish this one. I wanted to like this with the story of Mafia beginnings but couldn't get into it.

Not done this yet as this is a long one, but wanted to get my review out before publication. Currently 400 pages in out of 1,000, according to my Kobo.

I am ecstatic that this has been translated to English and clearly done so with love. The style is certainly dense and can feel slow at times but it feels very much like that is a deliberate choice to preserve some of the original vocabulary (just in another language).

My gratitude goes out to Stephen Riggio for the translation and NetGalley for the ARC. Looking forward to writing out a more comprehensive review once I have fully completed it.

I am still reading this book. The story is engrossing, but it is a voluminous tome given the lengthy prologue and all the historical details that are interspersed with the action and disrupt the flow somehow. If these were toned down or more concise this could be a faster and more entertaining read. And I say this as a lover of history.

Though I had difficulties getting through this book I really think that this might be an option for a book purchase to our school library.

It was, personally, a rough beginning of the book that left me struggling through the entirety of the book.

Still, I do believe that students and colleagues interested in social studies and history might enjoy this read.

Thanks for the opportunity to read this arc! I’m grateful.

This is intense. A historical piece of literature, no one can argue that. But at over 500 pages per novel this duet is often very wordy. I’m sure it was translated verbatim but that isn’t always best. But over all it’s a beautiful, descriptive, piece of Italian history. We wouldn’t have the New York City we know if it weren’t for the humble beginnings set in Sicilian Avengers.

With apology, I didn't finish this one. It was very...florid and the style just didn't suit my personal taste. So sorry!

Perhaps it was lost in translation, but what should have been an interesting historical read was a long, drawn-out story. Still, it holds well-researched details of Sicily.

2.5. I get what this book was trying to do but I didn't enjoy it as much as I would have liked. The writing wasn't that great and found it to be a bit cliche in places.

I so tried to get into this story but it just didn't hold my attention. I'm sure it's a wondeful novel but just not for me.

This 2024 release titled Sicilian Avengers is a new translation by Stephen Riggio of work by author Luigi Natoli, originally published in 1909 and 1910 as installments titled Beati Paoli. While no proof exists, Sicilians believe a secret group referred to as the Beati Paoli existed in the 1700s as the early Sicilian Mafia, to mete out justice for the less advantaged who were abused by those with money and power. Set at a time that coincided with Sicily’s first self-rule after having been governed from afar for centuries by rulers from assorted other countries, this novel became extremely popular with Sicilian masses, who devoured the information about their country’s background and society, especially as it was written from the viewpoint of critiquing the nobility and ruling class. It is obvious that Natoli conducted a tremendous amount of meticulous research in writing the originals, but the amount of detail woven into the story seems excessive for a novel. The sections which describe a heinous crime, the mystery created around the central characters, and the suspense built around the actions of the Beati Paoli are exceptionally well crafted. However, the story is frequently interrupted by lengthy descriptions and digressions which overwhelm the pace. Sicilians may have been fascinated to learn about their own history in small installment doses, and historians may eagerly devour the details and copious footnotes, but this is not a story likely to resonate with a broad audience today despite the beautiful writing. The translation seems enjoyable and very relatable despite the age of the original, but it should have been accompanied by more surgical editing.

Set in the times of the Italian revolution, this story centers around the nobility of Sicily and the mysterious disappearance of the Duchess of Motta and her newborn son, heir to the fiefdom and title. Her brother-in-law, her husband's younger brother steps into the title when learning of his brother's death and for decades is hiding a deep, dark secret. But there is a secret society called the Beati Paoli which could be considered an early version of Robin Hood, wants to set things right for the true heir of the palazzo de motta, and will set things in motion to see that this wrong is righted. The group hides in the dark, meets in secret and knows things as if by magic. Also coming into the picture is Blasco da Castiglione, who doesn't know his true parents and was influenced by several priests as he grew up. Blasco is a righteous hero figure who always wants to do the right thing. He is a handsome smooth talker who is very adept with a sword. There is a corrupt lawman who will stop at nothing to line his pockets keeping secrets of rich members of the nobility and the beautiful young wife of the Duke of Motta, Donna Gabriella whose life is full of bland days until she meets Blasco though she does make obligatory trips to visit Violante, her husband's only child, who lives in a convent.
This is a very long read and at times, I was bored out of my mind, skipping page after page until something about the Beati Paoli began again. How they were going about trying to give back what was usurped by the current Duke de Motta was intriguing. The members of this society were unknown, even to each other as they wore masks to keep anonymous. I also enjoyed Blasco who just lived life and had a true and generous nature, helping anyone who was in need.
But, this author couldn't really imagine a woman character. Page after page after page of Gabriella whining and playing mind games and acting like a child out of jealousy was so tiring and tedious. She was such a 2 dimensional character as was Violante but for other reasons. She was so immature and unworldly. And Emanuele was such a rotten, obnoxious and unlikeable character. In his mid teen years, he learns of his parentage and suddenly becomes so entitled and unappreciative to the people who became his parents, I wanted to throttle the brat myself! After the length of the book, the Epilogue was almost comical as it tied things up in about 2 pages!
I did appreciate the research the author did to give such authenticity to Sicily during those times.

This is a fascinating book with so many characters. It definitely pulls you into the story immediately with so much intrigue and darkness. There were moments when I thought I could not finish because at times it just seemed to drag without encounters and actions that didn’t serve to move the story forward, but ultimately I had to keep going. The writing is superb and the historical perspective is educational and interesting. It is a long, long story but worth the time to follow Blanco and his adventures.