Raphael

Damiano #3

by R.A. MacAvoy

Raphael

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical, Science Fiction Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Angels

230 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 1, 1984

About the author

Roberta Ann (R. A.) MacAvoy is a fantasy and science fiction author in the United States. Several of her books draw on Celtic or Taoist themes. She won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 1984. R. A. MacAvoy was born in Cleveland, Ohio to Francis and Helen MacAvoy. She attended Case Western Reserve University and received a B.A. in 1971. She worked from 1975 to 1978 as an assistant to the financial aid officer of Columbia College of Columbia University and from 1978 to 1982 as a computer programmer at SRI International before turning to full-time writing in 1982. She married Ronald Allen Cain in 1978.

R.A.MacAvoy was diagnosed with dystonia following the publication of her Lens series. She now has this disorder manageable and has returned to writing. (see http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/non...)

Reviews

[Pam Baddeley · Rating 3 out of 5]

In book 3 of the trilogy, the archangel Raphael, who has already been somewhat diminished by his involvement with mortals, in particular the now deceased Damiano, is stripped of his wings and powers by his brother Lucifer, in return for releasing the Finnish witch Saara from Lucifer's torments. He is then sold into slavery in Moorish Spain and has to gradually come to terms with his new condition. This is only possible with the somewhat bullying help of a Berber woman, Djoura, who is a fellow slave but refusing to be cowed.

The situation is made more tricky because Raphael has been sold to a Arab trader who only deals in women and eunuchs, so Djoura tries to conceal the fact that Raphael is not a eunuch, getting little co-operation from him since he fails to understand the danger in which this places him or that the least punishment if found out will be castration. Djoura manages to engineer that they be sold together, but one of their new master's pregnant wives is very taken with Raphael and takes all kinds of liberties with him in the mistaken belief that he is not 'entire'.

Meanwhile Saara joins forces with Gaspare, Damiano's former manager and sort-of friend, helped by occasional appearances by Damiano's spirit - who is also giving Raphael moral support, but due to his ephemeral nature cannot tell them where Raphael is held prisoner. They launch an assault on Lucifer's lair to find out, and meet a black dragon - which is obviously the title character from MacAvoy's first published novel, Tea with the Black Dragon. The perils for both sets of characters escalate and the suspense is provided by the looming peril to the former archangel.

As before, the book is beautifully written, there are philosophical conversations, a burgeoning romance - this time, between Raphael and Djoura - and occasionally a lot of action, especially around Saara's team in their battles with Lucifer. The trilogy is eventually brought to a tidy finale, with a postscript which suggests that, despite Damiano's early death and lack of descendants, his legacy lives on via his prickly friend Gaspare and Gaspare's sister's grandchild - the same sister for whom Damiano sacrificed himself. That is the best and most touching part of the story, although I found the rest more interesting than volume 2 of the trilogy - partly because of the Black Dragon, who is by far the best character, but also the proud and independent Djoura. Hence a 3-star rating.

[Arthur B · Rating 3 out of 5]

MacAvoy takes some bold choices to try to keep the series going even after the events of the previous novel meant that it absolutely could not continue to follow the model of the first two novels. It almost works, but I'm just not sold on it. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/202...

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This trilogy was the standout from a time in my life when I read a lot of fantasy, and I'm pleased to say that I thought it held up really well. Yes, it's sentimental, but it's also unpredictable and touches on some interesting philosophical issues.

The first book is my favorite because I'm a little in love with Damiano, but I would recommend these books to anyone who enjoys light fantasy.

[Chuck Childers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best ending ever.

[Kat Hooper · Rating 2 out of 5]

review coming soon at www.fantasyliterature.com

[Brian Palmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the Damiano trilogy all in one go, so I'll just review the trilogy as a whole here. This is a series that takes a very Italian Catholic view of the world, concerning a small Italian villager ( of course, this is a pre-unification Italy, so each village was its own entity, with travel difficult and dangerous) who has some unusual abilities. Damiano Delstrago, born of a line of witches, is not interested in a life of magic; he does white magic (such as healing potions and alchemy) while pursuing his study of music. He's talented enough to have drawn the attention of the archangel Raphael himself, who is a musician more than anything else.

But life in these times is perilous. From the very first book, he is forced to flee from an oncoming army; he is tempted by the devil himself in attempting to ensure his village is at peace (even if, as the devil says, that means consigning his village to becoming a non-entity, rather than a powerful and notable town as it might become). Along the way, he continues practicing his music with the angel, discussing music with a young companion/business manager, and fighting temptation.

And in the third book, the angel Raphael, having been altered by association with Damiano as a human, is forced into a perilous mortal situation by the devil. For the first time, his angelic understanding of the world is forced to deal with the limitations of humanity.

This is not an epic fantasy. Although it's not exclusively confined to Italy, and it features characters from outside settings, it is an interestingly *focused* book from the world view of medieval Italians. (Of course the devil is both involved with the entire earth and lives in the Alps, while paying attention above all else to Italy!). The first two books were a step above the last, I think, but the entire series is enjoyable and cozy with some philosophical musings; it reminded me most of all Jo Walton's Lent, but also Judith Tarr's Hound and Falcon trilogy.

[Natasha Hurley-Walker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Djoura and the black dragon were brilliant. I think they'd have made much better main characters than Damiano and Raphael!

Christian mythology all completely lost on me on this one. Lots of big battles, lots of angelic patience, lots of being reminded that being mortal is a bit crap. I'd say deus ex machina at the end but obviously it's just deus.

And of course, for me, none of the interesting stuff, i.e. the metaphysics, is really properly explored. So there's ghosts that can interact with the world? Angels really have feathers? Demons are a thing? Or not? Dragons are real, but not magic? It's all very lyrical and lovely but I guess that just doesn't float my boat.

[Uudenkuun Emilia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Alas, this third part went even more incoherent than the second. It felt muddled and there were too many characters (and Damiano, the one I cared about the most, was only very peripheral). I appreciated that there was a black woman as one of the main characters - in 1985, that wasn't very common in SFF, I think - but even Djoura wasn't enough to save this novel. (Nor Saara, who continued to be badass.)

Also, an absolutely infuriating feature of this old edition was that it kept CAPITALISING things for emphasis, rather than relying on italics. This practice made even sensible things seem a bit ridiculous.

[Charles Harrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

First things first writing a third book in a series when your protagonist dies at the end of the second is a bold move. Once again a hard book to categorise, this one borders on theological fantasy. There is plenty of action but it does seem a little disjointed. Worth reading for the depiction of Moorish occupied Spain in a fantasy setting. It really reads well and is clearly well researched even if the pacing is slow. Overall this series is worth a read simply because it is unusual (and not too long) and sufficiently different from any other fantasy I have read.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

When the main character of the trilogy dies at the end of the second book, it's bound to affect the third book - even when said character is IN the third book. The closing chapter is still great, but not the way the first two parts were great.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fond memories of reading these books thirty plus years ago fortunately weren’t dispelled on the reread. A simple yet complex story of love and loyalty.

[Ponk · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Doodles McC · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite books, which I remember 40 years later, of the archangel struggling to survive on earth, in one of my favourite series, by a great female author. I read these as a mid teenager

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've let this review roll around in my head for a bit as I absorbed what it meant to me. This book was a hard read because it explored evil, both deliberate and casual. It explored love and responsibility as did the first two books in the series. It also looked at what it means to be apart from God, to not be able to hear Him in your life, to be separated from the music of heaven. Those are heavy themes, but this book handled them well.

Sadly the Kindle version handled the transcription of the text less than perfectly. The most ubiquitous error was scanning "li" and rendering it as "U". This "lip" became "Up," "litter" became "utter," and so forth. These were jarring. I'm not going to let a less than perfect version affect my ratings, however.

Again, if you enjoy philosophical fantasy, I think you'd like this series. You absolutely must start with Damiano, the first book in the series, to understand all that happens here. Don't get discouraged at the end of Damiano's Lute. There is joy to be found here.

[Jeffrey · Rating 1 out of 5]

In this third book in the Damiano trilogy, MacAvoy shifts the entire thrust of the story to another character Raphael. At the time I thought it was a bad idea, but on further reflection, she may have had no where to go in the story of Damiano and needed another character to have the ultimate confrontation at the end of the book.

[Ian Banks · Rating 4 out of 5]

2025 reread: A rather wonderful conclusion featuring all the supporting characters getting together to rescue Raphael, who has been transformed into a human by Satan. A very different book to the other two but still an R. A. MacAvoy book with all the wonder that it entails.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

While not as good as the first two, it explores what happens when an angel becomes so entangled in the lives of humans that he becomes more vulnerable to the plans of his brother. The old characters and a few new take part to find and rescue Raphael.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Archangel Raphael falls prey to his brother Lucifer who strips him of his angelic powers. Damiano and Saara and an ancient black dragon depart in a quest to save Raphael. Magical, mystical and fantastical.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Angelic battles

[Tony duncan · Rating 5 out of 5]

see damiano

[Lance · Rating 2 out of 5]

Raphael becomes human in this one.

[Lera · Rating 3 out of 5]

Again, not bad, but missable. The black dragon turns up. A feeling of NPCs battling it out amongst themselves while the puny humans cower.

[Foxthyme · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm. I rather don't like and do like the way MacAvoy ended this trilogy. Love the black dragon.

[Rannie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book 3 of the Damiano series, this was a fun, easy read.

[Tim Franklin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Without the music focus and the character of Damiano, the series unfortunately wanders off-track into just twee. Not a keeper.

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of a 3.5 than a 4. Not as good as the previous two books in the series. The change in roles between Raphael and Damiano is particularly unsatisfying. The archangel just isn't as interesting a character as Damiano, who only puts in a cameo role here. You do have to read the previous books in order to have any idea of what is going here. Still, it is reasonably interesting and much better than most of the crap that gets published nowadays. The prose gets quite hypnotic at times -- but I mean that in a good way.

[Bryan457 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Satan makes a deal with Rafael to release the witch Saara, whom he is torturing.
Satan strips Raphael of his wings and immortality; makes him a human, and sells him as a slave.

[Fantasy Literature]

2.5 stars from Kat: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...

[Hilde Helseth]

'A book you stumbled upon'