Sunday, September 9, 2012
The Pilgrimage
Summary: AD 1353. After the end of the Black Death a handsome but too pale monk is leading a group of pilgrims to Saint Marcus shrine, near Volterra. Not everybody in his flock is innocent, though. Will the pilgrims, and the fake monk, find love or death at the end of their journey?
This story is set a long time before even the oldest of the Cullens came to exist. In The Pilgrimage we meet some Canon characters, but they have minor, if important, roles. Inspired by both The Canterbury Tales and The Decameron, Camilla’s intention was to explore a Twilightverse writing what in Italian would be called a "romanzo corale" -- a story with an ensemble cast, from which the key characters emerge, and with with multiple perspectives.
I think she succeeded and I strongly recommend her fic.
In The Pilgrimage the vampire hero, and his love interest, are different from Edward and Bella but as fascinating as those.
Young Adso, destined to be a monk, runs away from the monastery he was spending his novitiate in because he makes a terrible discovery.
Appalled by what he has learned, his vocation in tatters, he flees the convent and wanders around until, apprenticed to a fur merchant and travelling with him in the Balkans, he mets his fate in the form of a beautiful succubus. The female vampire who is feeding on him, however, is distracted by something and does not drain him completely, so he is turned.
Now, after 40 years Adso has become member of the Volturi coven: he is one of their Lures. At this time in history the Volturi are masquerading as monks, for the power and protection the Church accorded to their members in those troubled times.
Among the pilgrims he is leading to Saint Marcus’ Shrine, however, Adso meets his human mate and his existence is turned upside down.
The Pilgrimage is a dark story of passion, repentance and atonement: we follow Adso, touched by love, as he struggles with his nature and the terrible mission entrusted to him. As the pilgrims following him get nearer and nearer to the massacre they are destined to, we also get to know them better, their past, their sins, their hopes, their human weakness. As we read we hope that at least a few of them will escape their fate.
Camilla researched the story’s background with extreme accuracy; there is not a detail that is not period coherent, so we feel like we are walking in Tuscany as it was seven centuries ago…
What a fantastic review! Many thanks to RaumTweet for bringing this amazing story to our attention. I just started it myself and am loving it. Nothing like anything else I've read.
Stop by RaumTweet's site to see some great recs as well as her stories and banners!
Story Banner by RaumTweet
Segment banner by AnIllicitWriter
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