The Children's Crusade

The Children's Crusade  (Italian: La Crociata dei Bambini) is a novel that is part of the Universe of Metro 2033, a long-running series of short stories, novellas, and novels written by different authors, all set in the world of Metro. The Children's Crusade, written by Italian Author Tullio Avoledo, was originally published in April of 2014. Although there is currently no English version of the book, The Children's Crusade has been translated into a number of other European languages.

The book is a direct sequel to The Roots of Heaven and the second chapter of Tullio Avoledo's trilogy, followed by the third and last book The Conclave of Darkness. Just like its predecessor, The Children's Crusade is set in Italy, however the story is set in post nuclear Milan. The novel retains the first-person narrative writing style from the previous book, as well as continuing development of spiritual, psychological, and religious themes.

Overview
Set in post-apocalyptic Italy, the story begins with Father John Daniels arriving in Milan on his way back from Venice to Rome. The city of Milan is divided into warring factions/settlements. The Sons of Wrath, one of the region's strongest factions, takes away Daniels' atomic bomb, and Milan faces a renewed threat of the nuclear apocalypse. The main character collects and leads a crusade from the locals of several settlements against the Sons of Wrath.

The story moves in a spiral, Milan is threatened with a new atomic apocalypse, and the survivors are again going on a hopeless crusade. Do they have a chance or are religious fanatics once again leading them to a senseless slaughter? Who are the true monsters, the mutants who occupy the ruined Milan, or the people who took refuge under it? Whose side is God really on and is there even a place for him in the world destroyed by nuclear flame?

Synopsis
The novel takes place in 2033 in post-nuclear Milan, where Scouts of the "City" settlement  find the main character, the priest John Daniels unconscious and near death. The Mother of Mercy, the spiritual leader and healer of the city, helps save his life. Daniels is visually impaired, but can distinguish surrounding objects and read people's thoughts in a supernatural way. From the thoughts of the City’s leader, the Steward, John realizes that all the inhabitants of this city are young with most of them children when the war began. The Manager learns that John was attacked by the Sons of Wrath, the strongest faction in Milan and related to the cult of the late David Gottschalk. The Sons of Wrath have been terrorizing the weaker settlements. They took Daniels's sleigh with the atomic bomb he was carrying.

John manages to gain the trust of the Manager, retelling The Adventures of Tom Sawyer to the children of the City, who have a serious shortage of stories and a great demand for them. Daniels later meets the city's scout leader, Vagant, and tells him the real reason he came to the City: John wants to put together a crusade against the Sons of Wrath to retake the atomic bomb and free the city of them. The Steward objects because the Sons of Wrath are much stronger and more numerous than the City. However, Vagant reminds the Steward that the secret contract they entered with the Sons of Wrath: giving food as a tribute for peace, as war cannot go on forever. The Sons of Wrath ruthlessly continue to raise the "quota" and the City is forced to give more food as well as children to them, including Vagant’s friend Vasco. The final argument on Daniel's side comes from the mutant called Monk, a Night Creature and friend of John, with whom the characters meet outside the City. The Monk claims that the inhabitants of the nearby Iron Gate city are preparing an attack on them, and convinces Vagant that the City should attack them first. The Monk gives them information about how to safely reach the Iron Gate, through the subway. The Steward refuses to risk the safety of his people, forcing Vagant to relieve him from his position, taking over leadership of the city.

John and Vagant gather a small army of city scouts, consisting primarily of children along with Vagant's ally Daniela, sets off on the campaign. The Monk guides the army through the metro and restores John's eyesight, explaining to John that his sins are forgiven. Reaching the Iron Gate, the heroes prevail over the few enemies in the underground and reach the surface, where they observe hordes of Night Creatures eliminating the Iron Gate citizens fighting them, without attacking the people of Vagant. The surviving city scouts learn from their captives that the main army of the Iron Gate has gone to capture their City. The Sons of Wrath, taking children hostage, forced the Iron Gate citizens to take over a nearby settlement and hand it over to them in return for their children. Traveling back to the City to negotiate with the Iron Gate forces, he learns that the Steward, along with several remaining City Scouts and citizens, were killed. The shelter in which the children were hiding suddenly erupted and burned by several shots fired by the attackers. John, with the help of Alessia, has to use all his natural and supernatural persuasion abilities to reconcile and unite the inhabitants of the two cities. After funerals are held for the deceased of both cities, John and Vagant along with the leaders of the Iron Gate, Sergio Crismani and Rabbi Samuel, after arming the two cities' forces with the large stockpiles of weapons of the Iron Gate, set off to war against the Sons of Wrath.

The combined army of the two cities travels through the subway tunnel through abandoned stations to Cadorna station, home to the Los Chinos faction. Before reaching Cadorna Station, the heroes are ambushed by the Alberti, Milanese nationalists and enemies of the Los Chinos. After the engagement, however, they discover that the Alberti forces were actually in the service of the Los Chinos under Marcos Vasquez, the son of the Los Chinos leader. Marcos leads John, Vagant, Sergio, Daniela, and Samuel into Cadorna to meet the Mambo King, Leader of Los Chinos. The heroes try to persuade the Mambo King to join the army. Once again, the powers of John, Alessia and the Monk play a decisive role: the latter showing all present a vision of what is happening at that time in Rome. The New Vatican and the City Council have been overthrown by the Sons of Wrath, led by an insane cardinal. The Cardinal burns at the stake first the Night Creatures, and then the last survivor of the Mori clan. The heroes deduce that the Sons of Wrath will use the atomic bomb at the center of Milan to blow up the hive of the Night Creatures at Milan Cathedral, killing everyone in the area and leaving only the Iron Gate and the city safe for them to occupy and rule Milan. As a result, the Mambo King, seeing the crusade as an opportunity to take the atomic bomb for himself, allies the Los Chinos with the combined army. Also joining the combined army are the Alberti, with ambitions to capture the whole of Milan, who also provide vehicles for the movement of fighters on the surface.

John, along with Rabbi Samuel, goes to the hive of the Night Creatures, to ask them for their help again. During the journey, John and Samuel discuss religion and compare their faiths to what is happening around him. Samuel explains to him the idea of Tzimtzum and how converted to Judaism. John explains how he met the Monk in Ravenna while on his journey from Venice to Rome. The Monk was responsible for taking Daniels eyesight, directing him to take the atomic bomb to Milan and gather forces for a Crusade against the Sons of Wrath in Rome. After reaching the Night Creatures hive at Milan Cathedral, John and Samuel’s request for aid is refused, the Night Creatures stating that this battle must be won by them alone. Disappointed, they return to Cadorna station where the combined forces of the two cities, Los Chinos, and the Alberti gather. The heroes prepare for the next day's battle. Vagant and Daniela consummate their relationship, John spends time with Alessia and Rabbi Samuel gathers additional equipment.

The army of united forces advance to the Sons of Wrath base at the center of Milan. On the approach to the central station, the fighters are met with sniper fire, causing panic and stopping their assault. However, after a rallying speech by Rabbi Samuel the walls of the station and its defenders are covered with flames from flamethrowers recovered by Samuel the night before the assault. After the fighters enter the station, they force the Sons of Wrath into retreat. However the army is led into a trap laid out by the defenders forcing Vagant and the others to surrender. The leader of the Sons of Wrath, the Deacon, interrogates the fighters. After receiving information from Vagant about the target of the attack, Deacon orders his assistant to kill Vagant. However, Deacon's assistant is Vasco, a former citizen of the City and Vagant's friend, who was previously captured by the Sons of Wrath. Taking off the gas mask from Vagant, Vasco recognizes him and joins sides with the attackers. He takes the Deacon hostage, and thanks to the confusion of the Sons of Wrath, the invaders regain the initiative. Terrorizing the locals at the station, the Crusaders try to find out where their children are, and then discover that the children have been killed and prepared for food. Sergio, after learning of the death of his son, brutally tortures the Deacon, trying to get information about where the bomb is located. Before dying, the Deacon provides him with such information.

Sergio climbs into the tower where the bomb is stored, and torn by moral contradictions, shoots himself. At this time at the station, the army led by Samuel starts killing all remaining locals except young children. The Rabbi insists on the murder of children, but other crusaders do not share this idea: mothers who have lost children at the hands of the Sons of Wrath, call local children their own. Meanwhile, Marcos claims that not all Sons of Wrath have been killed, referring to Vasco, and then kills him. He then announces that Los Chinos are taking the bomb for himself, intending to destroy the hive of the Night Creatures. In response, John Daniels skillfully explains why Marcos is wrong. Marcos tries to kill John but fails as Vagant kills him with a sniper rifle.

A month later, John Daniels leaves Milan, taking the bomb and several assistants with him. After discovering the Deacon's papers, John finds further evidence that the Sons of Wrath and the new cardinal of Rome come from Florence. John ventures off to continue his journey back to Rome, saying goodbye to the locals and promising to return.

Interesting Facts

 * The title refers to the real life Children's Crusade of 1212.
 * The second book of the "Universe", published in another country (Italy) earlier than translated into Russian.
 * In fact, the first book about Western Europe, describing life within a single subway.