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194th out of 3,139 books
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13,768 voters
Niccolo Rising (The House of Niccolò #1)
With the bravura storytelling and pungent authenticity of detail she brought to her acclaimed Lymond Chronicles, Dorothy Dunnett, grande dame of the historical novel, presents The House of Niccolò series. The time is the 15th century, when intrepid merchants became the new knighthood of Europe. Among them, none is bolder or more cunning than Nicholas vander Poele of Bruges...more
Paperback, 496 pages
Published
March 30th 1999
by Vintage
(first published 1986)
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This will do for the whole series! Far be it from me to feed anyone's book addiction but have you met Dorothy Dunnett and her Nicolo series? They are historical novels set in late middle age/early renaissance Europe. They centre on the live of group of people in the great trading city of Brugge, then part of the independent duchy of Burgundy. The main character is one Nicholas van der Poele, who rises from the dyeing vats to head a trading house, a bank, a mercenary unit ... and has adventures a...more
This is the story of Claes AKA Nicholas AKA Niccolo van der Poele and his meteoric, often painful rise from a dyer’s apprentice to one of the premier businessmen in sixteenth-century Europe. Nicholas is brilliant, hilarious, and possessed of the sort of intellect and drive that are simultaneously intoxicating and very dangerous. He is a dyer, a toymaker, a natural mathematician, a fighter, a shameless cheat, a man of complex and often alarming motivations. He forms the backbone of these books, a...more
I read this for the first time in September of 2008. Then I liked it, though I knew I should like it more than I did. So I'm rereading it. And this time, I'm not going to be angry at Niccolo for not being Lymond or at pretty much all of the women for not being Philippa. I'm going to enjoy the story for itself.
You ought not be allowed to plow into these directly after reading the Lymond Chronicles.
Apparently, I forgot quite a lot of this book. The first time I read it, I remember being disgruntle...more
You ought not be allowed to plow into these directly after reading the Lymond Chronicles.
Apparently, I forgot quite a lot of this book. The first time I read it, I remember being disgruntle...more
While expanding my knowledge of Medici Italy in MAGNIFICO, I was reminded over and over of peripheral characters in The House of Niccolo, the Renaissance series by the magnificent Dorothy Dunnett. With Unger as background, I decided, I could revisit this series with a better understand of Niccolo's world. Was I ever right. :-)
And there's Niccolo. Apprentice develops into continental financier: Niccolo, whose many pranks with Felix, heir to the Charetty company, are constantly getting him into tr...more
And there's Niccolo. Apprentice develops into continental financier: Niccolo, whose many pranks with Felix, heir to the Charetty company, are constantly getting him into tr...more
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1789700...
the first of Dunnett's fifteenth century series of thick dynastic novels, set in Western Europe between Bruges, Geneva and Italy. Twenty-five years ago or more I read Dunnett's King Hereafter, about Macbeth (who she reckoned was also known as Thorfinn of Orkney) and greatly enjoyed it. Now I'm a bit older, I can appreciate the good points of Dunnett's writing - she is great at the behind-the-scenes plot threads coming together, and very good, almost theatr...more
the first of Dunnett's fifteenth century series of thick dynastic novels, set in Western Europe between Bruges, Geneva and Italy. Twenty-five years ago or more I read Dunnett's King Hereafter, about Macbeth (who she reckoned was also known as Thorfinn of Orkney) and greatly enjoyed it. Now I'm a bit older, I can appreciate the good points of Dunnett's writing - she is great at the behind-the-scenes plot threads coming together, and very good, almost theatr...more
Jan 15, 2010
Rosina Lippi
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people interested in a complex and detailed historical novel
This is my favorite historical novel, bar none.
I have re-read this novel and the rest of the series many times, but some things never change, no matter how many times I pick them up.
First, I have to read Niccolo very, very slowly. Dunnett has absolutely no patience with lazy readers. The plot is very complex and she doesn't coddle: you read closely, or you will be lost. It's amazing, really, (and heartening) that these stories are so popular and widely read in a day and age where people seem to...more
I have re-read this novel and the rest of the series many times, but some things never change, no matter how many times I pick them up.
First, I have to read Niccolo very, very slowly. Dunnett has absolutely no patience with lazy readers. The plot is very complex and she doesn't coddle: you read closely, or you will be lost. It's amazing, really, (and heartening) that these stories are so popular and widely read in a day and age where people seem to...more
Thoroughly enjoy this book despite a rather slow beginning. Perhaps slow only because I just finished the last of the Lymond Chronicles, and I'm "still living in the world of the last book" which was not the least bit slow! Here we find our hero, Claes, appears to be a clumsy, slow-witted dyer's apprentice who is constantly in trouble, not always of his own making. He has been with the Widow de Charetty's family since he was 10, as servant to her son, Felix. We learn Claes is actually exceptiona...more
I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish. It had all of the fun of the Lymond Chronicles without being as bogged down by literary references or a slightly pretentious main character. As with the Lymond Chronicles, my interest in the House of Niccolo books flagged somewhat as the series became more and more preoccupied with what can best be described as a human chess match between the main character and his nemesis. Having said that, Niccolo Rising absolutely stands alone as a book and...more
(A millioneth time reread.) The 1st in the 8-book Niccolo series which while published later is a prequel of sorts to the 6-book Francis Crawford of Lymond series. I read the Francis books first, then the Niccolo (they were still being written/published at the time). I thought I'd read through the series in opposite order of publication, but linear chronology, this time around.
There was a point in the 90s where I was completely obsessed with Dorothy Dunnett. King Hereafter is still one of my ver...more
There was a point in the 90s where I was completely obsessed with Dorothy Dunnett. King Hereafter is still one of my ver...more
Moderately interesting so far. A lot of - sometimes too much - detail threaten to suffocate the story at times. Decent characters which appear to be way too savvy about the current political occurrences, as if they had access to newspapers twice a day. Author apparently in love with her style. But I kinda like the main character and I'll see what happens.
All right, I've finished it. I'm confused. I'm glad to have read it, but I can't say it gave me enough pleasure. I persevered, and was given so...more
All right, I've finished it. I'm confused. I'm glad to have read it, but I can't say it gave me enough pleasure. I persevered, and was given so...more
Niccolo Rising by Dorothy Dunnett. I finished this last night, and sort of flapped my hands weakly against the duvet cover in angst and horror and joy and every other emotion that Dunnett coaxes out of my cold heart. I think I am glad that I had a nice break in between finishing the Lymond novels and starting the Niccolo ones because I would have just been annoyed at Nicholas for not being Lymond, and all the female characters for not being Philippa. As it is, I got a long enough break to start...more
I just starting re-reading this series and it made me remember why I bought and KEPT all these books. I love Niccolo, who plays dumb but is smarter than anyone around him. His 'betters', many of whom cannot get past their assessment of his place in the society of 15th C. Europe, are left in the dust, just trying to keep up with him. I just love how Dunnett pulls us into his world and it slowly dawns on us that he is the HERO.
My favorite thing is that Dunnett makes me see, smell, taste, and hear...more
My favorite thing is that Dunnett makes me see, smell, taste, and hear...more
I liked this very much. It's a real puzzle-box of a book, and wants close attention -- Dunnett makes you work hard for your swashbuckling. But it was so rewarding, and exactly what I want out of the genre. I'd read some really tepid historical fiction in my 20s and had pretty much decided it wasn't for me, but Wolf Hall knocked me out and I'd been hoping for something similarly complex, evocative, and seamless in regard to research/story. This was entertaining and invigorating, although it took...more
The Niccolo series is situated prior to the Lymond Chronicles. The hero is not at all the same. Lymond is the equivalent of James Bond in the Middle ages. However, Nicolo is completely different. Thus, I had a hard time with this series. I started several times, and at each time I put th ebook down after some pages. The style is, like the Lymond Chronicles, difficult to read. Very historical, lots of details. But Lymond gets you through the initial pages as the personality of the medieval Bond g...more
Jan 27, 2012
Rachael Bermingham
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
my-kindle
I was encouraged to read this book by the Dorothy Dunnett Readers' Association as I am such a big fan of the Lymond Chronicles. I tried to read Niccolo rising some years ago but just couldn't get on with it. However, given the views of other Dunnett readers I thought I should give it another go. I'm glad I did. Niccolo is not a Lymond although some of the characters in this book mirror characters in the Lymond Chronicles. The book is set a hundred or so years before Lymond and the historical bac...more
This book was a hard read, but I liked it a lot. At I didn't like it, but once you got used to the text, it was a great read. It was a great story, and it's sad to know that just because the text is small and the book is long, that many people won't enjoy this book because they're to lazy!! This does require your constant attention while reading, because if not, you miss important parts of the plot. This is definitely not a book you can just skim through, but if you're willing to put in the effo...more
Jan 14, 2011
Kelanth, numquam risit ubi dracones vivunt
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
romanzo-storico,
favorites
Questo è il primo libro della saga di Niccolò, uno più bello dell'altro, per chi ama i libri storici questo dovrebbe essere un must da avere senza ma e senza se. L'autrice è bravissima nel descrivere vita, luoghi, personaggi, trame complesse nel rinascimento dove colloca tutta questa saga. La scrittura è opulenta di descrizioni, sembra quasi pennellare un affresco storico trascinandoti in esso. I personaggi poi sono complessi, ambigui e si muovono perfettamente nell'insieme del libro. Conosceret...more
Great start to the author's second series set in medieval times. This round follows a young Claes - a servant with a generous smile and the ability to take beatings as his humble status brings upon him by so many superiors. Yet the servant has a brain, imagination, and a will to grow out of that position, and so he wends his way establishing himself in the world of emerging mercantilism and regional trading, along with mercenaries and fighting Bishops, Kings, and Popes.
These books are dense, to...more
These books are dense, to...more
Somehow I had never heard of these books before a customer came into the bookstore frantically seeking them. I helped her with her order (all eight of them!) and then got the lot from interlibrary loan. Then I read all six of the Lymond Chronicles. Then I ordered all eight of them just so I could reread them, and lend them to my daughter-in-law, and reread them. I used to find myself dreaming about Niccolo, and missing him in the way I might miss an old boyfriend.
Set in the fifteenth century, t...more
Set in the fifteenth century, t...more
I am kind of in love with this book. And Nicholas.
After many enthusiastic recs, I read the first book of Dorothy Dunnett's Chronicles of Lymond series last year, and though I found it a rather difficult read at first, it was a rewarding one. An exhausting one too, so I didn't immediately go on to read the rest of the series. While browsing at Bookman though, I saw they had Dunnett's Niccolo Rising, the first book in her "prequel" series to Lymond, following Claes, later Nicholas, Vander Poele in...more
After many enthusiastic recs, I read the first book of Dorothy Dunnett's Chronicles of Lymond series last year, and though I found it a rather difficult read at first, it was a rewarding one. An exhausting one too, so I didn't immediately go on to read the rest of the series. While browsing at Bookman though, I saw they had Dunnett's Niccolo Rising, the first book in her "prequel" series to Lymond, following Claes, later Nicholas, Vander Poele in...more
First of a series of historical novels. Dunnett is so incredibly thorough and good at painting the times and the characters that who cares if the stories are sometimes a bit lame? Not this one, but later plotlines are a bit hard to allow for. I have read the entire series three times and will reread them many more times I am sure.
They aren't always easy to find, but if you can get them, do read all of the House of Niccolo. You will understand a grerat deal more of the Rennaisence world if you d...more
They aren't always easy to find, but if you can get them, do read all of the House of Niccolo. You will understand a grerat deal more of the Rennaisence world if you d...more
Dorothy Dunnet writes a richly layered and highly absorbing tale. I know there are layers to this book that I've not caught the first time around, but I do not mind at all because I know I'll be coming back to this book. It's the first in a 7 (or 8?) part series, and for that I'm grateful. I'm glad I get more! More of the richly drawn characters, more of Dunnett's humour and wit, and more of the history, and most importantly, more of the charming and somewhat allusive Niccolo. He is easily one o...more
Niccolo Rising
Going on my second read of "The House of Niccolo". I am enjoying the story even more this time around. I read the Lymond Chronicals twice before I picked up this series. Thinking nothing could be better than the story of Lymond, I was amazed how the "House of Niccolo" series is just as surprising with characters that are insanely intelligent, funny and secretive.
When we meet Niccolo his name is Claes (short for Nicholas), an apprentice dyer. From the very beginning like a chess ga...more
Going on my second read of "The House of Niccolo". I am enjoying the story even more this time around. I read the Lymond Chronicals twice before I picked up this series. Thinking nothing could be better than the story of Lymond, I was amazed how the "House of Niccolo" series is just as surprising with characters that are insanely intelligent, funny and secretive.
When we meet Niccolo his name is Claes (short for Nicholas), an apprentice dyer. From the very beginning like a chess ga...more
This book is the first in a series of 8. I have read them all between 4 and 5 times. I love the story in it's entirety so much that I read them over and over again just so that I understand it better. Dunnett's writing is very heavily detailed which helps the reader to really be able to immerse themselves in the setting of 15th century Europe.
To understand the struggle that Claes' aka Nicholas aka Niccolo goes through from dyers' apprentice to top merchant/adventurer/banker and his quest to und...more
To understand the struggle that Claes' aka Nicholas aka Niccolo goes through from dyers' apprentice to top merchant/adventurer/banker and his quest to und...more
Much slower to start than the Lymond Chronicles, I think; and unlike the end of the first Lymond book, where at least I had something of a grasp of all the various machinations by the time the book ended, I finished The House of Niccolo still thinking "Wait... but... he did that? Really? And... who?" Which is not to say that Dunnett didn't lay out her plot well, but that she did so in a manner so labyrinthine and Byzantine that I think it surpassed the Lymond Chronicles at points.
Though to be h...more
Though to be h...more
No coincidence that she's called "The Queen of historical fiction"!
Exciting. The first word that comes to mind when I think of this wonderful series of books. After started reading I couldn't stop myself. I found in these books all I could wish for: characters so well defined to think they're real .. human; a solid storyline, never obvious, that takes you glued page after page, wanting to know what will happen and that never disappoints; and many emotions. The historical reconstructions are per...more
Exciting. The first word that comes to mind when I think of this wonderful series of books. After started reading I couldn't stop myself. I found in these books all I could wish for: characters so well defined to think they're real .. human; a solid storyline, never obvious, that takes you glued page after page, wanting to know what will happen and that never disappoints; and many emotions. The historical reconstructions are per...more
The House of Niccolo starts in 1460 in Bruges then moves to the city state of Venice and ends up in Trebizond at the end of the Byzantine Empire. Breathtaking in scope. Thru the 7 books (500 + pages each) you go to all the same places as Lymond does in the Lymond Chronicles but add in Iceland and Mali (as the first white man to make it that deep into the African continent). It follows the title character and his female love interest which is sometimes actual love but mostly revenge trading off b...more
Do I like Lymond or Niccolo better. Niccolo wins out because of his mischievous outlook and his brains. A perfect masquerader, he entertains us while at the same time baffling us with his schemes. His intelligence is slowly revealed. At first he is just a young lad who likes women & wine. But he is much more than that.
I see Lymond as a much serious, contemplative type of character. He entertains us, too, but not with the belly laughs and astonishment that Niccolo offers.
I see Lymond as a much serious, contemplative type of character. He entertains us, too, but not with the belly laughs and astonishment that Niccolo offers.
Welcome to the world of Dorothy Dunnett! I can't remember how I learned about this book, but I started with this series. I started, and didn't stop reading until I read all day and night for months finishing this series, delved right into The Lymond Chronicles, immediately reread this, followed by a second read of Lymond. Ahhhh. Dunnett is an intellectual writer - these books are not to skim thru, they are dense with information about characters, plot and history. The first read through don't ex...more
A talented and savvy dyer's apprentice in 15th century Flanders starts climbing the ladder of success in the world of late Medieval commerce. He has lots of meetings with important people, meets a prince and some dukes, and gets beaten up a few times. It's a lot better than it reads in summary. Oh, and it has Giovanni Arnolfini in it, which I found very cool. Rated M for some violence and coarse language. 3.5/5
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Dorothy Dunnett OBE was a Scottish historical novelist. She is best known for her six-part series about Francis Crawford of Lymond, The Lymond Chronicles, which she followed with the eight-part prequel The House of Niccolò. She also wrote a novel about the real Macbeth called King Hereafter (1982), and a series of mystery novels centred around Johnson Johnson, a portrait painter/spy.
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“I would give you my soul in a blackberry pie; and a knife to cut it with.”
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