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Apr 02, 2011

Sandra aka Sleo rated it:

Nope - 5 stars. The longer I sit with it, the better it gets.

I started reading this book with a Dunnett group on Yahoo, but shortly got frustrated because it went so slow and there was virtually no discussion as many (including me) were first time readers and they're Nazis about spoilers. Personally, I don't mind spoilers and sometimes even seek them out. 'Spoilers' implies that all there is to a book is the plot and what happens, and if I know that then the whole book is spoiled. More...

4 comments like (3 people liked it)

Nov 21, 2009

Jennifer rated it:

This is perhaps my favorite book of all time. First, the historical detail is incredible (although there are some who fault her for fusing two real leaders). In addition, the plot is tightly woven so that any loose strings are eventually gathered in the end, which is important to me. I hate it when authors bring in people or events and then never refer to them again.
I especially love her characterization. Thorfinn/Macbeth has his flaws, and we always see how thoughtful he is abo More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Dec 07, 2011

Anne rated it:

I actually read all Dorothy Dunnett's historical fiction this fall, rereading in the case of the Lymond series, but this is the only stand alone book. It's definitely my sort of thing. There's a part where it dissolves into a thousand similar names and places, and when the going gets tough, the characters get cryptic, but I just read on until the story revealed what was bothering them.

The Lymond books put romantic adventurous characters in a wonderful and vivid historical background, More...

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Aug 25, 2011

Bruce rated it:

This is a monumental historical novel about Thorfinn, Earl of Orkney, who Dunnett, after much research, became convinced was identical to the Macbeth of Shakespeare’s play (most historians apparently believe that these two contemporaneous early 11th century rulers were cousins). Dunnett’s work is the story of Thorfinn’s progress from a ruler of part of the Orkney Islands, just north of Scotland, to a position of king of all Scotland (Alba), and how he then lost the kingship.

The sto More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 16, 2011

Mike rated it:

Even though I got an off-taste from the little bit of Dunnett I've read (which is only a matter of pages), Macbeth is my favorite of Shakespeare's plays, so I thought I'd give this one a chance. The story is really built around the idea that the actual Scottish king Macbeth and a half-Viking Earl of Orkney named Thorfinn were the same person; there's no real connection to the play, except for depictions of a few events that become part of the myth around Macbeth which inspired Shakespeare, like More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 26, 2010

Sydney rated it:

I am extremely glad I read this book but it was a very strange experience. It's a historical novel about the real MacBeth (who I will now forever ever more only be able to think of as Thorfinn) and his astounding wife Groa. Yes, you heard me correctly: astounding. Dunnett clearly wanted to redeem these characters from their brilliant, legendary but nefarious Shakespearean heritage and show how Thorfinn did his utmost to open medieval Alba (a.k.a. Scotland) to the then-modern world. By the More...

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Feb 26, 2010

Margaret rated it:

King Hereafter is a towering, beautifully written historical epic about Thorfinn, Earl of Orkney, whom Dunnett identifies also as Macbeth, the king of Scotland made famous by Shakespeare's play. (This identification is not widely accepted by historians, I should note, though Dunnett certainly paints a picture that works well within the confines of her story.) The politics are sufficiently intricate that I was very glad to have a working knowledge of at least the English politics of the period (j More...

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Jun 23, 2009

Janet rated it:

If you want to either feel really culturally literate or realize that you have major gaps in your historical knowledge, just read Dorothy Dunnett. Personally, I love her books--if you can plow your way through historical and literary references, not to mention long quotations in French, she creates amazing characters to love and admire or hate and detest. The first set I read were the Lymond Chronicles, set in Scotland (and roaming all over the world from there) with titles all based on chess More...

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May 07, 2011

Carolyn rated it:

King Hereafter

This book qualifies as Advanced Reading. Although each sentence is a work of art, and the construction of the novel is masterful, it’s not a tale you just gallop through. Rather, it must be read like some poetry, by immersing yourself into the words and images and allowing them to create an experience that engages your mind on more than one level. For 720 densely packed pages in the oversize paperback edition.

There’s also an enormous cast of characters who More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 31, 2011

Meg rated it:

This book took me much longer to read than normal; I usually read about a book per week. It doesn't have anything to do with how long this particular book is, it's just very difficult to get into and keep up with. Dunnett's writing is a little overly-subtle for my taste - I'm all for letting your readers figure things out on their own, but some things do need to be explained. Most things become much clearer, though, if you can make it through the first half, and I think a second reading would More...

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Dec 20, 2010

Polly rated it:

Terrific book. Not an easy book, partly because you can't help liking Macbeth, but you know perfectly well it's not going to end happily, but also because, as with any of the revisionist Richard III stuff, you can't help feeling what I rotten deal that someone who was obviously a better king than anyone else at the time got the reputation of being a louse, in Macbeth's case, almost entirely due to the efforts of William Shakespeare. In Shakespeare's defense, it turns out that one of the people o More...

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Feb 17, 2010

Barbara rated it:

I started reading this 11c. historical fiction of MacBeth out of desperation as I couldn't get the next in the Lymond Series. And got completely into this time travel sense of feeling, knowing the time/places for the story. Thorfinn, with a conplex lineage, as all of the leaders in this epic have, is brilliant, unattractive, and fearless. Even when I can't pronounce most of those Saxon, Norse, and even Celtic names from this time, I just love seeing them ~ all those consonants! And the love More...

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Sep 07, 2009

Michele rated it:

I adore Dorothy Dunnett. You have to have your thinking cap on when you read any of her books, and she knows her subject and her time period inside and out. She has a super imagination, and she foreshadows a whole lot, which makes you feel you've missed something when you probably haven't missed it quite yet. Her foreshadowings are more like a clue that you have to remember this part so you'll be able to connect it up later. Her plots are very complex, and her language is almost Shakespearean fo More...

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Oct 30, 2009

Starling rated it:

This book was written in 1981. Dorothy Dunnett was a favorite author, and I reread this book and her Lymond Chronicles many times, but for some reason never read either of her other two series. I never owned copies of these books because they were easy to find at any library, until, of course they wore out and were discarded. At that point all of the author's books were out of print. I went on to other authors and other books.

I located an inexpensive used copy of the book through Ama More...

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Sep 18, 2007

Sallie rated it:

A long but fascinating story about Macbeth which still lingers in my mind at the oddest moments. Haunting story.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 17, 2010

Mike rated it:

‘King Hereafter’ by Dorothy Dunnett
Who was the real Macbeth, and did he visit Chester in England?
According to the research by historical novelist Dorothy Dunnett, he was the 11th Century Thorfinn Sigurdason, Earl of Caithness & Orkney and lived in the times of King Canute, Earl Leofric of Mercia and his wife Lady Godiva.
His father was disputed, so he was named after his mother Beatha, hence the name Macbeth. His enemy was Rognvald.
This fascinating story (published More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 28, 2011

Erin rated it:

Best book I ever read. In fact, I read it 10 times. I read it the first time so quickly that I actually went back to page one when I finished it and read it straight through. And then did it again. The third time, with a dictionary in my hand. The human depth in this complex historical novel is so intense it left me weeping at the end. I feel I know these people. I mourn for them and I celebrate with them. Dorothy Dunnett is simply an extraordinary writer. I've read a dozen of her other More...

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Jun 07, 2010

Ramon rated it:

Dunnett takes the raw matter of her research on the historical Macbeth and turns it into an engrossing work of historical "speculative fiction". By the end of the novel, what we have is much more than addenda to
Shakespeare's great dramatic discourse on ambition. What we have is an appreciation of how the lands of the Eddas and Vikings opened up to the power and symbology of Rome, how the great culture of the North in-formed the the subsequent history of Britain, and how great le More...

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Oct 26, 2011

Betsy rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Dec 31, 2010

Teresa rated it:

King Hereafter is the story of Macbeth, king of Alba. That’s right, Macbeth of the three witches, Birnam Wood, and “Is this a dagger I see before me?” Except that Dunnett’s version of this man has very little in common with Shakespeare’s ambitious murderer.

Dunnett’s version of this 11th-century king is actually the same man as Thorfinn, the Earl of Orkney. I know next to nothing about the history of this period, but I understand that she arrived at this conclusion after doing extensiv More...

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May 12, 2009

Kristi rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Jul 05, 2007

Beth (moonivy) rated it:

Read 2/21-3/13/05
King Hereafter tells the tale of Thorfinn, Earl of Orkney who also became MacBeth, King of Alba (Scotland). Set in The Orkneys, Scotland, Norway, England and Rome of the 11th Century, King Hereafter brilliantly and lovingly recreates a vibrant chunk of history. Political intruige,
religious intrigue and the diverse Celtic/Viking/Saxon cultures are drawn in a marvelously detailed fashion. This book works brilliantly on that level alone. Over and above that, in Thorfin More...

3 comments like

Jul 14, 2011

Lisa rated it:

One of the very best historical novels ever written, the kind you return to again and again. Dunnett's period research was always extremely thorough, and she used it to sketch (one of many possible) portraits of the life and times of MacBeth. Like Shakespeare, Dunnett built a collage around the few surviving scraps of the historical record which remain, as a way to explore the nature of power and political morality. The tale is engrossing, thought-provoking, and deeply moving, and parallels in m More...

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Dec 17, 2009

Jennie rated it:

Dorothy Dunnett's standalone novel "King Hereafter" is a fictionalized account of the historical Macbeth. In this telling, Macbeth is the baptized name of Thorfinn, another real-life figure who was also a Viking.

Although I found it hard to get past the first chapter, the book quickly picks up momentum and I found I couldn't put it down. Dunnett had a gift for writing about political intrigue, and she also seemed to love her heroes flawed. Thorfinn/Macbeth isn't someone w More...

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Feb 06, 2011

Susan rated it:

500 pages into this 700 page book, I gave up, feeling defeated. It's a Great Book--wonderful story, wonderful writing, wonderful historical look into a character most of us only know through Shakespeare. And how daring to take this well-trodden Scot and give him a flavor that is more convincingly Nordic, highlighting the muddy mess of history in that corner of Scotland.

But I finally gave up and it's probably not the book's fault.

This is not meant to be a bedtime More...

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Jun 07, 2011

Pamela rated it:

If you have always wondered about the story of McBeth as told by Shakespeare, check this on out. Ms

Dunnett does painstaking research into her subject and then weaves wonderful fictional works based on her research. I have read most everything she has written (more than once) and continue to look for more of the Dolly Bird series. My Library only has one or two of those.

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Sep 03, 2011

Stuart rated it:

A retelling in an historical context of the story of MacBeth. Telling of his start of the Earl of Orkney named Thorfinn, he then wars with King Duncan and kills him and becomes King of Alba. He then rules for 15 years and is overthrown and killed by Malcolm III also known as Canmore. It was slow going at first and I got stalled 200 pages into it. However, once I picked it up again it went enjoyably enough. I enjoyed it overall

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Oct 13, 2009

Kathleen rated it:

I'm about halfway through this book. This is amazing. I've never read such a riveting sea battle scene! And Dunnett's descriptions are absolutely exquisite. She tells the story from an omniscient third person point of view, and sometimes slips in a second person address ("you would know...") but the characters are very clear, each has a distinct voice. The writing is dense and slow to read, but well worth the time it takes to read. More later...

Love this book! The ending ma More...

2 comments like

Feb 16, 2011

Pat rated it:

I found this book very hard to get through. A character list (as in Ms. Dunnett's Nicolo books) would help to sort out the multitude of characters with unusual names. The historical detail is extraordinary, but makes the book read as much like a history as a novel. The characters never came to life for me, either. I was glad to finally finish reading.

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Jun 21, 2010

Clare rated it:

Clear your schedule. The life and times of the distant, unflappable, and devoted Thorfinn, King of Alba is long enough without Dunnett taking side trips into the minds of his enemies, but Thorfinn’s complexity, his relationship with his queen, and Dunnett’s flawless battles almost make up for it.

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