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The House of Niccolò #5
The Unicorn Hunt
'Rich, newly wed, with a palatial banking house, a busy fleet, a small army, why should Nicholas vander Poele choose to travel to Edinburgh?'
That is the question on everyone's lips in the Autumn of 1468 - especially those of his enemy, Simon de St Pol of Kilmirren, who seeks nothing less than the destruction of the House of Niccolo and its cunning head.
But Nicholas soon proves that there are very good mercantile reasons for expanding his trading empire into the north. They also help to conceal his attempts to discover the true father of the child his vengeful wife insists is not his own.
From Scotland to the Tyrol, Cairo to Cyprus, Nicholas pursues a truth that many fear will destroy him and everything he has tried to build . . .
That is the question on everyone's lips in the Autumn of 1468 - especially those of his enemy, Simon de St Pol of Kilmirren, who seeks nothing less than the destruction of the House of Niccolo and its cunning head.
But Nicholas soon proves that there are very good mercantile reasons for expanding his trading empire into the north. They also help to conceal his attempts to discover the true father of the child his vengeful wife insists is not his own.
From Scotland to the Tyrol, Cairo to Cyprus, Nicholas pursues a truth that many fear will destroy him and everything he has tried to build . . .
656 pages, Hardcover
First published November 4, 1993
44 people are currently reading
959 people want to read
About the author
Dorothy Dunnett
35 books858 followersDorothy 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 and a series of mystery novels centered on Johnson Johnson, a portrait painter/spy.
Her New York times obituary is here.
Dorothy Dunnett Society: http://dorothydunnett.org
Fansite: http://www.dorothydunnett.co.uk/
Her New York times obituary is here.
Dorothy Dunnett Society: http://dorothydunnett.org
Fansite: http://www.dorothydunnett.co.uk/
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 110 reviews
May 10, 2025
It's interesting reading my original review, especially the bit about this not being a 'sprawling, incomprehensible mess' because, in places, that's exactly what I felt this time round! There is so much material that is not quite filler but which takes hundreds of pages to make a miniscule move in a master game plan that only Nicholas knows. In between there are the scenes that we Dunnett fans live for: the farcical comedy of the parrot and the mirror-hanging in Scotland, the emotional intensity of Simon and Nicholas fighting, the confrontation with Gelis on Mt. Sinai, and the atmospheric ending amidst the sinister masked vibe of the carnival in Venice.
I struggled with Nicholas' new 'supernatural' skills as well as the way, in fifteenth century Europe, no-one shows any religious misgivings about what were more realistically likely to have been slammed as witchy, blasphemous and demonic powers. They feel like a deus ex machina for Dunnett, who has never needed to revert to this before.
I also realise how resistant I am to the whole way this eight-book series seems to serve only as a prequel to the Lymond books - it's not just that this traces the Crawford ancestry, but that there's almost a conspiracy of prophesying characters whose prime aim is fulfilling a fated destiny of bringing about Francis Crawford. It turns out that characters we've met through four books now have the ability to foresee the future (Nicholai Acciajuoli), or are brought on because they are working towards the future of the Lymond series through their progeny (Dr Andreas). The effect is to make these books teleological with a fixed outcome and to take away agency, to some extent, from these characters as the fixation is always with the Lymond future that we already know.
To be fair, there is still Dunnett's immaculate research, her ability to conjure up scenes and characters who feel like living beings; her wit and writing - but I seem to have fallen out of love with this series, however much I admire the world through which these people move.
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In some ways this replays Pawn in Frankincense with its thematic of the hunt for a child, but it is a deliberately intertextual link rather than a simple repeating of a plot point. And the very dissimilarities almost tell us more about the characters than the similarities. Gelis really does come into her own and while others have found her actions incomprehensible (and there's far, far more than any simple hatred between her and Nicholas), I find her one of the most fascinating, difficult and real characters in modern fiction.
This is also the book where Nicholas' supernatural divinatory powers come to the fore, which I have always found a little difficult: it jars, somehow, with the rest of the text, and works too much as an easing of plot difficulties.
However, this is the tiniest of niggles, and Dunnett maintains her usual control over what could have been, in less skilful hands, a sprawling, incomprehensible mess. Instead we have a book which is both taut and allusive, that looks both forward and back. I'm always torn between rushing through a Dunnett book just to know what happens next and savouring every page for its sheer delights. She is not an author to be taken lightly: this is my second read of the Niccolo series and I'm still uncovering some of the subtleties there.
After the shock ending to Scales of Gold, Unicorn Hunt picks up almost straight away, and so absolutely must be read in sequence. Nicholas is in Scotland, without his wife, and to the dismay of his business partners seems to be making some impossible trading decision. Drawn into the politics of the young Scottish court, he tangles once again with Simon de St Pol and makes an enemy of Anselm Adorne. But Nicholas has a deep plan which neither we nor his associates can see and, when he is forced to leave Scotland for two years, he puts it on hold rather than abandoning it completely, and instead dedicates himself to a hunt for the son who, like the fabled unicorn, might or might not exist. The game takes him to Bruges, the Tyrol, Cairo, Mt Sinai, Cyprus and eventually Venice, where the climax takes place in a heart-stopping scene at the carnival. Do have the next volume ready, as it would be painful to stop here and have to wait for the next instalment.
I struggled with Nicholas' new 'supernatural' skills as well as the way, in fifteenth century Europe, no-one shows any religious misgivings about what were more realistically likely to have been slammed as witchy, blasphemous and demonic powers. They feel like a deus ex machina for Dunnett, who has never needed to revert to this before.
I also realise how resistant I am to the whole way this eight-book series seems to serve only as a prequel to the Lymond books - it's not just that this traces the Crawford ancestry, but that there's almost a conspiracy of prophesying characters whose prime aim is fulfilling a fated destiny of bringing about Francis Crawford. It turns out that characters we've met through four books now have the ability to foresee the future (Nicholai Acciajuoli), or are brought on because they are working towards the future of the Lymond series through their progeny (Dr Andreas). The effect is to make these books teleological with a fixed outcome and to take away agency, to some extent, from these characters as the fixation is always with the Lymond future that we already know.
To be fair, there is still Dunnett's immaculate research, her ability to conjure up scenes and characters who feel like living beings; her wit and writing - but I seem to have fallen out of love with this series, however much I admire the world through which these people move.
--------------------------------------------------
In some ways this replays Pawn in Frankincense with its thematic of the hunt for a child, but it is a deliberately intertextual link rather than a simple repeating of a plot point. And the very dissimilarities almost tell us more about the characters than the similarities. Gelis really does come into her own and while others have found her actions incomprehensible (and there's far, far more than any simple hatred between her and Nicholas), I find her one of the most fascinating, difficult and real characters in modern fiction.
This is also the book where Nicholas' supernatural divinatory powers come to the fore, which I have always found a little difficult: it jars, somehow, with the rest of the text, and works too much as an easing of plot difficulties.
However, this is the tiniest of niggles, and Dunnett maintains her usual control over what could have been, in less skilful hands, a sprawling, incomprehensible mess. Instead we have a book which is both taut and allusive, that looks both forward and back. I'm always torn between rushing through a Dunnett book just to know what happens next and savouring every page for its sheer delights. She is not an author to be taken lightly: this is my second read of the Niccolo series and I'm still uncovering some of the subtleties there.
After the shock ending to Scales of Gold, Unicorn Hunt picks up almost straight away, and so absolutely must be read in sequence. Nicholas is in Scotland, without his wife, and to the dismay of his business partners seems to be making some impossible trading decision. Drawn into the politics of the young Scottish court, he tangles once again with Simon de St Pol and makes an enemy of Anselm Adorne. But Nicholas has a deep plan which neither we nor his associates can see and, when he is forced to leave Scotland for two years, he puts it on hold rather than abandoning it completely, and instead dedicates himself to a hunt for the son who, like the fabled unicorn, might or might not exist. The game takes him to Bruges, the Tyrol, Cairo, Mt Sinai, Cyprus and eventually Venice, where the climax takes place in a heart-stopping scene at the carnival. Do have the next volume ready, as it would be painful to stop here and have to wait for the next instalment.
October 21, 2024
A hard one to rate, but I decided that I won't let my strong personal disgust against one of the characters (welcome to the menacing sandbox of the historical kindergarten, children! If you are a girl liking a boy, please make sure you kick them in the groin really hard and throw sand into their mouths otherwise they won't notice) destroy the pleasure and appreciation I have for this book, this series and its author despite her cat-and-mouse games she liked to play with us readers.
Dorothy Dunnett is still magnificent and narrator John Banks is still awesome.
Dorothy Dunnett is still magnificent and narrator John Banks is still awesome.
May 11, 2025
5/10/25 update : I'm knocking another star. Everything I said originally is still true, but the meandering non-accomplishment of much of importance means this was a very long slog for very little result.
---
(original 2015 review:)
Oh....how I hate to give a Dunnett book 4 stars instead of 5. And it may yet recover that vaunted fifth star, if later books in the series build successfully on its foundations, but for the meantime this book suffers from what is usually referred to as "middle book syndrome" -- there's a lot of foundation building and set-up for the books to come, and once I know what the purpose of those foundations was, I may come back and re-rate.
Gelis continues to annoy the hell out of me, and her & Nicholas' relationship continues to pale next to Philippa & Lymond's. I enjoyed the set-up in Scotland, but the book felt like a lot of episodic such set-ups -- Nicholas' house in Beltrees and relationship with the Scottish family, his business orientation east or west, his hunt for his son, his hunt for his gold (of which I didn't care much though I felt like I should have), his divining, his relationship with Burgundy & the Tyrol, etc.
Most of the other books had an overarching plot/goal to work towards, I guess is what I'm saying. And this one seemed to suffer from a scattershot diffusion of such goals so that I wasn't sure which was the primary I was supposed to be focused on.
Maybe (Probably) they're all important, guess we'll see!
---
(original 2015 review:)
Oh....how I hate to give a Dunnett book 4 stars instead of 5. And it may yet recover that vaunted fifth star, if later books in the series build successfully on its foundations, but for the meantime this book suffers from what is usually referred to as "middle book syndrome" -- there's a lot of foundation building and set-up for the books to come, and once I know what the purpose of those foundations was, I may come back and re-rate.
Gelis continues to annoy the hell out of me, and her & Nicholas' relationship continues to pale next to Philippa & Lymond's. I enjoyed the set-up in Scotland, but the book felt like a lot of episodic such set-ups -- Nicholas' house in Beltrees and relationship with the Scottish family, his business orientation east or west, his hunt for his son, his hunt for his gold (of which I didn't care much though I felt like I should have), his divining, his relationship with Burgundy & the Tyrol, etc.
Most of the other books had an overarching plot/goal to work towards, I guess is what I'm saying. And this one seemed to suffer from a scattershot diffusion of such goals so that I wasn't sure which was the primary I was supposed to be focused on.
Maybe (Probably) they're all important, guess we'll see!
November 26, 2021
In this book, set between October 1468 and February 1471, our hero Sir Nicholas De Fleury appears to have designs on the kingdom of Scotland under the reign of King James III. Friends, foes and business rivals alike have different plans for Nicholas. As does his wife Gelis: the one enemy he cannot face directly.
Nicholas is as brilliant and dangerous as ever, but no longer as joyous. Driven by a range of motivations, he undertakes a series of journeys which range across Europe and the Levant. Along the way, he makes a number of discoveries, learns some painful truths and is forced to confront all manner of demons. This richly layered story is told against the backdrop of the complicated politics, religious issues and trade of the times. Underlying it all is the enigma that is Nicholas himself: a complex contradiction of strengths, weaknesses and at times suprahuman brilliance.
This is the fifth in the eight book series: House of Niccolo. I would strongly recommend anyone reading these novels to read the series in order. The plot and character developments build progressively and are interrelated.
Nicholas is as brilliant and dangerous as ever, but no longer as joyous. Driven by a range of motivations, he undertakes a series of journeys which range across Europe and the Levant. Along the way, he makes a number of discoveries, learns some painful truths and is forced to confront all manner of demons. This richly layered story is told against the backdrop of the complicated politics, religious issues and trade of the times. Underlying it all is the enigma that is Nicholas himself: a complex contradiction of strengths, weaknesses and at times suprahuman brilliance.
This is the fifth in the eight book series: House of Niccolo. I would strongly recommend anyone reading these novels to read the series in order. The plot and character developments build progressively and are interrelated.
October 23, 2024
This is my 3rd time reading this series in the last 15 years. the Unicorn Hunt has always been my least favorite. This time I mostly listened to the (wonderful) audible version (then comes the Dunnett tipping point of extended ecstasy where you can't do anything else, and I just finished the last 20% reading). It may be the series low point, but it's still amazing. So carefully and extensively plotted. Didn't even mind the divining this time. This book more about Gelis relationship than others, carefully read you learn alot. Adorne character carefully handled. And you see Nicholas move away from people as he is just too badly treated and misunderstood. too many locales maybe, but for a repeat read, and FERVENT FAN, only wonder at every stop on the map. (That was October 2015)
October 2024 update: my 4th time reading this book in the series. It's just as wonderful. Suprises every time. The plotting is exquisite. The characters as real as in Anna Karenina. If anyone should have won a Nobel, it was Dunnett. In any case, I don't believe there is any other series of books that gives the pleasure that Dame Dunnett's Niccolo give me - again and again. Just sigh.
October 2024 update: my 4th time reading this book in the series. It's just as wonderful. Suprises every time. The plotting is exquisite. The characters as real as in Anna Karenina. If anyone should have won a Nobel, it was Dunnett. In any case, I don't believe there is any other series of books that gives the pleasure that Dame Dunnett's Niccolo give me - again and again. Just sigh.
October 22, 2018
It is humbling to admit that only upon reading this book for the third time did I understand character motivations, problems, mistakes, relationships. And the time it took was well worth it. Besides being fantastic historical fiction, these books reward close reading, pondering, empathizing, rethinking...a huge change from typical popular fiction.
October 22, 2009
Certain things I predicted when I started the book (or rather when I finished the last one) were correct, much to my astonishment. Nicholas still makes me exclaim in startled disbelief when I'm reading the book -- I don't think he'll ever stop surprising me.
August 22, 2016
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2678683.html
Fifth in the series of eight novels about Dunnett's fifteenth-century hero Claes van der Poele, now rebranded Nicolas de Fleury, on a canvas that takes us from a long first section in Scotland at the court of the young James III, to Cyprus, Alexandria and the monastery of St Catherine on Mount Sinai. I must confess that I felt Dunnett was not fully in control of her material here. The core of the narrative is the feuding between Claes on the one hand and his estranged wife Gelis and his secret father Simon de St. Pol on the other. I was not convinced by Gelis's means or motivation; her end game is not at all obvious, and she seems to have almost supernatural means of keeping Claes apart from his son and his treasure (and at one point his liberty in a gruesome torture scene). Claes meantime has acquired his own supernatural powers of divining the location of sought objects and people by pendulum - though this only works as effectively as the plot needs it to. The attention to local historical and geographical detail is still very worthwhile and engaging, but I hope the next book (which I have ordered, naturally) is more coherent.
Fifth in the series of eight novels about Dunnett's fifteenth-century hero Claes van der Poele, now rebranded Nicolas de Fleury, on a canvas that takes us from a long first section in Scotland at the court of the young James III, to Cyprus, Alexandria and the monastery of St Catherine on Mount Sinai. I must confess that I felt Dunnett was not fully in control of her material here. The core of the narrative is the feuding between Claes on the one hand and his estranged wife Gelis and his secret father Simon de St. Pol on the other. I was not convinced by Gelis's means or motivation; her end game is not at all obvious, and she seems to have almost supernatural means of keeping Claes apart from his son and his treasure (and at one point his liberty in a gruesome torture scene). Claes meantime has acquired his own supernatural powers of divining the location of sought objects and people by pendulum - though this only works as effectively as the plot needs it to. The attention to local historical and geographical detail is still very worthwhile and engaging, but I hope the next book (which I have ordered, naturally) is more coherent.
April 29, 2025
Picking this series back up after mentally throwing it across the room last spring because of the truly idiotic plot twist at the end of Scales of Gold. The fascination with these is threefold: the historical setting is ten times as detailed as anything I’ve read anywhere else, the characters are all tangled in fascinatingly toxic relationships, and the inherent narrative tension between the homophobic author and the incredibly bisexual protagonist is enthralling.
I think the closest comparison for these is Baru Cormorant by way of Megan Whalen Turner’s King of Attolia. The protagonist certainly has Baru-level skill in manipulation and economics, at the least. Dunnett has a real gift for making historical settings seem real–pilgrimage routes to Mt Sinai, salt production in Scotland, power struggles among merchants in Bruges. To get an idea for the level of detail: she lists what must be dozens (at least over fifty) characters in the dramatis personae list, most of which she has noted as real people. She looks up tiny details like name of the Medici factor for Bruges. Before internet.
Anyway. There’s nothing else like it, but I’m not sure I’d recommend it. I’ll certainly be reading the next one though.
I think the closest comparison for these is Baru Cormorant by way of Megan Whalen Turner’s King of Attolia. The protagonist certainly has Baru-level skill in manipulation and economics, at the least. Dunnett has a real gift for making historical settings seem real–pilgrimage routes to Mt Sinai, salt production in Scotland, power struggles among merchants in Bruges. To get an idea for the level of detail: she lists what must be dozens (at least over fifty) characters in the dramatis personae list, most of which she has noted as real people. She looks up tiny details like name of the Medici factor for Bruges. Before internet.
Anyway. There’s nothing else like it, but I’m not sure I’d recommend it. I’ll certainly be reading the next one though.
December 31, 2016
I read the ending three times to be sure I have it right, yet still wonder. Mrs. Dunnett's complex webs of intrigue, deceit, vendettas and cast of characters can leave one breathless. Plots upon plots.
Our main character, I call the cat, because of his nine lives, is down to four lives left. Only three books left in the series. I can't imagine any of this ending "happily ever after," but that remains to be seen. Messer Cat will continue to slink, plan, stalk and whatever else cats do to catch their prey.
Onto book six, To Lie with Lions
, I go.
No doubt more geography lessons, as well, as the romp through 15th Century Europe and The Levant continue.
Four stars show, but 4.5 stars would be better.
Our main character, I call the cat, because of his nine lives, is down to four lives left. Only three books left in the series. I can't imagine any of this ending "happily ever after," but that remains to be seen. Messer Cat will continue to slink, plan, stalk and whatever else cats do to catch their prey.
Onto book six, To Lie with Lions
, I go.No doubt more geography lessons, as well, as the romp through 15th Century Europe and The Levant continue.
Four stars show, but 4.5 stars would be better.
July 14, 2010
After the intensity of Scales of Gold, this book is much more discursive (not to say long). Niccolo is in search of his child with Gelis - or is it his child? And it is said to be born, but where is it, and where is Gelis? The hunt that ensues is a game between Niccolo and Gelis, as she withholds the child and he pursues her in hopes of finding him. Katelinje is one of Dunnett's young, smart, skinny girls who adds comic relief as well as wisdom. Otherwise, we revisit a number of characters and settings from the earlier books, including Cyprus. The set piece at the end, during Carnivale in Venice, brings this 600+ page book to its climax, which annoyed me so much that I had to throw the book across the room. I felt manipulated for the first time reading Dunnett. Here's hoping that the sixth book in the series is more tightly written. But even a less-than-stellar Dunnett is head and shoulders above most books I've read.
January 4, 2012
After furious and gripping pacing, I found this volume in the series to be the most difficult to read. While Dunnett continues wide travels and plenty of action, she did not create scenes in which the characters' actions made a lot of sense. I also think she added in subplots that did not particularly enrich the main story. Generally I have liked her books and the general story line. This one seems to falter, but must be read to understand the rest of the series.
April 14, 2012
Probably my least favorite of the Niccolo books so far. I can deal with one brilliant-but-inscrutable character, but presenting Gelis as a second example of this same type made the book a bit murky for me -- there were just too many plots, counter-plots, and counter-counter plots to keep track of. Still, the novel is well worth reading, and I will certainly be reading the next one eventually.
May 9, 2015
The whole time I just wanted to know why Gelis did it. I went back and read the last chapter of Scales of Gold, and I guess she was just getting revenge, plain and simple. I really love these books, but I wish I had a wise guru sitting next to me telling me what the author meant by this or that. It is challenging!
August 20, 2010
Tant que je vive indeed. Wow. At least in this one there weren't *two* children to chase. Katelijne is delightful. I could have done without the divining...but there was an element of the mystical in Lymond, too, with prophecy. Hopefully it will come to a payoff rather than serve as a plot crutch.
January 7, 2023
The Scottish part was definitely the best bit, jousting! Dueling in the salt pans! and Katelijne a joyful addition. After Scotland the plot got a bit frantic and I had even less clue than usual what the point of it all would turn out to be. The divining felt a little left-field I guess, although ended up horrifying/heart-rending as per usual. And it still had lots of epic moments and settings that I couldn't help but appreciate. Near death by Nile in Cairo's cisterns, unromantic dénouement on Mount Sinai, and all ending back in Venice for carnival. A treat really.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 16, 2012
I felt so sick and depressed after the ending of Scales of Gold that I started this one right away just to see how DD decided to pick up after those awful final scenes. Read this one in two days and I am happier with the ending although I find myself worried about Nicholas and his decision to disappear with Jordan. The last thing he needs is to get Gelis even more PO'd than she already is (justifiably or no).
I am trying to avoid spoilers for the remaining books, but I have to say that if Nicholas winds up with Gelis in the end I am going to put the books into a pile and burn them. I detest her for using their child in this game she's playing with him. It makes her as bad or worse than any awful quality she ascribes to Nicholas.
I had the same reaction to the divining, but like the prophecy element in the LC, I do feel that DD is deliberately working with and incorporating some of the beliefs and superstitions that would have been common for the period. We know perfectly well now that prophecy and divining and suchlike are disproved by science, but they would have felt much more real and probable to the characters in the books, so I love that she allows those contemporary superstitions some play in the books, to influence and direct the characters to a certain degree.
I think I need to take a break before starting Lions. I am getting too wrapped up in these books and am not getting anything else done!
I am trying to avoid spoilers for the remaining books, but I have to say that if Nicholas winds up with Gelis in the end I am going to put the books into a pile and burn them. I detest her for using their child in this game she's playing with him. It makes her as bad or worse than any awful quality she ascribes to Nicholas.
I had the same reaction to the divining, but like the prophecy element in the LC, I do feel that DD is deliberately working with and incorporating some of the beliefs and superstitions that would have been common for the period. We know perfectly well now that prophecy and divining and suchlike are disproved by science, but they would have felt much more real and probable to the characters in the books, so I love that she allows those contemporary superstitions some play in the books, to influence and direct the characters to a certain degree.
I think I need to take a break before starting Lions. I am getting too wrapped up in these books and am not getting anything else done!
August 22, 2020
Ten years after reading this series, I’m on a reread, and what a difference ten years makes. Though I’m enjoying it for the most part, the lack of emotional maturity in Dunnett’s characters, partnered with their supposed overwhelming intelligence, just doesn’t sit quite right. Too much of the plot is dependant on characters’ pride and need for revenge—a bit infantile and a shame. Of the Niccolo series so far, this one has been the most frustrating in that regard; I found myself getting rather annoyed. I’ll carry on as I remember loving this series so much, but have downgraded my previous five star review to three. May get around to updating my reviews for the other books in the series (and for Lymond, which I also reread recently), but for now just this one. That in itself probably shows you how irritated I am at the moment.
July 23, 2011
c1993. I found this book far more cryptic that the others in the series so far. Perhaps, I was too eager to read the tale of Claes than to understand what the hell was going on. I am starting to think that poor old Claes can surely not be such a lodestone for misfortune both of his own and others doing. The ploy of using differing names for the protagonist depending on who and what the circumstances are does help but I started to get very confused from about P392 out of the mouth watering 656. And the ending was not at all satisfying but does drive me to find the next in the series which is what I am now going to do.
August 25, 2011
Um, why does Niccolo now have ESP? How does that make sense in the otherwise historically centred universe of Dunnett? At least, a volume with a conclusion that is far enough from a cliffhanger that I can take a brief break before launching into the next one. I can't imagine reading these when she wrote them and waiting for the next volumes to come out!
April 18, 2008
This book is incredibly boring , and was written by someone on too much prescription medication , who finds this interesting ???? Dense , difficult to work out what the hell is going on , and then when you do it's just dull.
January 21, 2009
the darkest of the Nicolo books so far. It took me a long time to finish becuase I was just so frustrated with the charecters, but I'm now suffeciently invested that I'm going to get the next from interlibrary loan. ANd I think there's hope I might like them again.
January 18, 2012
Our hero has discovered he has magical powers, as he chases around Europe from Scotland to Egypt and back to Venice. Lots of plot happening here. 3 books to go in the series. Rated PG for some violence and adult themes. 3/5
June 7, 2012
Back to Scotland, political, financial, and personal intrigue, the Tyrol, and then on to Egypt and Sinai. Something happens in this one which I found very disturbing. I did not like it the first time I read it but in re-reads I came to accept it.
January 2, 2010
This one isn't as good as the first 4 books in the series, but the ending is making me start the next one!
September 13, 2014
I didnt like the ending of this book.. to be honest!
October 10, 2014
Am rereading Dunnett's House of Niccolo series because I got hungry for good juicy historicals again, and nobody wrote them like DD.
April 30, 2017
The fifth in Dorothy Dunnett's House of Niccolo series see Nicholas travelling to Scotland, the Tyrol and Egypt, dealing with the fallout from the events of the last few pages of Scales of Gold and pursuing feuds old and new. Like all of Dunnett's books, this is full of wonderful evocations of travel; it made me long to see the eastern Mediterrean and the Middle East for myself (and also reflect on the parallels between the rise of the Ottoman Empire in the late fifteenth century and the risk of Isis now). Plot-wise, it seemed to meander rather, with Nicholas and his companions pursuing an ill-defined quest, or possibly one only really understood by Nicholas and which, as readers, we haven't yet been given enough information to understand; I rather suspect that this book will make a lot more sense in the light of the last three books which I have yet to read. Character-wise, it's a delight; Nicholas himself is closed off and forbidding for at least the first half of the book (I think one difference between him and Lymond is that when Lymond appears to be behaving like a complete arse it's normally because he is following a complicated plan but still trying to do the right thing really. Nicholas is often doing it because he is actually not a nice person and doesn't want to do the right thing), but his colleagues and companions continue to grow and develop their personalities, and I particularly liked how many strong and powerful female characters there were.
I'm still not sure I really understand where Nicholas's story is going, but I'm definitely enjoying the ride.
I'm still not sure I really understand where Nicholas's story is going, but I'm definitely enjoying the ride.
October 30, 2020
This review will be long because D. Dunnett had drawn me to her outlandish stories until she had outdone it and stuffed her story with something I couldn't digest. I don't think I can force myself to finish the series, In fact I am not even sure if I can read her Lymond chronicles because maybe they are more like the book #4 and #5
Let me start by stating - I cannot stand Katelijne. Prior to the introduction of a teenage girl Katelijne, I enjoyed the series. There was the larger than life character of Nicholas who took a while to stomach as the story grew but when equally improbable character like Katelijne was slammed into the story my teacup-sized capacity for tolerance was overfilled. It's clear that Katelijne will continue to play a major role. I don't understand how is it endearing when a 14 year old stalks a married man, enquirers about him EVERYWHERE, and talks and thinks about him AD NAUSEUM. It makes my stomach turn as bad as when mother Marian had sex with her surrogate son Nicholas. At least in that case Dunnett had the daughters hating their mother for it and she killed Marian pretty soon. This is not the case with Katelijne, everyone loves this chaotic 14 year old, especially Tobbie. Only cousin Jan dislikes Katelijne for the nosy busybody that she is but we are shown and told that Jan is a mediocre, simpleton, a disappointment even to his own father, while of course Kathi, this little child is THRICE her age on the inside, we are told. *retch*
If this character is a real historical person there were many other, more organic, ways to introduce her to the story, and make her fit in naturally. I didn't need another God like character. Nicholas is plenty too much.
At first I thought that sly Adorne brought this teenage girl with him to Scotland, to Africa (to wherever Nicholas was) so that she would spy on Nicholas but that would be stupid, everyone knew that she was his niece. There must have been some other reason then. You would think that Dunnett would explain somewhere in the book why did Adorne (a shrewd, wise man) let his teenage niece Katelijne tag along. I read the whole book searching for a solid explanation then at the end of the book I found Adorne wishing “that the child Kathi had not encumbered him, dear though she was.” WTF? So if Adorne had no reason what so ever (I am not going to recount the lame ones) and he even knew how she encumbered him, then this shrewd man was being suddenly stupid for the sake of the plot? Don't tell me that the powerful Adorne couldn't stop his niece from joining him. It's clear that Dunnett had fun creating a character like Katelijne and she slammed her into the story where every character is a wheel. She broke the clock thinking that a hammer strike would improve it. The story was already breaking in Africa and this finished it.
Another disappointment emerged from Dunnett’s double standards that were blaring in the 4th book as the story slogged through Africa. 15th century Europe was portrayed realistically with all its harshness, its refinement and complicated politics, its rulers were self-serving, spoiled, greedy men just as today’s politicians – fair enough but she didn’t treat the muslim rulers and black Africans in the same critical way. I have noticed her singularly flattering view of Loppe whose only negative trait was hmmm NOTHING, but I put up with it. Sure the turks were bad but she brushed over their acts by briefly summing up some of their atrocities. She didn’t dissect them the way she dissected various European knightly orders and she never got too close to any of the muslim characters (except the muslim doctor who was martyred) because God forbid some negative trait may be revealed. By the end of the fifth book the double standards grew out of proportion. The Turk is grand, the white sheep (some mogol/turkic tribe) are admirable (especially that mother Katun), the sultan of Cairo magnificent, the blacks from Africa graceful and beautiful. Only mamluks were not depicted in flattering way but Dunnett was quick to remind us that they were not arabs but mongrels from all over – mostly slaves from Europe. She had Nicholas BEG the Africans to allow him to help them and made the rulers of Europe both secular and ecclesiastic cajole him to aid them against the spreading Turks (which he didn’t!).
Why this hatred (white skin she compares to leper skin, or “[Tobbie] hated those masks which were white,” and let us not forget how much Nicholas favors the ways of Arabs and blacks, how at home he feels among them, how naturally he slips into their speech)? And of course there is also our alpha antagonist of the series: the vain womanizer, vengeful, conniving and stupid Simon who is of course blond with bright blue eyes, your typical arian precursor of everything that is wile. I have no apologies for what Europeans have done but Arabs and Mongols are no better. In fact if anyone bothered to read what Mongols had done they would see they had outdone the germans in evil if you want to speak in simple terms. I would like to read more about Henry and little Jordan but cannot read another chapter with Katelijne in it.
Let me start by stating - I cannot stand Katelijne. Prior to the introduction of a teenage girl Katelijne, I enjoyed the series. There was the larger than life character of Nicholas who took a while to stomach as the story grew but when equally improbable character like Katelijne was slammed into the story my teacup-sized capacity for tolerance was overfilled. It's clear that Katelijne will continue to play a major role. I don't understand how is it endearing when a 14 year old stalks a married man, enquirers about him EVERYWHERE, and talks and thinks about him AD NAUSEUM. It makes my stomach turn as bad as when mother Marian had sex with her surrogate son Nicholas. At least in that case Dunnett had the daughters hating their mother for it and she killed Marian pretty soon. This is not the case with Katelijne, everyone loves this chaotic 14 year old, especially Tobbie. Only cousin Jan dislikes Katelijne for the nosy busybody that she is but we are shown and told that Jan is a mediocre, simpleton, a disappointment even to his own father, while of course Kathi, this little child is THRICE her age on the inside, we are told. *retch*
If this character is a real historical person there were many other, more organic, ways to introduce her to the story, and make her fit in naturally. I didn't need another God like character. Nicholas is plenty too much.
At first I thought that sly Adorne brought this teenage girl with him to Scotland, to Africa (to wherever Nicholas was) so that she would spy on Nicholas but that would be stupid, everyone knew that she was his niece. There must have been some other reason then. You would think that Dunnett would explain somewhere in the book why did Adorne (a shrewd, wise man) let his teenage niece Katelijne tag along. I read the whole book searching for a solid explanation then at the end of the book I found Adorne wishing “that the child Kathi had not encumbered him, dear though she was.” WTF? So if Adorne had no reason what so ever (I am not going to recount the lame ones) and he even knew how she encumbered him, then this shrewd man was being suddenly stupid for the sake of the plot? Don't tell me that the powerful Adorne couldn't stop his niece from joining him. It's clear that Dunnett had fun creating a character like Katelijne and she slammed her into the story where every character is a wheel. She broke the clock thinking that a hammer strike would improve it. The story was already breaking in Africa and this finished it.
Another disappointment emerged from Dunnett’s double standards that were blaring in the 4th book as the story slogged through Africa. 15th century Europe was portrayed realistically with all its harshness, its refinement and complicated politics, its rulers were self-serving, spoiled, greedy men just as today’s politicians – fair enough but she didn’t treat the muslim rulers and black Africans in the same critical way. I have noticed her singularly flattering view of Loppe whose only negative trait was hmmm NOTHING, but I put up with it. Sure the turks were bad but she brushed over their acts by briefly summing up some of their atrocities. She didn’t dissect them the way she dissected various European knightly orders and she never got too close to any of the muslim characters (except the muslim doctor who was martyred) because God forbid some negative trait may be revealed. By the end of the fifth book the double standards grew out of proportion. The Turk is grand, the white sheep (some mogol/turkic tribe) are admirable (especially that mother Katun), the sultan of Cairo magnificent, the blacks from Africa graceful and beautiful. Only mamluks were not depicted in flattering way but Dunnett was quick to remind us that they were not arabs but mongrels from all over – mostly slaves from Europe. She had Nicholas BEG the Africans to allow him to help them and made the rulers of Europe both secular and ecclesiastic cajole him to aid them against the spreading Turks (which he didn’t!).
Why this hatred (white skin she compares to leper skin, or “[Tobbie] hated those masks which were white,” and let us not forget how much Nicholas favors the ways of Arabs and blacks, how at home he feels among them, how naturally he slips into their speech)? And of course there is also our alpha antagonist of the series: the vain womanizer, vengeful, conniving and stupid Simon who is of course blond with bright blue eyes, your typical arian precursor of everything that is wile. I have no apologies for what Europeans have done but Arabs and Mongols are no better. In fact if anyone bothered to read what Mongols had done they would see they had outdone the germans in evil if you want to speak in simple terms. I would like to read more about Henry and little Jordan but cannot read another chapter with Katelijne in it.
November 22, 2017
A battered and bruised Nicholas in Scotland, damaged by the events of book 4 and a long way from the aimiable, fortunate apprentice Claes
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