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The House of Niccolò #4
Scales of Gold
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, the good-natured dyer's apprentice who schemes and swashbuckles his way to the helm of a mercantile empire.
The year 1464 finds Nicholas back in Venice. Plagued by enemies bent on dissolving his assets and smearing his character, he sets sail for Africa, legendary location of the Fountain of Youth, home to a descendant of Sheba and Solomon, and the source of gold in such abundance that men prefer to barter in shells. He will learn firsthand the brutality and grandeur of the Dark Continent, from the horror of the slave trade to the austere nobility of Islamic Timbuktu. He will discover, too, the charms of the beautiful Gelis van Borselen--a woman whose passion for Nicholas is rivaled only by her desire to punish him for his role in her sister s death. Erotic and lush with detail, Scales of Gold embraces the complexity of the Renaissance, where mercantile adventure couples with more personal quests behind the silken curtains of the Age of Discovery.
The year 1464 finds Nicholas back in Venice. Plagued by enemies bent on dissolving his assets and smearing his character, he sets sail for Africa, legendary location of the Fountain of Youth, home to a descendant of Sheba and Solomon, and the source of gold in such abundance that men prefer to barter in shells. He will learn firsthand the brutality and grandeur of the Dark Continent, from the horror of the slave trade to the austere nobility of Islamic Timbuktu. He will discover, too, the charms of the beautiful Gelis van Borselen--a woman whose passion for Nicholas is rivaled only by her desire to punish him for his role in her sister s death. Erotic and lush with detail, Scales of Gold embraces the complexity of the Renaissance, where mercantile adventure couples with more personal quests behind the silken curtains of the Age of Discovery.
544 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
75 people are currently reading
985 people want to read
About the author
Dorothy Dunnett
47 books845 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 134 reviews
November 18, 2024
4,5 stars
This book was like the African continent where it was mostly set: MAGNIFICENT, MERCILESS, INTRIGUING, KIND AND CRUEL.
Come on Book Traveler and let Dorothy Dunnett take you through space and time.
From 1464 to 1468.
From Venice & Murano via Ceuta, the Pillars of Hercules, Lagos, Madeira to Gambia and Timbuktu. From there through the Sahara to the salt mines of Tghaza (Mali) to Tlemcen and the shores of Oran (Algeria) back to Venice and finally Bruges.
Come and trade with Niccolo vander Poele for gold and ancient scripts and secrets and intrigue.
Once again: all the details -the historical, the geographical, the human, the inhuman- and the awesome writing are overwhelming to one's senses.
And then DD goes and pulls the plug at the end...
Narrator, John Banks, rises to the occasion as always.
--------------
Some personal notes:
Despite the ending worth the fake melodrama and jumping-the-shark monents of 4 soap operas put together and despite the fact that Gelis made me threw up in my mouth a little, this was still an amazing read.
And I thought Katelina van Borselen was an exhausting, exasperating and self-destructive character without any credible cause or excuse. Now of course I realise that she was not a patch on her younger sister.
And I just knew that either one of the characters I cared about the most would die in the end. But that's Dunnett for you: resplendent and unappeasable and.... that ending was just cheap!
This book was like the African continent where it was mostly set: MAGNIFICENT, MERCILESS, INTRIGUING, KIND AND CRUEL.
Come on Book Traveler and let Dorothy Dunnett take you through space and time.
From 1464 to 1468.
From Venice & Murano via Ceuta, the Pillars of Hercules, Lagos, Madeira to Gambia and Timbuktu. From there through the Sahara to the salt mines of Tghaza (Mali) to Tlemcen and the shores of Oran (Algeria) back to Venice and finally Bruges.
Come and trade with Niccolo vander Poele for gold and ancient scripts and secrets and intrigue.
Once again: all the details -the historical, the geographical, the human, the inhuman- and the awesome writing are overwhelming to one's senses.
And then DD goes and pulls the plug at the end...
Narrator, John Banks, rises to the occasion as always.
--------------
Some personal notes:
Despite the ending worth the fake melodrama and jumping-the-shark monents of 4 soap operas put together and despite the fact that Gelis made me threw up in my mouth a little, this was still an amazing read.
And I thought Katelina van Borselen was an exhausting, exasperating and self-destructive character without any credible cause or excuse. Now of course I realise that she was not a patch on her younger sister.
And I just knew that either one of the characters I cared about the most would die in the end. But that's Dunnett for you: resplendent and unappeasable and.... that ending was just cheap!
March 21, 2010
This is the fourth book in the House of Niccolo. Having left Cyprus, Nicholas embarks on an expedition to Africa, his two aims being trade and exploration. In the late 15th century, this journey is arduous and risky. Nicholas and his companions (on odd mix of people from his present and his past,a s well as some new faces) endure extreme hardships and experience exotic wonders. Their trip culminates in their arrival at Timbuktu, a great Muslim center of trade and learning. The story finishes with the return to Europe, which brings with it both great triumph and great upheaval.
I was incredibly fascinated by the exploration and exotic marvels around which the plot revolved. Again, I really enjoyed reading a historical novel that visited less well-traveled areas of the world and dealt with less familiar pieces of history. I'd had no idea that Islamic culture had penetrated so far into Africa at that period, and I had previously been unaware of what pre-colonial Africa may have been like. I also liked the slight departure this book made from the previous volumes. Except for at the beginning and end, Nicholas is less involved in political machination, and more involved in adventure and discovery, both the worldly kind and the personal kind. The ending is also more of a cliff-hanger than those of the previous books.
I am starting to realize a few things about the overall structure and conception of the series, too. First of all, I think that the series, although continuous, can possibly be subdivided into pairs. Each pair delineates a stage of Nicholas' life and career. The first two, if I recall correctly, are about Nicholas establishing himself as a capable, independent adult. This second pair that I have just finished seem to be about adventure, exploration, and discovery of many kinds. Secondly, the books in the series, which the exception of the first, make reference to constellations. The first book, however, does align with the astrological theme, as it could be viewed as evoking the rise of a a star in the sky. I think this may tie into the fact that Nicholas' greatest personal and professional strength is his ability to make accurate predictions of what will happen and how the people around him will react to various situations, all from close, insightful observation. This of course, is much like astrology as it was practised in the late middle ages and renaissance.
I was incredibly fascinated by the exploration and exotic marvels around which the plot revolved. Again, I really enjoyed reading a historical novel that visited less well-traveled areas of the world and dealt with less familiar pieces of history. I'd had no idea that Islamic culture had penetrated so far into Africa at that period, and I had previously been unaware of what pre-colonial Africa may have been like. I also liked the slight departure this book made from the previous volumes. Except for at the beginning and end, Nicholas is less involved in political machination, and more involved in adventure and discovery, both the worldly kind and the personal kind. The ending is also more of a cliff-hanger than those of the previous books.
I am starting to realize a few things about the overall structure and conception of the series, too. First of all, I think that the series, although continuous, can possibly be subdivided into pairs. Each pair delineates a stage of Nicholas' life and career. The first two, if I recall correctly, are about Nicholas establishing himself as a capable, independent adult. This second pair that I have just finished seem to be about adventure, exploration, and discovery of many kinds. Secondly, the books in the series, which the exception of the first, make reference to constellations. The first book, however, does align with the astrological theme, as it could be viewed as evoking the rise of a a star in the sky. I think this may tie into the fact that Nicholas' greatest personal and professional strength is his ability to make accurate predictions of what will happen and how the people around him will react to various situations, all from close, insightful observation. This of course, is much like astrology as it was practised in the late middle ages and renaissance.
March 14, 2025
Book 4 of Niccolo's journey and we (finally) reach some significant way-points. Returning from Cyprus to Venice, Nicholas is back with his bank and we have a welcome reunion with Julius and Gregorio but this first half feels meandering as there's much talk about setting out for Africa, but a long time before we actually do.
The pace picks up en route as both Gelis and Diniz insist on accompanying the party - and Gelis brings some much-needed counterweight to Nicholas' mastery of, seemingly, everything. There are some problematic tropes around 'Africans' though, to her credit, Dunnett makes distinctions between the different tribes, languages, dialects and cultures. And there are some fascinating details here around which the plot turns, not least the trading routes, and the 'silent trade' of gold for salt.
At the heart of the book is a set of transformations: and these are to drive the future plot-lines of the series.
As for *that* ending? This time I was made angry at the way it emerges out of left-field and feels abrupt and utterly unconvincing given what has happened before. It's a melodramatic cliff-hanger that feels almost inorganically thrust in to provoke an angsty love plot.
The pace picks up en route as both Gelis and Diniz insist on accompanying the party - and Gelis brings some much-needed counterweight to Nicholas' mastery of, seemingly, everything. There are some problematic tropes around 'Africans' though, to her credit, Dunnett makes distinctions between the different tribes, languages, dialects and cultures. And there are some fascinating details here around which the plot turns, not least the trading routes, and the 'silent trade' of gold for salt.
At the heart of the book is a set of transformations: and these are to drive the future plot-lines of the series.
As for *that* ending? This time I was made angry at the way it emerges out of left-field and feels abrupt and utterly unconvincing given what has happened before. It's a melodramatic cliff-hanger that feels almost inorganically thrust in to provoke an angsty love plot.
July 21, 2015
It is, as always, a crime to give Dunnett less than five stars, and I am not feeling in a criminal mind today.
This one has the starting hints of what I recall annoying me about the later stages of this series -- constant allusions to grand plans without ever revealing what those are. Perhaps they become clear in future novels (I would assume that they do), but I don't need multiple references to Nicholas' 25 close-written pages of instructions to infuriate me. She wouldn't keep talking about it if it weren't important, but we never have a clue what it is.
Character is well-developed, as par for the course, with the one major exception I don't totally understand : .
The setting was fascinating, and I love to see the growth of The Business -- which, as I have alluded to in earlier reviews, takes a special kind of something to make engrossing. But when Nicholas signs his deal with Simon at the end of the book to give him the Ghost/Doria free and clear, I smiled a bit. Now he's up to four ships, another big company asset :-D.
I'm a little puzzled also by the mechanics of the silent market and why it was ok for Nicholas to go, but not for his erstwhile rivals. It seems like it has something to do with the timing (ie that the market wasn't actually going on when he arrived), but Loppe/Umar's earlier objections seemed like they were heavily centered on Nicholas not going at all, or even knowing where the market was held. So that was a little odd.
Overall, an excellent outing as usual though, with those minor quips aside. On to Unicorn Hunt and hopefully actually to the end of the series, now that I have a reading buddy to keep me motivated (thanks Goodreads!)
This one has the starting hints of what I recall annoying me about the later stages of this series -- constant allusions to grand plans without ever revealing what those are. Perhaps they become clear in future novels (I would assume that they do), but I don't need multiple references to Nicholas' 25 close-written pages of instructions to infuriate me. She wouldn't keep talking about it if it weren't important, but we never have a clue what it is.
Character is well-developed, as par for the course, with the one major exception I don't totally understand : .
The setting was fascinating, and I love to see the growth of The Business -- which, as I have alluded to in earlier reviews, takes a special kind of something to make engrossing. But when Nicholas signs his deal with Simon at the end of the book to give him the Ghost/Doria free and clear, I smiled a bit. Now he's up to four ships, another big company asset :-D.
I'm a little puzzled also by the mechanics of the silent market and why it was ok for Nicholas to go, but not for his erstwhile rivals. It seems like it has something to do with the timing (ie that the market wasn't actually going on when he arrived), but Loppe/Umar's earlier objections seemed like they were heavily centered on Nicholas not going at all, or even knowing where the market was held. So that was a little odd.
Overall, an excellent outing as usual though, with those minor quips aside. On to Unicorn Hunt and hopefully actually to the end of the series, now that I have a reading buddy to keep me motivated (thanks Goodreads!)
April 25, 2015
sigh. third time, still don't understand the gelis thing.
March 5, 2012
I have thoroughly enjoyed the House of Niccolo series. I found this book (while still a good read) was not as strong or engaging as the previous three novels. I felt frustration at events skipped over (e.g. Nicolas & Godscalc's epic journey) while time was spent on more tedious and mundane events. There is, however, the satisfaction of travelling on a journey through these tales. Dunnett ensures the story is plausible and authentic for the era, while still being an exciting adventure where her characters grow and become endeared to us.
February 19, 2010
My favorite of the Niccolo books so far - couldn't put it down!
Read
July 6, 2024My rating for this book wavers between 1 and 4 stars and that is why I give it no rating. It deserves 4 stars because it made me ponder about my own choices, about the power of faith, about ambiguity of altruism, it reminded me of my own time spent in the wilderness and how cathartic it can be. It also clarified one major flaw I saw in these books, the walking breathing Adonis (Nicholas) irresistible to women, men, young and old. If he was not served to us as master of seduction then the end of this book would not be as powerful.
Still I feel that Dunnett has overdone the characterization of Nicholas because after all he is only a human and I know few people who too were not drawn to him. Dunnett made me curious about him in the first book but once his Gary Sue personality came through, and I was constantly reminded of his lips shaped like caterpillars, his big clown eyes, round face, dimples, frizzy hair… I was disillusioned and repulsed. What's worse in this book he acted and talked like a hipster who moved to a downtrodden area to be cool. UGH!!!!
This book was also most predictable of the four books and as the plot shifted to Africa it became downright sickening to read and it dragged like that whole continent drags. I hate Europeans who went to Africa, to exploit its resources, to buy slaves, to meddle, to Christianize and this book was about them but I read on in hope that Loppe would stay in Africa and that Godscalc would die.
The relationship between Loppe and Nicholas was ridiculous in all books but in this book it reached the cheesiness of melodrama complete with tears and high passions. Like Nicholas, Loppe was utterly improbable. She might as well made him a Martian then someone like Loppe could be more believable.
Finally, I am sick of the blond, blue-eyed villains with no redeeming quality, absolutely sick of this cowardly, disingenuous, racist writing trope especially when all the nonwhite people are beautiful, virtuous, the bestest human beings on the planet.
Still I feel that Dunnett has overdone the characterization of Nicholas because after all he is only a human and I know few people who too were not drawn to him. Dunnett made me curious about him in the first book but once his Gary Sue personality came through, and I was constantly reminded of his lips shaped like caterpillars, his big clown eyes, round face, dimples, frizzy hair… I was disillusioned and repulsed. What's worse in this book he acted and talked like a hipster who moved to a downtrodden area to be cool. UGH!!!!
This book was also most predictable of the four books and as the plot shifted to Africa it became downright sickening to read and it dragged like that whole continent drags. I hate Europeans who went to Africa, to exploit its resources, to buy slaves, to meddle, to Christianize and this book was about them but I read on in hope that Loppe would stay in Africa and that Godscalc would die.
The relationship between Loppe and Nicholas was ridiculous in all books but in this book it reached the cheesiness of melodrama complete with tears and high passions. Like Nicholas, Loppe was utterly improbable. She might as well made him a Martian then someone like Loppe could be more believable.
Finally, I am sick of the blond, blue-eyed villains with no redeeming quality, absolutely sick of this cowardly, disingenuous, racist writing trope especially when all the nonwhite people are beautiful, virtuous, the bestest human beings on the planet.
July 13, 2021
‘To those who remembered him, it was typical that Nicholas should sail into Venice just as the latest news reached the Rialto, causing the ducat to fall below fifty groats and dip against the écu.’
In 1464, Nicholas vander Poele returns from Cyprus to Venice. His stay is brief: he has financial concerns and is under threat by several powerful business rivals. He sets sail for Africa:
‘The country where there is gold in such abundance that men prefer to barter in shells.’
Nicholas is intent on trade and exploration, and Africa offers possibilities. Africa: the legendary home of the Fountain of Youth, the myth of Prester John, descendant of Sheba and Solomon. It will prove to be an arduous journey, full of danger and hardship for Nicholas and his companions. They will make it (some of them) to Timbuktu, a great Muslim centre of learning and trading. Not all aspects of the mission will be successful, suffering will accompany discovery for some.
This, the fourth instalment of the House of Niccolò, will end in Europe with a cliff-hanger which had me tearing my hair and gnashing my teeth. And so, I moved straight onto book five, ‘The Unicorn Hunt’.
I loved this book, with its journey of self-discovery (for some) and exploration. Nicholas continues to develop, as do the intrigues around him. Another complex, intricately plotted novel in a series which is best read in order. I have read this series at least three times, and each time I discover new possibilities.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
In 1464, Nicholas vander Poele returns from Cyprus to Venice. His stay is brief: he has financial concerns and is under threat by several powerful business rivals. He sets sail for Africa:
‘The country where there is gold in such abundance that men prefer to barter in shells.’
Nicholas is intent on trade and exploration, and Africa offers possibilities. Africa: the legendary home of the Fountain of Youth, the myth of Prester John, descendant of Sheba and Solomon. It will prove to be an arduous journey, full of danger and hardship for Nicholas and his companions. They will make it (some of them) to Timbuktu, a great Muslim centre of learning and trading. Not all aspects of the mission will be successful, suffering will accompany discovery for some.
This, the fourth instalment of the House of Niccolò, will end in Europe with a cliff-hanger which had me tearing my hair and gnashing my teeth. And so, I moved straight onto book five, ‘The Unicorn Hunt’.
I loved this book, with its journey of self-discovery (for some) and exploration. Nicholas continues to develop, as do the intrigues around him. Another complex, intricately plotted novel in a series which is best read in order. I have read this series at least three times, and each time I discover new possibilities.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
January 5, 2008
This volume finds yet another hard-headed determined female in pursuit of Niccolo but Niccolo is definitely playing hard to get by embarking on a highly ambitious and secretive trip to Africa. Death appears to await him as he chooses to pursue his goal, but he survives and finds himself anew with a new-old friend. Returning home in a mix of relief and triumph...he is greeted with deserved happiness and an undeserved twist of a knife he thought had been sheathed with his surrender.
Read
July 18, 2025DNF at 5 pages in.
I don't rate books that I don't finish, I'm just giving an explanation as to why I didn't finish. I got this book at a library sale. It's chunky and honestly quite a beautiful copy. The description sounded interesting, and this edition was published the same year (and month!) that I was born, so it seemed like maybe I should read it, LOL.
Unfortunately, there's nothing on the physical copy to indicate that Scales of Gold is book 4 of a series. Some series can be read out of order, and I was hoping this would be one of them, but sadly, it's really not. There's a list of character 3 pages long at the beginning of the book and I had no idea who any of them were. I hoped to possibly pick up on clues during reading, but I just had no clue what was going on, who these people were, how they know each other, or why I should care.
But the real nail in the coffin was that I simply could not click with this author's writing style. This book is 500 pages long and yet the writing in the first 5 pages alone was some of the densest writing I have read in a long time. That's coming from a Tolkien fan, and I acknowledge that his writing is dense in its own way as well, but I like his style, while I just did not click with Dunnett's. The big thing for me was that while she was EXTREMELY descriptive, she describes by uses some "ten dollar words" at times when a simpler one would have communicated the same thing but flowed more smoothly on the page. She also uses historical terminology that, unless you have a basis of knowledge in that area, you might not know what those words mean. I read a lot of historical fiction, but she lost me several times. I also felt like there were some issues on the technical side as well (though, maybe it was simply a style that was more common in the 90's?). Like, why she sometimes referred to a character as "he" and then later, as "it." And further things that just bothered and distracted me.
I actually handed the book to my mother and asked her to read the same pages to find out if it was just me, or if she thought the writing was dense as well. She read, and she felt the same way. It's not that it's "bad" writing, but it's a style that either you like it or you don't. Unfortunately, neither of us found it enjoyable enough to stick with it for 500 pages. However, it's clear from the number of positive reviews on this series that it has clicked with other people, and I'm so glad they enjoy it even if it wasn't for me! Obviously, Dunnett had enough voracious readers to write multiple long series and have a long career, and that is wonderful. :)
I don't rate books that I don't finish, I'm just giving an explanation as to why I didn't finish. I got this book at a library sale. It's chunky and honestly quite a beautiful copy. The description sounded interesting, and this edition was published the same year (and month!) that I was born, so it seemed like maybe I should read it, LOL.
Unfortunately, there's nothing on the physical copy to indicate that Scales of Gold is book 4 of a series. Some series can be read out of order, and I was hoping this would be one of them, but sadly, it's really not. There's a list of character 3 pages long at the beginning of the book and I had no idea who any of them were. I hoped to possibly pick up on clues during reading, but I just had no clue what was going on, who these people were, how they know each other, or why I should care.
But the real nail in the coffin was that I simply could not click with this author's writing style. This book is 500 pages long and yet the writing in the first 5 pages alone was some of the densest writing I have read in a long time. That's coming from a Tolkien fan, and I acknowledge that his writing is dense in its own way as well, but I like his style, while I just did not click with Dunnett's. The big thing for me was that while she was EXTREMELY descriptive, she describes by uses some "ten dollar words" at times when a simpler one would have communicated the same thing but flowed more smoothly on the page. She also uses historical terminology that, unless you have a basis of knowledge in that area, you might not know what those words mean. I read a lot of historical fiction, but she lost me several times. I also felt like there were some issues on the technical side as well (though, maybe it was simply a style that was more common in the 90's?). Like, why she sometimes referred to a character as "he" and then later, as "it." And further things that just bothered and distracted me.
I actually handed the book to my mother and asked her to read the same pages to find out if it was just me, or if she thought the writing was dense as well. She read, and she felt the same way. It's not that it's "bad" writing, but it's a style that either you like it or you don't. Unfortunately, neither of us found it enjoyable enough to stick with it for 500 pages. However, it's clear from the number of positive reviews on this series that it has clicked with other people, and I'm so glad they enjoy it even if it wasn't for me! Obviously, Dunnett had enough voracious readers to write multiple long series and have a long career, and that is wonderful. :)
February 16, 2011
Dorothy Dunnett never fails to take my breath away with her historical fiction. In this, the fourth book of the House of Niccolo series, our hero travels to Portugal, Madeira, and Timbuktu. He is accompanied by his friend (who is also his conscience), Father Godscalc. Godscalc is on a mission to find the Kingdom of the famous Prester John in Ethiopia.
Tagging along (and not entirely welcome) are his young cousin, Diniz Vasquez, and his ex's sister, Gelis van Borselen. Diniz now idolizes Nicholas (after hating and fearing him in the prior book) and Gelis is out to get revenge for the death of her sister. Both cause him no small amount of trouble, but help keep the adventure and excitement up in this book.
The descriptions of 15th Century Timbuktu and the society of the scholars there are wonderful. Nicholas is shocked to find that his friend, Loppe (his slave name)/Umar (his real name), was an important scholar/citizen of this fabled city. We see much of the culture there through Loppe/Umar's eyes.
As always, there is money to be made in trade for Nicholas, but the life lessons he learns are the most important. We see Nicholas maturing (he's now 26) and conquering the dark parts of his nature.
I hate each of these books to end because I feel I am living these times, along with Nicholas and his band of brothers who are his real family. Life is incredibly full but incredibly brutal.
I am moving on to Book Five, The Unicorn Hunt, set in Edinburgh, Scotland. I can't wait to see what Nicholas will make of that.
Tagging along (and not entirely welcome) are his young cousin, Diniz Vasquez, and his ex's sister, Gelis van Borselen. Diniz now idolizes Nicholas (after hating and fearing him in the prior book) and Gelis is out to get revenge for the death of her sister. Both cause him no small amount of trouble, but help keep the adventure and excitement up in this book.
The descriptions of 15th Century Timbuktu and the society of the scholars there are wonderful. Nicholas is shocked to find that his friend, Loppe (his slave name)/Umar (his real name), was an important scholar/citizen of this fabled city. We see much of the culture there through Loppe/Umar's eyes.
As always, there is money to be made in trade for Nicholas, but the life lessons he learns are the most important. We see Nicholas maturing (he's now 26) and conquering the dark parts of his nature.
I hate each of these books to end because I feel I am living these times, along with Nicholas and his band of brothers who are his real family. Life is incredibly full but incredibly brutal.
I am moving on to Book Five, The Unicorn Hunt, set in Edinburgh, Scotland. I can't wait to see what Nicholas will make of that.
May 30, 2015
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2469592.html
Fourth in the series of the adventures of Niccolò, the smart young Flemish merchant who travels fifteenth century in search of wealth and its inevitable political entanglements. This time, a cunning plan to penetrate deep into Africa becomes complicated by a new wrinkle in a long-standing family feud, and extraordinary dynastic and legal manœuvres from Vanice to Madeira to Timbuktu. The ground has been well laid, as one of the supporting cast from the first three books was an African ex-slave who turns out to be extremely well-connected back in his homeland.
It's a good book, as they all are, but the portrayal of Timbuktu as a center of culture, learning, commerce and communication is particularly vivid, and directly challenges any perception of pre-colonisation Africa as somehow backward and savage. On the other hand the violence and illness endured by the protagonist and his friends are pretty graphically portrayed as well, so there is a certain squick factor. Still, very much recommended.
Fourth in the series of the adventures of Niccolò, the smart young Flemish merchant who travels fifteenth century in search of wealth and its inevitable political entanglements. This time, a cunning plan to penetrate deep into Africa becomes complicated by a new wrinkle in a long-standing family feud, and extraordinary dynastic and legal manœuvres from Vanice to Madeira to Timbuktu. The ground has been well laid, as one of the supporting cast from the first three books was an African ex-slave who turns out to be extremely well-connected back in his homeland.
It's a good book, as they all are, but the portrayal of Timbuktu as a center of culture, learning, commerce and communication is particularly vivid, and directly challenges any perception of pre-colonisation Africa as somehow backward and savage. On the other hand the violence and illness endured by the protagonist and his friends are pretty graphically portrayed as well, so there is a certain squick factor. Still, very much recommended.
March 27, 2012
Wow, this one really packs a punch! Nicholas experiences extreme physical suffering, comes to a place of wholeness on multiple levels and is finally able and willing to let go of his possible connection to Simon but then Dunnett socks it to him in the last few pages.
SPOILER ALERT
I knew it was coming but got sucked in and didn't remember how tough it was. He and Gelis seemed like they were real on both sides and yet she still double-crossed him. My theory is that if he had told her first about Umar's death, she would have let go of her horrible plan. I think she had thought it up while going to Africa and then let it go, only to take it up again while she waited for Nicholas' return. Also, I suppose if they are matched mind to mind etc, she has her own dark, manipulative stuff to work through before she can really be happy with him.
SPOILER ALERT
I knew it was coming but got sucked in and didn't remember how tough it was. He and Gelis seemed like they were real on both sides and yet she still double-crossed him. My theory is that if he had told her first about Umar's death, she would have let go of her horrible plan. I think she had thought it up while going to Africa and then let it go, only to take it up again while she waited for Nicholas' return. Also, I suppose if they are matched mind to mind etc, she has her own dark, manipulative stuff to work through before she can really be happy with him.
January 19, 2012
Our tireless merchant adventurer seeks to salvage his bank's liquidity and hamper his rivals by going to Africa and cornering the Guinea gold trade. Nice character-building volume in the series, or at least it was until the last page (yes, the last page), which veered more than 90 degrees from what I'd been reading before that. Which left a very sour feeling in my mouth. hopefully it will be explained in the later volumes. Rated MA for violence, nudity, sexual references and moderate coarse language. 3.5/5
January 8, 2019
Found the first 350 pages stretched on for way too long, but, from there, the rest of the book was really interesting. The insights into the characters and the setting were back to Dunnett's form and I couldn't put it down. I just think it's a shame that those first 350 pages weren't edited down to around a hundred. If I could rate the book in halves, I'd give one star to the first and five stars to the second.
One word to the wise, don't get to the end of this book without having book five, Unicorn Hunt, on hand. Trust me.
One word to the wise, don't get to the end of this book without having book five, Unicorn Hunt, on hand. Trust me.
December 14, 2016
What a diabolical mind had the author, Dorothy Dunnett. All I can say about the ending of this book. Is YIKES!
And once again our hero, the cat with nine lives, has lost life number four in this book four of the series. Four more books to go and five lives.
Truly amazing how Dunnett was able to capture 15th Century Africa and a trek from south to north across the Sahara Desert, among other things.
And once again our hero, the cat with nine lives, has lost life number four in this book four of the series. Four more books to go and five lives.
Truly amazing how Dunnett was able to capture 15th Century Africa and a trek from south to north across the Sahara Desert, among other things.
March 17, 2021
Second time through, it's a 5. It's only a 5, though, if you read it slow enough to pick up the dozen nuances on each page that let you know what is really going on. Fascinating how Dunnett conveys character motives and feelings.
August 13, 2010
Dorothy Dunnett really is the master of genetic angst.
June 12, 2020
Complicated to keep track of. Didn't expect the events of the last 2 pages.
Edit 12/6/20 Some of the comments about race, slavery and the politics of Timbuktu was a different perspective.
Edit 12/6/20 Some of the comments about race, slavery and the politics of Timbuktu was a different perspective.
February 21, 2023
The series is set during the rise of mercantile culture. This novel imagines a trading journey through precolonial Africa's rivers and desert.
May 30, 2025
3.5 stars
’It has been a success, has it not? Although I miss the Nicholas I once knew.’ Julius pulled a face. ‘The ostrich? The waterworks? All those beatings? No one would believe it of him now. Solemn and rich.’
Another dramatic adventure across the trade routes of the 1460s. This one felt like an another installment in the vein of book 2 and 3, with some evil schemes, a few deaths and competitions between merchants.
After the way the East was presented in book 2, and the various Islamic groups in book 3, I feared this one would do the same with the slave trade in West-Africa.
My expectations weren’t high, but I was almost pleasantly surprised (?)
I feel like this book is more an uneasy product of its time than genuinely awful.
The slave trade was such a large scale business, that Nicholas’s pragmatic solution of taking slaves to Europe and giving them an acceptable life as free servants is considered a better option because the slaves they let go free die attempting to get home. For characters in the 1460s and a book from the 80s/90s, I thought it wasn’t bad? It certainly could have been a lot worse.
I liked that Africa is far from homogenous, and unlike Tzani-Bey, the various groups are no better or worse than the Europese lords. They are feuding, backstabbing and trading left and right. Timbuktu is a flourishing city with a history that Nicholas has to adapt to like he had to in Cyprus and Trebizond.
Women are still prizes to be slept with, and are somehow always there to show how great our white Nicholas is. He is also immediately the clever white man to advise the rulers of Timbuktu and even take over parts of it. (Maybe the fact that white and black people are equally fawning over him does the book a small favour? I digress.)
In the meantime, Father Godsalc preaches of converting souls to Christianity like an annoying broken record I wanted to throw out, but also argued for humane treatment of black people and against slavery as a whole. You win some you lose some.
The biggest roles were for Gelis and Loppe.
At first Gelis was the antagonist I had hoped a bitter Katelina would be in book 3. She followed Nicholas everywhere solely to be petty and spite him. I wasn’t sure if she had ulterior motives for at least half of it, and I liked that she was clever and willful enough to adapt to new places and languages.
The attempt at romance between her and Nicholas was laughably bad. Every book these romances get worse? I liked the bits I got from Gelis as a character, but that subplot made no sense. I sincerely hoped she plotted it all only to poison him during their wedding night.
The character I was most excited for was Lopez. Lopez is one of the rare few companions who is not actively skeptical of Nicholas, so I wanted to know how things would develop between them. Would he grow wary of Nicholas too? Or would he turn into the one rare person to crack Nicholas’s facade? The others literally state: “Depending on one’s viewpoint, Loppe was his most loyal friend, or his spy.”
They both started in the waters of Bruges, looked down upon by everyone, and together they climbed their way up to the palazzo near the Rialto bridge in Venice.
To Loppe, his status as high ranking servant managing estates and respected member of the bank was owed to Nicholas, dating back to his apprentice days. To Nicholas, Loppe would have been the one person who did not try to steer him. I did like how Loppe managed to gain to a position that rivalled Nicholas’s, and even had tricks of his own. He more than deserved it. He might also be the only person Nicholas hasn’t majorly misled. (Yet)
The potential was gigantic, but in the end I felt like their friendship was only spoken of, but never really shown. No spoilers, but I am disappointed that it ended the way it did.
After years, Nicholas’s triumphant return to Bruges felt like an achievement and an ending. Once an apprentice, he pretty much achieved all there was to achieve. Status, riches, good standing with a lot of the factions including the Charetty and a famous reputation in every city.
I'll read next book when I feel like another one of these adventures, but by now I think I get the formula. Lots of trading and plotting left and right, Nicholas weaving though them, some rival threatening to ruin the business, an awful romance and when everything seems right at the end, the last few pages contained some sort of twist to lead into the next one.
’It has been a success, has it not? Although I miss the Nicholas I once knew.’ Julius pulled a face. ‘The ostrich? The waterworks? All those beatings? No one would believe it of him now. Solemn and rich.’
Another dramatic adventure across the trade routes of the 1460s. This one felt like an another installment in the vein of book 2 and 3, with some evil schemes, a few deaths and competitions between merchants.
After the way the East was presented in book 2, and the various Islamic groups in book 3, I feared this one would do the same with the slave trade in West-Africa.
My expectations weren’t high, but I was almost pleasantly surprised (?)
I feel like this book is more an uneasy product of its time than genuinely awful.
The slave trade was such a large scale business, that Nicholas’s pragmatic solution of taking slaves to Europe and giving them an acceptable life as free servants is considered a better option because the slaves they let go free die attempting to get home. For characters in the 1460s and a book from the 80s/90s, I thought it wasn’t bad? It certainly could have been a lot worse.
I liked that Africa is far from homogenous, and unlike Tzani-Bey, the various groups are no better or worse than the Europese lords. They are feuding, backstabbing and trading left and right. Timbuktu is a flourishing city with a history that Nicholas has to adapt to like he had to in Cyprus and Trebizond.
Women are still prizes to be slept with, and are somehow always there to show how great our white Nicholas is. He is also immediately the clever white man to advise the rulers of Timbuktu and even take over parts of it. (Maybe the fact that white and black people are equally fawning over him does the book a small favour? I digress.)
In the meantime, Father Godsalc preaches of converting souls to Christianity like an annoying broken record I wanted to throw out, but also argued for humane treatment of black people and against slavery as a whole. You win some you lose some.
The biggest roles were for Gelis and Loppe.
At first Gelis was the antagonist I had hoped a bitter Katelina would be in book 3. She followed Nicholas everywhere solely to be petty and spite him. I wasn’t sure if she had ulterior motives for at least half of it, and I liked that she was clever and willful enough to adapt to new places and languages.
The attempt at romance between her and Nicholas was laughably bad. Every book these romances get worse? I liked the bits I got from Gelis as a character, but that subplot made no sense. I sincerely hoped she plotted it all only to poison him during their wedding night.
The character I was most excited for was Lopez. Lopez is one of the rare few companions who is not actively skeptical of Nicholas, so I wanted to know how things would develop between them. Would he grow wary of Nicholas too? Or would he turn into the one rare person to crack Nicholas’s facade? The others literally state: “Depending on one’s viewpoint, Loppe was his most loyal friend, or his spy.”
They both started in the waters of Bruges, looked down upon by everyone, and together they climbed their way up to the palazzo near the Rialto bridge in Venice.
To Loppe, his status as high ranking servant managing estates and respected member of the bank was owed to Nicholas, dating back to his apprentice days. To Nicholas, Loppe would have been the one person who did not try to steer him. I did like how Loppe managed to gain to a position that rivalled Nicholas’s, and even had tricks of his own. He more than deserved it. He might also be the only person Nicholas hasn’t majorly misled. (Yet)
The potential was gigantic, but in the end I felt like their friendship was only spoken of, but never really shown. No spoilers, but I am disappointed that it ended the way it did.
After years, Nicholas’s triumphant return to Bruges felt like an achievement and an ending. Once an apprentice, he pretty much achieved all there was to achieve. Status, riches, good standing with a lot of the factions including the Charetty and a famous reputation in every city.
I'll read next book when I feel like another one of these adventures, but by now I think I get the formula. Lots of trading and plotting left and right, Nicholas weaving though them, some rival threatening to ruin the business, an awful romance and when everything seems right at the end, the last few pages contained some sort of twist to lead into the next one.
April 23, 2025
Painful, beautiful, exciting, intimate and my favourite book in the 'House of Niccolò' series so far.
The thing to keep in mind with Dunnett novels, is that though her beautiful prose disguises it well, they are still ridiculous. Gloriously ridiculous. They are James Bond levels of action and glamour, they are melodrama, they are Dumas-style adventure and wit, and they are absoultely addictive. Do not start reading Scales of Gold unless you have The Unicorn Hunt at hand, because you're going to need it when you get to the end.
And dear god, that punch to the gut at the end. It comes after Nicholas has deepened his bond with a lot of his group. Scales of Gold takes us from Europe to Africa, and back again, and the main group we follow- Nicholas, Loppe, Godscalc, Gelis, Diniz, and Bel- have a lot of time to spend together. A lot of the novel is relationships, and then personal discovery, which I think is what I loved so much about it. I particularly enjoyed seeing the relationship between Nicholas and Gelis develop. Gelis is given many moments to shine, and I cannot wait to see where her relationship with Nicholas goes. Tobie continues to be a gift. Love you Tobie, with your Nicholas-induced sneezing, and your bald head and beady eyes. But maybe most important and beautiful of all is the Nicholas and Loppe relationship, which gave me some of my favourite moments of the series so far.
I now fully love Nicholas too, this was the novel where he won me over completely. It was bound to happen. After all he does ride ostriches, start avalanches, dress up as women, cry when he thinks no one is watching, and get even in spectacular fashion with those who wrong him. He is enigmatic and unattainable; though we regularly get access to his thoughts we are frequently excluded from key information. Nicholas witholds information from everyone, the reader included. Yet despite this he is still a warm and endearing character. Perhaps this is due to the finely drawn supporting characters whose thoughts frequently dwell upon him, or perhaps it's because we are privy to his thoughts and feelings at times when he would rather not have them. He is a giant excitable puppy dog of a man, with energy and intelligence and mischief to burn. Yet we also know, as well noted in the previous book, that "there is a demon...within that artisan clay".
The gut-punch of an end comes after the realisation that occurs to many of these characters- Tobie, Godscalc, Goro, Diniz (and maybe even Gelis) among them- that they cannot, despite perhaps their better judgement, leave Nicholas. He is too much for them to ignore. They are sucked into his orbit. And I feel Dunnett has the same effect on me. I expected something like what the ending delivered around half-way through the novel, and then Dunnett convinced me of the opposite. I feel dense (not unusual when I'm reading Dunnett), but I don't feel cheated. And I love when the author is so much smarter than I am. You win, Dorothy. You win, Nicholas. Now onto The Unicorn Hunt.
The thing to keep in mind with Dunnett novels, is that though her beautiful prose disguises it well, they are still ridiculous. Gloriously ridiculous. They are James Bond levels of action and glamour, they are melodrama, they are Dumas-style adventure and wit, and they are absoultely addictive. Do not start reading Scales of Gold unless you have The Unicorn Hunt at hand, because you're going to need it when you get to the end.
And dear god, that punch to the gut at the end. It comes after Nicholas has deepened his bond with a lot of his group. Scales of Gold takes us from Europe to Africa, and back again, and the main group we follow- Nicholas, Loppe, Godscalc, Gelis, Diniz, and Bel- have a lot of time to spend together. A lot of the novel is relationships, and then personal discovery, which I think is what I loved so much about it. I particularly enjoyed seeing the relationship between Nicholas and Gelis develop. Gelis is given many moments to shine, and I cannot wait to see where her relationship with Nicholas goes. Tobie continues to be a gift. Love you Tobie, with your Nicholas-induced sneezing, and your bald head and beady eyes. But maybe most important and beautiful of all is the Nicholas and Loppe relationship, which gave me some of my favourite moments of the series so far.
I now fully love Nicholas too, this was the novel where he won me over completely. It was bound to happen. After all he does ride ostriches, start avalanches, dress up as women, cry when he thinks no one is watching, and get even in spectacular fashion with those who wrong him. He is enigmatic and unattainable; though we regularly get access to his thoughts we are frequently excluded from key information. Nicholas witholds information from everyone, the reader included. Yet despite this he is still a warm and endearing character. Perhaps this is due to the finely drawn supporting characters whose thoughts frequently dwell upon him, or perhaps it's because we are privy to his thoughts and feelings at times when he would rather not have them. He is a giant excitable puppy dog of a man, with energy and intelligence and mischief to burn. Yet we also know, as well noted in the previous book, that "there is a demon...within that artisan clay".
The gut-punch of an end comes after the realisation that occurs to many of these characters- Tobie, Godscalc, Goro, Diniz (and maybe even Gelis) among them- that they cannot, despite perhaps their better judgement, leave Nicholas. He is too much for them to ignore. They are sucked into his orbit. And I feel Dunnett has the same effect on me. I expected something like what the ending delivered around half-way through the novel, and then Dunnett convinced me of the opposite. I feel dense (not unusual when I'm reading Dunnett), but I don't feel cheated. And I love when the author is so much smarter than I am. You win, Dorothy. You win, Nicholas. Now onto The Unicorn Hunt.
January 16, 2009
Somehow not the most poetic of Dunnett's House of Niccolo volumes but still full of the author's characteristic plot intricacies and rich cast of characters.
An adjustment required in accepting this book being set primarily in Africa rather than Europe. So chunks of the narrative became more a physical adventure than the usual strategical minefield that a Dunnett novel entails.
The ending of the novel has reverberated throughout Dunnett fandom over the years.
This has never been my favourite Niccolo volume but still contains many memorable scenes.
An adjustment required in accepting this book being set primarily in Africa rather than Europe. So chunks of the narrative became more a physical adventure than the usual strategical minefield that a Dunnett novel entails.
The ending of the novel has reverberated throughout Dunnett fandom over the years.
This has never been my favourite Niccolo volume but still contains many memorable scenes.
May 3, 2012
Just finished it 10 minutes ago... still speechless.
November 14, 2010
Onto Africa. Only Niccolo could get himself into so much trouble with so much charm.
March 2, 2015
Oh Nicholas. Oh Gelis.
November 22, 2017
Nicholas is in Africa, 15th C Africa, seeking the fabled lands of Prester John / heathens for Godscalc to convert / riches - ( prioritise as you see fit). probably one of the strongest books in the series but also the saddest.
December 31, 2020
holy shit
July 22, 2021
I don't know how fair this rating is but this is how I feel right now.
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