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The House of Niccolò #6
To Lie with Lions
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 is 1471. Within the circus of statecraft, where the lions of Burgundy, Cyprus, England, and Venice stalk and snarl, Nicholas wields a valued whip. Having wrested his little son Jordan from his estranged wife, Gelis, he embarks on the greatest business scheme of his life-- beginning with a journey to Iceland. But while Nicholas confronts merchant knights, polar bears, and the frozen volcanic wastelands of the North, a greater challenge the vengeful Gelis, whose secrets threaten to topple all Nicholas has achieved. Here is Dorothy Dunnett at her best. Robustly paced, prodigiously detailed, To Lie with Lions renders the quicksands of Renaissance politics as well as the turnings of the human soul, from love to hate and back.
The year is 1471. Within the circus of statecraft, where the lions of Burgundy, Cyprus, England, and Venice stalk and snarl, Nicholas wields a valued whip. Having wrested his little son Jordan from his estranged wife, Gelis, he embarks on the greatest business scheme of his life-- beginning with a journey to Iceland. But while Nicholas confronts merchant knights, polar bears, and the frozen volcanic wastelands of the North, a greater challenge the vengeful Gelis, whose secrets threaten to topple all Nicholas has achieved. Here is Dorothy Dunnett at her best. Robustly paced, prodigiously detailed, To Lie with Lions renders the quicksands of Renaissance politics as well as the turnings of the human soul, from love to hate and back.
672 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
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892 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 93 reviews
May 29, 2025
2025 Dunnetteer reread : Everything below still stands. But I'm knocking another star off because there's just too much plodding stuff that goes nowhere, and it's increasingly apparent that almost all of the "good parts" aren't really good, they're just copies. It's like death by a thousand cuts, if every shallow cut is "remember when I wrote this scene in Lymond, but better? Here it is again, but worse."
And on top of the divining, Nick also apparently has visions of Lymond now, too, which, meh. I like my historical fiction without fantastical magic, please. If I wanted a fantasy book, I'd read a fantasy book. There are so many potentially interesting things that Dunnett could have done with this series, that she just abandons by the side of the road because she's insistent on telling this gigantic, sprawling, lumbering prequel to Lymond. These didn't have to be tied together at all! Just tell a story with a completely different set of characters!
Also : this series is too long, and I don't just mean that in the sense that there are 8 books to LC's 6, or that each doorstop clocks in at close to 700 pages. I mean that my understanding is that the timespan is 20 years from NR to Gemini. That's too much, and in most cases Dunnett does not do a good job of showing the type of character growth that would occur in that amount of time (I'll grant a maybe exception for Nick, who is somewhat less of a tomfoolerous youth as the series progresses than he was in NR). Lymond was ten years, and that was also a stretch, but much less of one (1.67 years per book as opposed to 2.5 here).
If budding psychopath Henry murders his grandfather, falls out a window and dies, and then Nick kills Simon, I will be somewhat mollified. But only somewhat.
Last note, lest you think it was all negatives : King Louis continues to endear, and it does feel like Dunnett did some serious background reading here - either Commynes' memoirs, or Louis' collected letters (I believe PM Kendall edited a release of them in the 70s) - because she nails his mannerisms and way of speaking in a way that is a joy to cuddle up with. You keep on doing your thing, Louis, and don't let anyone ever tell you that you're not pulling off that beaver hat. You rock that hat like you rock everything else.
---
(original review)
This book was a vast improvement on its predecessor, and I'm not just saying that because it featured my hero Louis XI more prominently :). Unicorn Hunt was kind of a meandering travelogue that didn't really seem to accomplish much in terms of advancing the plot or the characterization...though I felt similarly after reading Disorderly Knights for the first time before I had finished the series, so maybe my opinion of that will change once I've finished Gemini.
In any event, the main annoyance of this book, to me, is that Nicholas is constantly referring in the text to his Grand Plan, without revealing to the reader what that is. Now, I have no objection to grand plans -- Game of Kings had one, and its "Aha!" moment at the end was a wonderful payoff. But it was under the surface -- here, Nicholas seems to be beating you over the head every few chapters with "Remember that I have a glorious complicated plan! And I'm STILL not going to tell you what it is!" ...It was frustrating.
The scenes in Iceland were stellar, with the amazing descriptive power that Dunnett has earned my and many other people's praise for. Nicholas and Gelis advance their relationship, we understand more of their characters, and the minor ones are nicely fleshed out.
In fact, I was all set to give this 5 stars...and then the last climax of the book hit, and I had to downrank.
And on top of the divining, Nick also apparently has visions of Lymond now, too, which, meh. I like my historical fiction without fantastical magic, please. If I wanted a fantasy book, I'd read a fantasy book. There are so many potentially interesting things that Dunnett could have done with this series, that she just abandons by the side of the road because she's insistent on telling this gigantic, sprawling, lumbering prequel to Lymond. These didn't have to be tied together at all! Just tell a story with a completely different set of characters!
Also : this series is too long, and I don't just mean that in the sense that there are 8 books to LC's 6, or that each doorstop clocks in at close to 700 pages. I mean that my understanding is that the timespan is 20 years from NR to Gemini. That's too much, and in most cases Dunnett does not do a good job of showing the type of character growth that would occur in that amount of time (I'll grant a maybe exception for Nick, who is somewhat less of a tomfoolerous youth as the series progresses than he was in NR). Lymond was ten years, and that was also a stretch, but much less of one (1.67 years per book as opposed to 2.5 here).
If budding psychopath Henry murders his grandfather, falls out a window and dies, and then Nick kills Simon, I will be somewhat mollified. But only somewhat.
Last note, lest you think it was all negatives : King Louis continues to endear, and it does feel like Dunnett did some serious background reading here - either Commynes' memoirs, or Louis' collected letters (I believe PM Kendall edited a release of them in the 70s) - because she nails his mannerisms and way of speaking in a way that is a joy to cuddle up with. You keep on doing your thing, Louis, and don't let anyone ever tell you that you're not pulling off that beaver hat. You rock that hat like you rock everything else.
---
(original review)
This book was a vast improvement on its predecessor, and I'm not just saying that because it featured my hero Louis XI more prominently :). Unicorn Hunt was kind of a meandering travelogue that didn't really seem to accomplish much in terms of advancing the plot or the characterization...though I felt similarly after reading Disorderly Knights for the first time before I had finished the series, so maybe my opinion of that will change once I've finished Gemini.
In any event, the main annoyance of this book, to me, is that Nicholas is constantly referring in the text to his Grand Plan, without revealing to the reader what that is. Now, I have no objection to grand plans -- Game of Kings had one, and its "Aha!" moment at the end was a wonderful payoff. But it was under the surface -- here, Nicholas seems to be beating you over the head every few chapters with "Remember that I have a glorious complicated plan! And I'm STILL not going to tell you what it is!" ...It was frustrating.
The scenes in Iceland were stellar, with the amazing descriptive power that Dunnett has earned my and many other people's praise for. Nicholas and Gelis advance their relationship, we understand more of their characters, and the minor ones are nicely fleshed out.
In fact, I was all set to give this 5 stars...and then the last climax of the book hit, and I had to downrank.
December 18, 2024
I'm torn.
It should be 4 stars because I couldn't care less about Gelis and her tiresome feud with Nicholas, but.... .
It is the usual intense, breathtaking political Dunnett intrigue and adventure with magnificent writing.
As always, excellent narration by John Banks.
It should be 4 stars because I couldn't care less about Gelis and her tiresome feud with Nicholas, but.... .
It is the usual intense, breathtaking political Dunnett intrigue and adventure with magnificent writing.
As always, excellent narration by John Banks.
August 30, 2023
Infaticabile, mai domo, Niccolò de Fleury si ritrova in Scozia a riallacciare quei traffici e quelle amicizie che l'esilio di due lunghi anni ha assopito ma non reciso: ed eccolo dunque, ricongiunto alla moglie Gelis e al figlioletto Jodi con cui riesce finalmente a instaurare un rapporto privilegiato ma non per molto perchè i suoi interessi finanziari e la voglia di nuove avventure lo spingeranno a intraprendere una spedizione commerciale in Islanda che non sarà scevra di pericoli e di difficoltà ma egualmente economicamente redditizia per il suo banco...e poi a barcamenarsi tra il duca di Borgogna e il Re di Francia e come se non bastasse a spingersi di nuovo a Cipro e infine a un'improbabile incoronazione del duca di Borgogna da parte dell'Imperatore del sacro Romano Impero...e sempre intorno a lui un balletto di nuovi intrighi e trabocchetti, attentati alla sua vita e nemici nell'ombra finanche nei suoi affetti più vicini. Ancora una volta Dorothy Dunnett mischia le carte e le distribuisce da par suo, provetta giocatrice di una letteratura che non è solo intrattenimento ma anche conoscenza storica e fine psicologia.
May 11, 2025
It's sad to find that I have fallen out of love with this series. There's still a superb core to these books and Dunnett has no equals with her masterful grasp on plot, history, the sheer detail and depth of her background and understanding of the period and its politics and economics. The problem for me now is that all of this displaces and overwhelms the story which itself is lengthened and stretched out beyond my patience.
The whole 'war' between Gelis and Nicholas is so underwritten that, even knowing the reasons and outcome as I do, it fails to make much narrative sense. And the sudden revelations that come out at the end feel like they need more space to breath.
En route, the whole Iceland adventure left me cold (ha!). I've never been a fan of this elongated section and while there are attempts to pull it into the story and give it a significance (Kathi, the broken strand in Nicholas' plot) it feels like an add on. There are also tantalising glimpses of action: Julius' strange marriage with its hidden portents, the continued violence of the St. Pol family through all three generations, some lovely set pieces such as the football on the Edinburgh battlements or the ice skating, or Henry's attacks.
But the good character stuff feels thin and interspersed with lots of external action: Zacco, the reappearance of Violante. It's when Dunnett gets into the character work that this springs into life for me: Nicholas and Jodi, the final big confrontation at the end.
But these feel like slim pickings in an epic adventure that seems to almost deliberately displace its own emotional heart. As the echoes of Lymond grow, including now a vision from Checkmate, it's ever clearer that this series only really exists to lead teleologically to that earlier story.
Thanks to the Dunnetteers for your company on this uneven journey!
---------------------------------------------
This is the 6th book of the Niccolo series and these books really must be read in order. After the shock ending of The Unicorn Hunt (The House of Niccolo) , Nicholas is forging a relationship with his son, as well as drawing Gelis, his estranged wife back to him: though the terms of the 'relationship' are a mystery to all their friends.
Drawn to Scotland, Nicholas makes himself indispensable at the young Scottish court, but his machinations there are as opaque even to his colleagues as his relationship with his wife.
Many strands are drawn together in this book: the truth of the relationship between Nicholas and Gelis; the confirmation of his divinatory powers which allow him, at moment of stress or forgetfulness, to experience the emotions of another man who won't be born for another fifty years; the introduction of Kathi and Robin; the marriage of Julius.
The ending, however, eludes even Nicholas's genius for planning, and he is set adrift, alone and perhaps unredeemable.
Do have the next volume ready (Caprice and Rondo) as these books are so compulsive!
Another fine addition to an excellent series.
The whole 'war' between Gelis and Nicholas is so underwritten that, even knowing the reasons and outcome as I do, it fails to make much narrative sense. And the sudden revelations that come out at the end feel like they need more space to breath.
En route, the whole Iceland adventure left me cold (ha!). I've never been a fan of this elongated section and while there are attempts to pull it into the story and give it a significance (Kathi, the broken strand in Nicholas' plot) it feels like an add on. There are also tantalising glimpses of action: Julius' strange marriage with its hidden portents, the continued violence of the St. Pol family through all three generations, some lovely set pieces such as the football on the Edinburgh battlements or the ice skating, or Henry's attacks.
But the good character stuff feels thin and interspersed with lots of external action: Zacco, the reappearance of Violante. It's when Dunnett gets into the character work that this springs into life for me: Nicholas and Jodi, the final big confrontation at the end.
But these feel like slim pickings in an epic adventure that seems to almost deliberately displace its own emotional heart. As the echoes of Lymond grow, including now a vision from Checkmate, it's ever clearer that this series only really exists to lead teleologically to that earlier story.
Thanks to the Dunnetteers for your company on this uneven journey!
---------------------------------------------
This is the 6th book of the Niccolo series and these books really must be read in order. After the shock ending of The Unicorn Hunt (The House of Niccolo) , Nicholas is forging a relationship with his son, as well as drawing Gelis, his estranged wife back to him: though the terms of the 'relationship' are a mystery to all their friends.
Drawn to Scotland, Nicholas makes himself indispensable at the young Scottish court, but his machinations there are as opaque even to his colleagues as his relationship with his wife.
Many strands are drawn together in this book: the truth of the relationship between Nicholas and Gelis; the confirmation of his divinatory powers which allow him, at moment of stress or forgetfulness, to experience the emotions of another man who won't be born for another fifty years; the introduction of Kathi and Robin; the marriage of Julius.
The ending, however, eludes even Nicholas's genius for planning, and he is set adrift, alone and perhaps unredeemable.
Do have the next volume ready (Caprice and Rondo) as these books are so compulsive!
Another fine addition to an excellent series.
January 1, 2012
Nicholas, having engineered a signal success against his wife and her ex-lover, is trying to merge his family into a whole under his own wing. His wife wants nothing to do with ending the war between them. In the meantime, he has a business to build, and from Scotland he is reaching out to the valuable fishing of Iceland.
This Iceland tour is some of the best adventure writing I have ever read. Nicholas has youngsters Robin and Katelijne on his ship, and ahead of him in Iceland are two volcanoes building up to blow. The entire section is splendid and nailbiting, with all the dimensions of humanity.
Back in Europe, Nicholas is involved in an attempted rapprochement between Emperor Frederick and Charles the Rash, Duke of Burgundy. At the same time, he could have managed a peace with his wife except that the vengeful Viscount de Riberac strips bare Nicholas's secrets.
TO LIE WITH LIONS is a tour de force of international intrigue fueled by damaged personalities. As of today, it is my favorite historical novel read of the year. At the same time, I am outraged that Gelis should judge Nicholas so harshly after all she has done.
My favorite adventure read of 2011
This Iceland tour is some of the best adventure writing I have ever read. Nicholas has youngsters Robin and Katelijne on his ship, and ahead of him in Iceland are two volcanoes building up to blow. The entire section is splendid and nailbiting, with all the dimensions of humanity.
Back in Europe, Nicholas is involved in an attempted rapprochement between Emperor Frederick and Charles the Rash, Duke of Burgundy. At the same time, he could have managed a peace with his wife except that the vengeful Viscount de Riberac strips bare Nicholas's secrets.
TO LIE WITH LIONS is a tour de force of international intrigue fueled by damaged personalities. As of today, it is my favorite historical novel read of the year. At the same time, I am outraged that Gelis should judge Nicholas so harshly after all she has done.
My favorite adventure read of 2011
August 29, 2011
I thoroughly disliked the book, which was disappointing, especially considering just how much I loved the first few books in this series. The feud between Gelis and Niccolo is one of the stupidest I've ever come across, and the reasons behind it on both their sides felt unconvincing and somewhat repugnant. The characterization is also becoming more unbelievable with every book, what with Niccolo being a naturally gifted genius in just about every field, including the supernatural, and Gelis ping-ponging between brilliance and stupidity as serves the plot -- able to out-guess godly perceptive Niccolo, unable to foresee the direct harm her actions can cause that even a six-year old should be able to figure out. Also, the ending: Niccolo would bend over backwards for those he cares for but is brutal with his enemies (though rarely to the extent of death), and others pay the price for his revenge. Gelis is brutal and sadistic with those she wants/supposedly cares for, and others pay the price. Why in the world does Dunnett expect me to sympathize with Gelis rather than Niccolo? The moral underpinning of this series seems fatally flawed.
Read
April 7, 2016Okay. The Niccolo series and I are taking a break from our relationship. I just can't take it anymore. I am so interested in the relationships that Niccolo has built with the far-flung members of his team over the years, and, of course, with his lady friends. But I just can't take anymore of his beyond-dysfunctional relationship with Gelis. She loves him passionately. She hates him passionately. I don't understand it, and I am tired of trying to figure it out. Another time, perhaps.
May 31, 2022
‘Sometimes, in the stream of such thoughts, he wondered why he was doing what he was doing.’
Summer, 1471. The War of the Roses is part of the background, Lorenzo the Magnificent is de facto ruler of the Florentine Republic and Sixtus IV is elected pope. The sixth book in The House of Niccolò series opens with Nicholas firmly in possession of his son Jordan. While Nicholas and his wife Gelis persist with the war that has occupied them (and us) since the end of the fourth book, they come together (sort of) in Scotland. Nicholas, finally returning to Scotland after an absence of two years, has plans. After staging a Nativity Play for King James at huge expense, Nicholas heads off to Iceland in search of fish. He is not alone. The Vatachino company are also there, as are his rivals, the Adornes.
There is plenty of action and more than a little danger. Katelijne Sersanders and Robin of Berecrofts are part of this adventure as well. Iceland can be beautiful, but she is also very dangerous.
I have read the House of Niccolò series a few times, and each time by this stage I become impatient. While Dunnett’s writing never fails to entrance me, and I am fascinated by the trade, I am tired of the war between Nicholas and Gelis. But there’s a twist at the end which sets up the next part of Nicholas’s journey.
If you enjoy intricately plotted historical fiction, and you have not yet read Dorothy Dunnett’s two series (the eight book House of Niccolò and six book Lymond Chronicles), I can recommend them both. These books are some of the very few that I find even more rewarding on reread.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Summer, 1471. The War of the Roses is part of the background, Lorenzo the Magnificent is de facto ruler of the Florentine Republic and Sixtus IV is elected pope. The sixth book in The House of Niccolò series opens with Nicholas firmly in possession of his son Jordan. While Nicholas and his wife Gelis persist with the war that has occupied them (and us) since the end of the fourth book, they come together (sort of) in Scotland. Nicholas, finally returning to Scotland after an absence of two years, has plans. After staging a Nativity Play for King James at huge expense, Nicholas heads off to Iceland in search of fish. He is not alone. The Vatachino company are also there, as are his rivals, the Adornes.
There is plenty of action and more than a little danger. Katelijne Sersanders and Robin of Berecrofts are part of this adventure as well. Iceland can be beautiful, but she is also very dangerous.
I have read the House of Niccolò series a few times, and each time by this stage I become impatient. While Dunnett’s writing never fails to entrance me, and I am fascinated by the trade, I am tired of the war between Nicholas and Gelis. But there’s a twist at the end which sets up the next part of Nicholas’s journey.
If you enjoy intricately plotted historical fiction, and you have not yet read Dorothy Dunnett’s two series (the eight book House of Niccolò and six book Lymond Chronicles), I can recommend them both. These books are some of the very few that I find even more rewarding on reread.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
December 3, 2011
I don't care for Dunnett's Nicollo series as much as her Lymond series. Nicholas is rather an oaf given to dangerous games, but at last in this fifth book of the series (I keep on reading because Dunnett's use of the English language is thrilling) I'm beginning to see his charms. Dunnett is treating him more softly. I'm more than half way finished (Dec 2, 2011) and this I believe is the least violent of Dunnett's Lymond and Nicollo books -- a plus for me. Her plotting leaves some implausibilities, but one tends to forgive Dunnett any faults for her genius with language and description, and her astonishing wit in threading her plots though strange places. We are now in Iceland, having come from Timbuktu in the previous volume: The Unicorn Hunt (and some dozen other remote locales as well.)
Here is 15th century soccer played on the ramparts and roofs of Edinburgh's castle. Not as brilliant as Lymond's rooftop chase in Queen's Play, but then I feel that the first Lymond books: The Game of Kings and Queen's Play, are worth the 5 and 6 readings I've given them so far, and the thought of rereading them yet again feels like the promise of homecoming.
Here is 15th century soccer played on the ramparts and roofs of Edinburgh's castle. Not as brilliant as Lymond's rooftop chase in Queen's Play, but then I feel that the first Lymond books: The Game of Kings and Queen's Play, are worth the 5 and 6 readings I've given them so far, and the thought of rereading them yet again feels like the promise of homecoming.
July 12, 2012
This series has yet to fully redeem itself from the end of the fourth book. The best part of this book is that the worst part of this series has possibly ended. That being the incredibly annoying, boring, aggravating, and stupid feud between Nicholas and Gelis. These books are generally enjoyable when not having to trudge through that misery of writing. Maybe the final two books will justify the previous two.
November 19, 2010
Absolutely heartbreaking. The Iceland section is just beautiful, and the climax tears at you. And "Banco" (!).
December 9, 2012
No-one could ever accuse Dunnett's work as being an 'easy read'. Blink, miss one line, and you'll be lost.
I adore the way she writes - a rare talent - but be prepared for work.
Loved the story.
I adore the way she writes - a rare talent - but be prepared for work.
Loved the story.
May 8, 2022
So far my least favorite of the series, Iceland notwithstanding. But a mediocre Dorothy Dunnett is better than anything else ever so it still gets five stars. I had to take a six month break after Scales of Gold and The Unicorn Hunt, which absolutely ruined me. But coming back to 75% of the book being about freaking Gelis? I hate Gelis. I hated her with a white hot passion before the end of this book. Now I hate her more, if that's even possible, because what she is doing is so damn petty and stupid. Does it ever occur to her that hurting Nicholas is hurting her own son? I don't think a crueler character has ever been written. I don't think I'm supposed to feel that way about her, though. I doubt the author wrote her to be hated. Too bad. She's the worst. Nicholas even asks her what winning looks like for her. Does she want him dead? That's what if feels like to me. I can tell you, at this point, I'd be perfectly happy to see her dead, I'm so sick of her. And I'm sick of him not giving up on her. At least she had to face the damage she has caused in her search for superiority thanks to Fat Father Jordan. A Nicholas knew the damage he was causing with his Grand Plan. She's just blundering around blindly while the Vatacino tries to kill her husband again and again. She almost died in one of her own traps, but Nicholas had to save her, yet again. I have no idea how this is going to wrap up in only one more book. Nicholas is still only 30 years old and has lost everything he's built, deserted by all his friends except the ever faithful Robin and Kathi, who are apparently just too young to know better. I love Nicholas, in spite of his revengeful nature. If he dies and stupid Gelis lives I will be really, really angry. But I will reread the Lymond series and love Dorothy Dunnett forever, no matter what happens. These books are just genius.
November 17, 2017
Despite the fact that it ends on a sad note, the sixth book of the House of Niccolo was a happier book than the previous one in the series. Nicholas regains a lot of his personal and professional equilibrium at the beginning of the book, which gives him the ability to conduct his affairs with more control, daring, and finesse. It was much more enjoyable to read. One of the highlights of the novel is a magnificent adventure that takes place in Iceland and involves piracy and two erupting volcanos. There are only two books left in the series, and it is clear that the endgame has been set up.
July 22, 2014
Oblique, allusive, the master of showing and not telling, Dunnett is a formidable writer. Only occasionally do I understand the machinations of each character, though I love the action and the characterizations. I did feel the machinery creaking in this one, though, particularly during the adventure in Iceland, filled with erupting volcanoes, walls of fire and marauding bears but serving to advance the plot only a little. The ending is astonishing. How will Niccolo recover from betraying everyone he cares about?
February 9, 2018
Oh, Niccolo...oh, Gelis..why, why?? I don't even know if I like this series, but I'm six books and a gazillion pages into it, and have only (!) two books and a thousand or so pages left. No, of course, I like this series, but as with the Lymond Chronicles, these books are complicated, dense, and full of twists and turns...and sometimes, I have no idea what's going on. And I'm not quite as in love with Niccolo as I was with Lymond. But, doesn't the first one always win your heart?
August 18, 2012
The story was 626 pages of names I couldn't pronounce, and phrases in several 'Non-English' forms. However, as a set of tapes made the 31 1/4 hour read do able. The two prime characters wasted at least five years of their lives. I shot 30+ hours for a tale that I wish had been a short story as the tale wasn't bad. It felt like work.
October 6, 2020
I don't think anyone writes such densely plotted books now and few could do them as well as DD even back in the day. This is another cracking read, late medieval Iceland and Scotland regional politics and the devious but still likeable Niccolo. The complex intertwining of the threads and the vast range of characters outstrips any contemporary writer.
January 16, 2023
Arghhhhhhhh. This was so good, particularly the beginning with Jodi and the Iceland bit and basically all bits with Katelijne and Robin. And all the Henry bits were ghastly and painful. And the victory over Jordan very good. But argh I need Gelis to not be the worst. What the hell. I was so done with her in this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 14, 2011
phew, that was a bit exhausting, especially towards the end. It's also somewhat exhausting to both pity and admire the main character. He's such a perfect anti-hero.
May 28, 2025
After reading this one, I’m lowering my rating on book 5, because I honestly can’t remember most of it? That book was a drag.
I didn’t really feel like I wanted to read number six, but I bought 5, 6 and 7 for €5 in a dusty second-hand bookstore, so I might as well.
2.5 stars
Overall, this book was fine. I didn’t like it as much as the first few installments, but it had enough interesting parts for me to keep reading. (Or maybe I loved the first few books because I was new to the series and the novelty has worn off since the end of book 3)
Some parts were great. The first half of the trip to Iceland had me hooked, it was an old-fashioned nautical race and an adventure to unknown lands. The pages also flew by during brief thing in Veere, I was on the edge of my seat.
Other parts… didn’t grab me. I didn’t get the point of the play, or what Nicholas's grand master plan is about until the last 10 pages, and the plot points that revolved around the divining felt like deus ex machinas, only there because they were convenient. He’s also three-double-spying for the rulers of Burgundy, France and Scotland, which was mildly interesting but I didn’t care enough for any of these factions to get invested in the way they were plotting their war.
I did like how these things were resolved in the end. After being vague for all of book 5, the last 25 page soap opera of this book provided a desperately needed conclusion.
Mainly, I miss when Nicholas was a little shit, proving people wrong left and right. Now, he’s a serious banker. I guess he was being a little shit in secret, but that didn’t do much for the enjoyment of the book overall.
I liked ensemble cast more. Yes, I want to see Julius be petty to Jan Adorne in front of a judgemental priest! Yes I want to know what Gregorio and Margot are doing now that she’s back. I want to know how Kathi is basically a little sibling and how she’ll find a husband she actually likes!
And Gelis. I still think Gelis in an interesting character on her own, but am annoyed by her ‘romance’ with Nicholas. They’re enemies during this book and somehow want to live happily ever after as a married couple as their end goal? Both of them!
I think the book wanted their mutual dislike and competition to be the result of some form of affection and admiration for each other’s genius? A ‘You’re the only one who might be cleverer than me and I enjoy seeing what you’ll do next’ type of thing, with all the political games as a strange courtship to show that no one is on their level. I love that in theory, but the execution didn’t work for me.
I don’t think Nicholas can ever settle with someone he does not respect, (this guy certainly doesn’t trust his own bank colleagues, Marian and Loppe before he became Umar again were probably the only people he trusted in his whole life), and I guess he respects Gelis?
Still, I genuinely doubt whether these two can survive the rest of the marriage?
“This just in: Nicholas de Fleury and Gelis van Borselen share a house for a week, two countries bankrupt, a hundred dead and half an army injured.”
I didn’t really feel like I wanted to read number six, but I bought 5, 6 and 7 for €5 in a dusty second-hand bookstore, so I might as well.
2.5 stars
Overall, this book was fine. I didn’t like it as much as the first few installments, but it had enough interesting parts for me to keep reading. (Or maybe I loved the first few books because I was new to the series and the novelty has worn off since the end of book 3)
Some parts were great. The first half of the trip to Iceland had me hooked, it was an old-fashioned nautical race and an adventure to unknown lands. The pages also flew by during brief thing in Veere, I was on the edge of my seat.
Other parts… didn’t grab me. I didn’t get the point of the play, or what Nicholas's grand master plan is about until the last 10 pages, and the plot points that revolved around the divining felt like deus ex machinas, only there because they were convenient. He’s also three-double-spying for the rulers of Burgundy, France and Scotland, which was mildly interesting but I didn’t care enough for any of these factions to get invested in the way they were plotting their war.
I did like how these things were resolved in the end. After being vague for all of book 5, the last 25 page soap opera of this book provided a desperately needed conclusion.
Mainly, I miss when Nicholas was a little shit, proving people wrong left and right. Now, he’s a serious banker. I guess he was being a little shit in secret, but that didn’t do much for the enjoyment of the book overall.
I liked ensemble cast more. Yes, I want to see Julius be petty to Jan Adorne in front of a judgemental priest! Yes I want to know what Gregorio and Margot are doing now that she’s back. I want to know how Kathi is basically a little sibling and how she’ll find a husband she actually likes!
And Gelis. I still think Gelis in an interesting character on her own, but am annoyed by her ‘romance’ with Nicholas. They’re enemies during this book and somehow want to live happily ever after as a married couple as their end goal? Both of them!
I think the book wanted their mutual dislike and competition to be the result of some form of affection and admiration for each other’s genius? A ‘You’re the only one who might be cleverer than me and I enjoy seeing what you’ll do next’ type of thing, with all the political games as a strange courtship to show that no one is on their level. I love that in theory, but the execution didn’t work for me.
I don’t think Nicholas can ever settle with someone he does not respect, (this guy certainly doesn’t trust his own bank colleagues, Marian and Loppe before he became Umar again were probably the only people he trusted in his whole life), and I guess he respects Gelis?
Still, I genuinely doubt whether these two can survive the rest of the marriage?
“This just in: Nicholas de Fleury and Gelis van Borselen share a house for a week, two countries bankrupt, a hundred dead and half an army injured.”
February 18, 2018
The quality of writing, attention to detail, and historical accuracy are superb, as ever. The scenes in Iceland were as striking as her portrayal of Africa in book four. A few new, heartbreaking secrets are revealed, and Nicholas is apparently suffering a grander-scale need to flex his sociopathic potential. His omniscience is wearing a little thin, and his character development is wobbling like a compass near a magnet (would he really hurt so many innocent people at this stage? I’m not sure I buy it), but overall this was still a fantastic read.
With one major caveat: I remain utterly annoyed by how flawed the Nicholas-Gelis arc is. It just doesn’t work. Their great “war” is lacking in consistent motivation on the part of Gelis, and though they talk a lot about “war” and “winning”, there isn’t much action or even specificity paired to it—or even what they are fighting for or why these tactics are worth pursuing. Why we are supposed to think this “war” is interesting is beyond me, and why Gelis thinks she had any moral high ground is also incomprehensible—she is despicable. I find her to be not a flawed but a failed character—Dunnett is usually so adept with the good and bad of a character, but I feel she either has no clear sense of this character herself, or has completely failed to portray whatever idea of a realistically complex woman she had in mind. It’s a shame, and the series suffers for it.
With one major caveat: I remain utterly annoyed by how flawed the Nicholas-Gelis arc is. It just doesn’t work. Their great “war” is lacking in consistent motivation on the part of Gelis, and though they talk a lot about “war” and “winning”, there isn’t much action or even specificity paired to it—or even what they are fighting for or why these tactics are worth pursuing. Why we are supposed to think this “war” is interesting is beyond me, and why Gelis thinks she had any moral high ground is also incomprehensible—she is despicable. I find her to be not a flawed but a failed character—Dunnett is usually so adept with the good and bad of a character, but I feel she either has no clear sense of this character herself, or has completely failed to portray whatever idea of a realistically complex woman she had in mind. It’s a shame, and the series suffers for it.
July 11, 2024
It was the paperback edition crossing the counter when I was working in a bookshop in 1995 that caught my eye and brought my attention to the Niccolo series, prompting me to order the other books in the series and the Lymond books, which were in the process of being reprinted. Through a series of amazing set-pieces - football with royalty on a castle roof, a Nativity play, a volcanic explosion in Iceland and the dazzling excess of a conference between the Duke of Burgundy and the Holy Roman Emperor, Niccolo brings the plans initiated and then delayed in The Unicorn Hunt to their final fruition as part of his contest with his wife and his feud with his family and as part of the exercise of his own brilliance unfettered by morality or ethics. The intricacy of story, the wide-ranging historic settings and incidents, the small army of supporting and antagonising characters, the razor-sharp wit of the writing turns what could be a daunting read into an exhilarating thrill-ride, cumlinating in a showdown that strips all illusions from the main characters, his friends, family and entranced readers alike.
January 4, 2014
I think I have Dunnett-addiction fatigue. She is very skilled at cliffhangers which resolve the primary episode of the book but leave the most important questions about the main characters unresolved. Normally I rate her books higher (I think) but this one had a lot of divining (I signed on to read historical fiction, not fantasy!) and a plot that didn't really make much sense until the end. On the plus side, as far as I recall only one major character from the series dies, and that person is someone I never really liked very much anyway.
If the conclusion to the entire series is as dissatisfying as the conclusion to each novel thus far I am going to be Super Peeved!!! and rue the day I picked up the first one in the (now-closed) Book Exchange of Durham, NC fourteen years ago.
If the conclusion to the entire series is as dissatisfying as the conclusion to each novel thus far I am going to be Super Peeved!!! and rue the day I picked up the first one in the (now-closed) Book Exchange of Durham, NC fourteen years ago.
January 15, 2017
Our feline like hero has once again shed another of his nine lives, though I think given the miscreants against him, he lost one and a half lives. Two and a half lives left after six books; two more books to go. I'll review the complete series when I'm done.
15th century Europe and The Levant.
The stars show four, but I'd like to call it four and a half stars. Lots of characters and places to get straight.
Onto book seven:
Caprice and Rondo
15th century Europe and The Levant.
The stars show four, but I'd like to call it four and a half stars. Lots of characters and places to get straight.
Onto book seven:
Caprice and Rondo
December 1, 2018
Good gravy, these books are exasperating! Surely the feud between Gelis and Niccolo cannot last for another 600 pages--OH BUT YES IT CAN. The motives behind it are too vague for me to buy the scope of their conflict, so it just comes off as petty and gross.
And yet, and yet, and yet, these books are so gloriously challenging and intelligent that they make all regular literature seem insipid by comparison. I am in love with the characterization, the cleverness, the poignancy--and I really liked the bit in Iceland, for perhaps unsurprising reasons.
I of course dove straight into book 7, but I don't yet own book 8. I realize my peril. I've read enough Dunnett novels to know that I'd be an idiot to finish 7 without already having 8 in my possession. Time to go shopping...
And yet, and yet, and yet, these books are so gloriously challenging and intelligent that they make all regular literature seem insipid by comparison. I am in love with the characterization, the cleverness, the poignancy--and I really liked the bit in Iceland, for perhaps unsurprising reasons.
I of course dove straight into book 7, but I don't yet own book 8. I realize my peril. I've read enough Dunnett novels to know that I'd be an idiot to finish 7 without already having 8 in my possession. Time to go shopping...
February 19, 2019
I own the entire Niccolo series and am currently on the 6th of 8 books, although I have listed all 8 and rated them 5 stars in my profile. I LOVE this series. The best historical fiction I have ever read. These books are so vibrant, featuring vivid, real, and lovable/detestable characters, illuminating detail and history, and the whirlwind of a trip around the (Western) world-that-was in the 15th century. These books transport me, and I love them so much that I am dreading turning the last page of the eighth book. I will mourn.
July 23, 2011
c1995. This book was just depressing. If you are looking for an eventual happy ending - this is not the series for you. Plans within schemes within plots! I had a hard job making sense of everything and eventually despite having read the prior 5 books - I ended up not liking either Nicholas or Gelis. Because of that, I feel somewhat cheated! This is a bit of a chunkster as well at 626 pages. "But a family tree is a salad of many herbs".
May 16, 2010
The book starts with a husband kidnapping his two-year-old son from his wife after his wife hid the child from his father. Certainly not a love story. The "war" between the parents is silly. Although the book travels over a few years and many countries, the characters are just not very likable,resulting in an unsatisfactory read.
September 8, 2012
Nicholas is one of the most complex characters in fiction. There is simply nothing predictable in the plots of these books. The historical detail is incredible. One cannot read them quickly because of the intricacies but then when one ends you find yourself wanting to immediately start the next one...
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