Dunnett, Dorothy - Niccolo Rising

[oyceter]

The short review: Dunnett! I had forgotten how much I loved you and your labyrinthe prose, insane plotting, high angst, and random funny animal bits. Dunnett being Dunnett, I feel it may even be slightly spoilery revealing who exactly Niccolo is, as he doesn't really show up for a good chunk of the book.

Thankfully, despite everyone in the book being fairly multilingual, all the dialogue is transcribed in English. This one thing already made the book much easier to understand, particularly when compared to the Lymond chronicles.

The other thing is that the hero is much, much less labyrinthe and fucked-up than Lymond, though really, that's not very difficult. I think pretty much everyone is less labyrinthe and fucked-up than Lymond. The strange thing is, I found that I actually quite liked Niccolo, which I wasn't expecting at all. I thought I'd admire him and be amused by his angst and woe, but he seems to be a genuinely nice person who tries to do good. How fresh! How astonishing! ;)

Also, there is an ostrich.

Spoilers for the book

I have to admit, I have pretty much no idea as to what happened in the plot. I think the entire thing, from the boat incident on, was part of some insanely elaborate and grandiose scheme that Nicholas had constructed, but I will take Dunnett's word on that.

Also, !!! to the revelation of Nicholas' paternity, along with the entire thing with Katelina. I feel rather sorry for her, as Simon is nasty. And good lord, that makes the St. Pol bloodline and succession rather complicated, doesn't it?

I am slightly weirded out by Nicholas and Marian getting married. On the one hand, yay for older women. On the other hand... twenty year age gap, Nicholas being raised as a child in her family, near-incest squick!

I feel obliged to ask: are there any cool women who get to do a lot? Katelina was ok, as is Marian, but they don't do too much.

In conclusion: Ostrich!

Links:
- riemannia's collection of Niccolo posts
- tenemet's review

Comments

[cofax7]

I think the entire thing, from the boat incident on, was part of some insanely elaborate and grandiose scheme that Nicholas had constructed

Yes.

It may help to learn that Dunnett wanted, in Niccolo, to examine a character who was not yet the finished man-about-Renaissance that Lymond is. (Which is not to state that he becomes Lymond, because he doesn't.)

And good lord, that makes the St. Pol bloodline and succession rather complicated, doesn't it?

Yes, rather. And you will recall that Dunnett puts a lot of emphasis on such things, even when, as here, the character has no legal standing with regards to bloodline and succession.

I feel obliged to ask: are there any cool women who get to do a lot? Katelina was ok, as is Marian, but they don't do too much.

Yes, a few. There are several unpleasant women, one unpleasant woman who becomes awesome and then becomes unpleasant again, one cool woman who remains cool and interesting for her entire tenure, and a lot of scheming political women. However you must keep in mind the time period; very few of the women have anywhere near the kind of freedom and agency you'd want for them.

If it's possible, I found Niccolo even more difficult to parse than Lymond, and to this day I'm not entirely sure what I think of him. I don't actually like the character as much, even though much of the writing is far more accessible than it is in the Lymond Chronicles. But Your Beagles May Vary.

[oyceter]

I know, I was thinking that Dunnett was very obsessed into paternity and bloodlines and etc.

Hrm. Scheming political women sounds promising. I am ok with women acting within the constrictions of their time period, but I feel like Dunnett tends to emphasize the men instead of the women.

I am ok with Niccolo so far, but it sounds like that may change in the future....

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I liked Niccolo until I felt he showed signs of becoming Lymond-like, which sadly is about the time the interesting women show up. (Although I am very fond of Marian, actually.) I got so annoyed I still haven't read the last three or four books.

[oyceter]

Yay interesting women! I am hoping that Marian gets more pages.

Right now, I like Niccolo because he isn't Lymond-like, so I am a little sad that he may get Lymond-esque. Though he is already showing some signs of that...

[cofax7]

Well, if it helps at all, Niccolo is significantly less successful than Lymond is, at a great number of things. Not less ambitious, mind you, but far more prone to Fucking. Things. Up. Although one is obliged to read carefully to determine that, indeed, the results were not the ones he was aiming for. (Like I said: harder to parse, even when you get his pov, which you do rather more frequently than you do Lymond's.)

[oyceter]

Although one is obliged to read carefully to determine that, indeed, the results were not the ones he was aiming for.

Hee! So true, at least so far.

[riemannia.livejournal.com]

Someone is reading and blogging Niccolo! Yay!

I liked Niccolo the person a great deal more than Lymond, and I still liked Lymond. I found Niccolo much warmer and more accessible. Even if he does get Lymondized to some extent, though not permanently.

As for the women in this series. Sigh. I really struggled with more than one of them. Although there is one delightful woman who won't show up for a while.

I, too, struggled to follow the plot and understand it much less well than Lymond because I've read Lymond twice. One day, I will reread Niccolo.

But, thank you for blogging this!

[oyceter]

Oh good, you have read Niccolo! I really do like Niccolo the person quite a bit, which I wasn't expecting at all. Though now that I'm in the second book, I find myself rather puzzled by a few things about him, but that will wait for a later post.

Someday, I will reread Lymond and it will make so much more sense!

[riemannia.livejournal.com]

It was actually reading Niccolo that inspired me to reread Lymond. Though before I read Niccolo again, I want to get my hands on the companion books.

Talk about layers.