Catching up on my reading
I had flu last week, which was incredibly annoying (especially as I had to soldier on working at home for the 1st three days because we had a software release to get out which I had put stacks of works into the website for and I couldn't bear to let anyone else mess up in my absence), but it did mean I got to spend Thursday in bed with Gemini, the final volume of the House of Niccolo series by Dorothy Dunnett.
For those of you who have managed to miss me raving about this series, it's a historical saga following the fortunes of Niccolo and his friends, family, and enemies, as he trades, plots and schemes his way through 20 odd years of political upheaval across Europe (mostly), in the second half of the 15th Century. It's something of an obsession in the Turret - spawning our choice of Bruges as honeymoon destination so we could visit locations from the story, which begins there, and inspiring the much-missed 7th Sea game.
You know a series is good when you finish it and immediately want to start reading it over to spot all the bits you missed without the aid of hindsight. It really is something of a masterpiece, I would wonder why it isn't more famous except I think I can guess. She doesn't make any effort to spoon-feed her audience - they are written from a very particular point of view so you mostly don't get to see inside the characters heads, allowing them to keep their secrets until the big reveals. The main character is something of a genius and she never tries to make his plotting easier to follow, although it usually makes sense by the end. But the other reason is probably that a major theme is how far the shadow of one man's inappropriate lusts can fall and whether your childhood defines who you are as a adult, or whether overcoming abuse is possible and a matter of nature or nurture. And the answers aren't all the easy ones, some of the characters are only ever victims... She has a real talent for writing very human characters though, some of them appear to be pantomime villains at times but it never lasts. By the time it comes to it, you feel a pang when anyone dies, even if you thought you'd celebrate beforehand. Having said all that, she also has a talent for describing physical comedies of errors, some of the set pieces are side-achingly funny, so it's not all heavy emotional stuff.
Anyway, much recommended if you like a good twisty historical saga to get your teeth into. And I now know how it connects to her other historical series, the Lymond Chronicles, so they are on my to-read list next. Well, when I track down copies anyway.
What I'm actually reading at the moment is 'The Lies of Locke Lamorra' by Scott Lynch, a rather delightful fantasy about gentleman con artists set in a city somewhat reminiscent of medieval Venice.
For those of you who have managed to miss me raving about this series, it's a historical saga following the fortunes of Niccolo and his friends, family, and enemies, as he trades, plots and schemes his way through 20 odd years of political upheaval across Europe (mostly), in the second half of the 15th Century. It's something of an obsession in the Turret - spawning our choice of Bruges as honeymoon destination so we could visit locations from the story, which begins there, and inspiring the much-missed 7th Sea game.
You know a series is good when you finish it and immediately want to start reading it over to spot all the bits you missed without the aid of hindsight. It really is something of a masterpiece, I would wonder why it isn't more famous except I think I can guess. She doesn't make any effort to spoon-feed her audience - they are written from a very particular point of view so you mostly don't get to see inside the characters heads, allowing them to keep their secrets until the big reveals. The main character is something of a genius and she never tries to make his plotting easier to follow, although it usually makes sense by the end. But the other reason is probably that a major theme is how far the shadow of one man's inappropriate lusts can fall and whether your childhood defines who you are as a adult, or whether overcoming abuse is possible and a matter of nature or nurture. And the answers aren't all the easy ones, some of the characters are only ever victims... She has a real talent for writing very human characters though, some of them appear to be pantomime villains at times but it never lasts. By the time it comes to it, you feel a pang when anyone dies, even if you thought you'd celebrate beforehand. Having said all that, she also has a talent for describing physical comedies of errors, some of the set pieces are side-achingly funny, so it's not all heavy emotional stuff.
Anyway, much recommended if you like a good twisty historical saga to get your teeth into. And I now know how it connects to her other historical series, the Lymond Chronicles, so they are on my to-read list next. Well, when I track down copies anyway.
What I'm actually reading at the moment is 'The Lies of Locke Lamorra' by Scott Lynch, a rather delightful fantasy about gentleman con artists set in a city somewhat reminiscent of medieval Venice.