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Jun. 12th, 2009 01:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsOkay, so Dorothy Dunnett and me, we have a History.
We met in a library when I was fifteen, and - as you do, when you are fifteen - I fell into a great and probably unhealthy passion, specifically with the Lymond Chronicles. Thoroughly researched labyrinthine Renaissance politics! Sparkling banter and elaborate twisty prose! Ridiculously brilliant and tortured super-geniuses whose bucketloads of angst were so truly epic that they could only be alluded to through literary quotations, often in other languages! Tragic games of human chess! This was basically like porn to my teenaged self.
. . . and okay, I will sheepishly admit, is still quite a bit like porn to me now, although these days I am significantly more able to take a step back and laugh at some of the more melodramatic bits. But my pure and true fifteen-year-old Dunnett-love is far too great to ever put it behind me, and every so often I need to go back and get my fix.
Last time around was midway through college, with a reread of the Lymond books; this time, I decided it was time to give the Niccolo books another shot, which I never quite imprinted on the way I did the Lymond books. They're a bit more difficult, I think, and a lot less straightforward action porn-y - instead of dramatic political scheming, the Niccolo books also involve a lot of economic and trade scheming, which I find harder to follow. On the other hand, Lymond as a character creates great inner discord in me, because my adult self is like "oh good LORD, superhuman superwitty super angsty golden god, HAVE A NORMAL CONVERSATION EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE" while my inner fifteen-year-old is happily doodling "Lymond x Philippa and Danny x Becca 4EVER! <33333!" all over her mental notebook, and then there are bitchfights in my soul and it is all very awkward. But I did not crush on Niccolo as a kid, and - as I have discovered from a reread of Niccolo Rising - we get inside Niccolo's head a lot more than we do Lymond's, and see him screwing up a lot more, which makes him a lot less frustrating to me. And Dorothy Dunnett's gorgeous prose and her dry, sly humor, and occasional madcap ostrich chases through Bruges, are still kind of like porn to me. As it happens. So.
- what, you want a plot summary? Okay, here it is: at first, our protagonist looks a lot like a manic bastard child of Carrot Ironfoundersson and the Tenth Doctor, dropped into fifteenth-century Bruges to cause havoc. Then you start to figure out that actually, Niccolo is the bastard child of Carrot Ironfoundersson and Kyouya Ohtori.
Does that terrify you? IT SHOULD.
Basically Niccolo Rising is a book about Renaissance economic pwnage and the growth of a merchant empire, which of necessity also involves mercenaries, the Medici, and assassinations, and, because it is Dorothy Dunnett, also involves near-incestuous family relations, various degrees of severe emotional damage, and a lot of legitimately hilarious hijinks and caustic mockery of people's silly hats. Also it is educational! I suspect I have learned more about Renaissance politics from Dorothy Dunnett than I ever did from a textbook. I am for the most part very much looking forward to a leisurely reread through the rest of the series, and I am excited for the eventual introduction of the bitter revenge-driven heroine and the hatesex! o/ (Although I am faintly dreading the one set in Africa. :\)
We met in a library when I was fifteen, and - as you do, when you are fifteen - I fell into a great and probably unhealthy passion, specifically with the Lymond Chronicles. Thoroughly researched labyrinthine Renaissance politics! Sparkling banter and elaborate twisty prose! Ridiculously brilliant and tortured super-geniuses whose bucketloads of angst were so truly epic that they could only be alluded to through literary quotations, often in other languages! Tragic games of human chess! This was basically like porn to my teenaged self.
. . . and okay, I will sheepishly admit, is still quite a bit like porn to me now, although these days I am significantly more able to take a step back and laugh at some of the more melodramatic bits. But my pure and true fifteen-year-old Dunnett-love is far too great to ever put it behind me, and every so often I need to go back and get my fix.
Last time around was midway through college, with a reread of the Lymond books; this time, I decided it was time to give the Niccolo books another shot, which I never quite imprinted on the way I did the Lymond books. They're a bit more difficult, I think, and a lot less straightforward action porn-y - instead of dramatic political scheming, the Niccolo books also involve a lot of economic and trade scheming, which I find harder to follow. On the other hand, Lymond as a character creates great inner discord in me, because my adult self is like "oh good LORD, superhuman superwitty super angsty golden god, HAVE A NORMAL CONVERSATION EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE" while my inner fifteen-year-old is happily doodling "Lymond x Philippa and Danny x Becca 4EVER! <33333!" all over her mental notebook, and then there are bitchfights in my soul and it is all very awkward. But I did not crush on Niccolo as a kid, and - as I have discovered from a reread of Niccolo Rising - we get inside Niccolo's head a lot more than we do Lymond's, and see him screwing up a lot more, which makes him a lot less frustrating to me. And Dorothy Dunnett's gorgeous prose and her dry, sly humor, and occasional madcap ostrich chases through Bruges, are still kind of like porn to me. As it happens. So.
- what, you want a plot summary? Okay, here it is: at first, our protagonist looks a lot like a manic bastard child of Carrot Ironfoundersson and the Tenth Doctor, dropped into fifteenth-century Bruges to cause havoc. Then you start to figure out that actually, Niccolo is the bastard child of Carrot Ironfoundersson and Kyouya Ohtori.
Does that terrify you? IT SHOULD.
Basically Niccolo Rising is a book about Renaissance economic pwnage and the growth of a merchant empire, which of necessity also involves mercenaries, the Medici, and assassinations, and, because it is Dorothy Dunnett, also involves near-incestuous family relations, various degrees of severe emotional damage, and a lot of legitimately hilarious hijinks and caustic mockery of people's silly hats. Also it is educational! I suspect I have learned more about Renaissance politics from Dorothy Dunnett than I ever did from a textbook. I am for the most part very much looking forward to a leisurely reread through the rest of the series, and I am excited for the eventual introduction of the bitter revenge-driven heroine and the hatesex! o/ (Although I am faintly dreading the one set in Africa. :\)
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Date: 2009-06-12 05:50 pm (UTC)Because your protagonist summary is making me go like this: *___* only with sparkles.
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Date: 2009-06-12 05:56 pm (UTC)The book is lendable.no subject
Date: 2009-06-12 06:13 pm (UTC)...Extra. >.>no subject
Date: 2009-06-12 06:17 pm (UTC)It's a good research model! :Dno subject
Date: 2009-06-12 07:42 pm (UTC)BUT I STILL HATE YOU OKAY.
Furcifer. *sulky*no subject
Date: 2009-06-12 07:51 pm (UTC)Furcifera, if you please! *serene*no subject
Date: 2009-06-12 06:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-12 06:07 pm (UTC)Um, how do you feel about really dense piles of quotations in strange languages? The first Lymond book has a lot of these, the first Niccolo book barely any, and I have seen people cite that as a reason that it is difficult for them to get into Lymond at first. It is a 'you have to get through the first 150 pages before you are hooked' thing. (Though this was not the case with me, I was hooked from the start.)
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Date: 2009-06-12 06:51 pm (UTC)Haha, oh man, I'll definitely have to check these out. I remember hearing about Dorothy Dunnett because she wrote a Macbeth story, and then I never picked up one of her books, but now I'll have to, after this review.
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Date: 2009-06-12 06:57 pm (UTC)ANYWAY Dorothy Dunnett is really fun to read and I always encourage checking her out!
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Date: 2009-06-12 07:10 pm (UTC)I'm kind of torn on which one I like better since they're so different and I keep wincing at Jacky since I want her to be well but its always this sense of I can see disaster coming. Oh and she and Jamie are adorable, messed up teens.
Also now I kind of want to reread Dunnett since I also imprinted on Lymond so much and had trouble with Niccolo. I think I might have been too young also to be fully pulled into the economic plotting.
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Date: 2009-06-12 07:17 pm (UTC)I love Jacky so much, not least because of the amount of times she screws up! And Jamie is so the Wellard of the books, which makes me want to pat his head a lot.
Yeah, Niccolo was harder for me when I was younger, and I think for me it's definitely rewarding the reread . . . partly because it's easier to appreciate the economic plotting, and partly because I appreciate the slightly less flashy Niccolo a lot more now, and partly just because because the books in general are a lot easier on a second read when you have a faint idea from the start what on Earth is going on and are not sitting there going "alum? ostriches? what? wait - what?"
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Date: 2009-06-12 07:23 pm (UTC)I would so love to see Jacky and Jamie in the Bar since the snark and teasing and hormones just makes me giggle. She's just such a great character who goes between thinking she's so clever to going oh well, now I'm going to hang. It reminds me a lot of Will since he has those moments of I can do this and then oh god I'm just a peasant.
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Date: 2009-06-12 07:28 pm (UTC)I won't lie, if I wasn't already playing HB-Jamie, I would totally have apped Jacky Faber a year or two ago. But, uh, as it is the last thing I need is another smug first-person teenaged scoundrel.
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Date: 2009-06-12 07:31 pm (UTC)I adore Robert Graves since he is so good at getting inside the past. Heh, oh yes I can see that, both of them in your head would be a little nuts.
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Date: 2009-06-12 08:00 pm (UTC)Now I want to reread the Claudius books! But I don't get to do that until after the Niccolo books.
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Date: 2009-06-12 07:50 pm (UTC)What's really funny to me is sort of figuring out a chart of obvious influences on Dunnett (Dorothy Sayers, the life of T.E. Lawrence)---> Dunnett---> people Dunnett has obviously influenced (Mary Doria Russell, omg). The common element is hard to explain, but incredibly clear.
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Date: 2009-06-12 07:58 pm (UTC)I also think I'll appreciate [spoiler - I don't know how far you got in them?] more as a heroine now that I'm older and increasingly fond of angry women and complex semi-antagonistic relationships! Not that I don't still love Philippa of course, because I do -as a character she holds up a lot better than Francis Crawford (and I also still love Francis Crawford! Just in a slightly embarrassed and occasionally eyerolly way.)
Oh man, you are so right, it is hilarious how DD is like the centerpoint of five million influences. Orczy -----> Sayers ----> Dunnett ------> Russell, Bujold, Megan Whalen Turner, Guy Gavriel Kay, SO MANY PEOPLE. I love it when I can pick up a book and go, "sir/ma'am, you have obviously been reading your Lymond!"
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Date: 2009-06-12 09:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-12 09:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-12 09:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-13 02:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-12 11:05 pm (UTC)Totally unrelated, except that it is book-related: have you read any of the Liaden universe books by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller?
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Date: 2009-06-13 02:23 am (UTC)Also, I have not, I think, but the name sounds vaguely familiar . . . give me a few more details?
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Date: 2009-06-14 07:16 pm (UTC)