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Sep. 1st, 2010 11:26 amFirst things first: this should go without saying and I don't think I really need to repeat it for any of you, but please don't link or repost anything that's under lock. You can feel free to link/repost things that are public, such as book reviews (and most things are public! I'm not a very secretive person) but please don't do so in any way that would connect them with my last name. Some people in the world don't need to know how much of my life I've spent photoshopping terrible fake romance novel covers.
Back to regularly scheduled booklogging: with Caprice and Rondo and Gemini, I've officially finished my reread of Dunnett's House of Niccolo books.
So here's the thing about Dorothy Dunnett - and bear in mind, I say all this with love, because I will never not love Dunnett's books; it's an addiction. But the thing is that Dunnett's specialty is intelligent, extremely angsty sagas that center on a complex, brilliant, enigmatic character. And somehow, she manages to pull it off so that the incredibly-researched historical detail is 99% accurate, many major historical events go down and important personages appear and play major roles, and yet almost the entire world still revolves around her main character. I can count on the fingers of one hand the time that people in the Niccolo books talk about something other than Nicholas. Nicholas talks about things that aren't himself, which is how the plot moves forward. Everyone else is Nicholas-obsessed: even apparently completely disconnected persons go out of their way to discover what he's thinking, what he's feeling, what is the secret manpain of his past, is he actually a good person or not. The same is true for the Lymond books. Various characters could go off and have their own lives, and stay in touch with Nicholas or Lymond the ordinary way, with postcards at Christmas. And sometimes they do! But even then, the moment Nicholas or Lymond reappears in their lives, they are perfectly willing to rearrange all their plans to re-center them on the Dunnett protagonist, and it seems perfectly natural because everyone in the world is obsessed with aforementioned protagonist anyway. And that's not even talking about how fixated the villains are.
( Quick Niccolo and Lymond spoilers. )
This is probably why Danny Hislop is my favorite Dunnett character - he at least cheerfully admits that the reason he follows Lymond around is sheer voyeuristic fascination and lulz. Danny's interactions with the Crawfords tend to be along the lines of "You people and your drama and incest and angst, it's better than a soap opera! I love it!" Which is, as far as I'm concerned, exactly the correct reaction, and I find this much more identifiable than the rest of the world's overwhelming concern for the state of Nicholas and Lymond's souls.
This is also, I think, the reason I so love Nicholas' love interest.( Passionate spoilery defense of a controversial lady below! )
Back to regularly scheduled booklogging: with Caprice and Rondo and Gemini, I've officially finished my reread of Dunnett's House of Niccolo books.
So here's the thing about Dorothy Dunnett - and bear in mind, I say all this with love, because I will never not love Dunnett's books; it's an addiction. But the thing is that Dunnett's specialty is intelligent, extremely angsty sagas that center on a complex, brilliant, enigmatic character. And somehow, she manages to pull it off so that the incredibly-researched historical detail is 99% accurate, many major historical events go down and important personages appear and play major roles, and yet almost the entire world still revolves around her main character. I can count on the fingers of one hand the time that people in the Niccolo books talk about something other than Nicholas. Nicholas talks about things that aren't himself, which is how the plot moves forward. Everyone else is Nicholas-obsessed: even apparently completely disconnected persons go out of their way to discover what he's thinking, what he's feeling, what is the secret manpain of his past, is he actually a good person or not. The same is true for the Lymond books. Various characters could go off and have their own lives, and stay in touch with Nicholas or Lymond the ordinary way, with postcards at Christmas. And sometimes they do! But even then, the moment Nicholas or Lymond reappears in their lives, they are perfectly willing to rearrange all their plans to re-center them on the Dunnett protagonist, and it seems perfectly natural because everyone in the world is obsessed with aforementioned protagonist anyway. And that's not even talking about how fixated the villains are.
( Quick Niccolo and Lymond spoilers. )This is probably why Danny Hislop is my favorite Dunnett character - he at least cheerfully admits that the reason he follows Lymond around is sheer voyeuristic fascination and lulz. Danny's interactions with the Crawfords tend to be along the lines of "You people and your drama and incest and angst, it's better than a soap opera! I love it!" Which is, as far as I'm concerned, exactly the correct reaction, and I find this much more identifiable than the rest of the world's overwhelming concern for the state of Nicholas and Lymond's souls.
This is also, I think, the reason I so love Nicholas' love interest.
( Passionate spoilery defense of a controversial lady below! )
