Avail Yourself Caprice And Rondo (The House Of Niccolo, #7) Put Together By Dorothy Dunnett Distributed In Hardcover

just this minute finished Caprice and Rondo, and all I want to do is run upstairs to my bookshelf and grab theth and final book of the series, Gemini, and keep on reading.


C and R was actually the MOST exciting of the books yet, Nicholas finds himself maneuvering against a hidden enemy, someone who is not what they seem, . . someone who endangers his whole family and everyone he loves, Nicholas also learns some secrets about how he was separated from his family, the de Fleury's, that help him make sense of his early life.
The action is nonstop. And the ending left me breathless, I also appreciated the romantic rapprochement between Nicholas and his wife, Gelis, . . SO long in coming.

Onward to Gemini, Nicholas redeemed. I did see the Anna bit coming, but that just added to the suspense, And the ending oh, goodness. Niccolo gets to Poland, Persia, and Russia in this installment of his travels throughout the known world of theth century,

edit: What do you do when you've lost everything Debauchery proves unsustainable Nicholas tries amends, People from his past scheme to use him for their own purposes: Benecke, Julius and his mysterious wife Anna, Ludovico, Acciajuoli, . . The two wars, Duke v King and Western Civilization v Ottomans, wreak danger, death, and destruction, Nicholas and Gelis grow up a little, His troublesome murderous relatives continue to cause trouble, The stage is set for tying up all the loose ends, right up to the last page of the last book,

I'm finishing up this reread as the final season of Game of Thrones wraps up, Dunnett and Martin are both masters of their art, showing us the world and the complicated people who live in it, through the lens of fiction.
So hard, to make us care so much using just words on a page, I'm in awe of their talent, Firstly, do not read this if you haven't read the previousvolumes in this series: they really do matter,

Following the shocking revelations of Nicholas' plans at the end of To Lie with Lions, Nicholas has been exiled both emotionally and physically from his family and company.
Gelis takes his place, trying to make reparation for what he has done, and hold the company together,

Adrift, emotionally scarred and unsure what to do with his life, Nicholas drifts to Poland in vague pursuit of his missing gold, only to get caught up in the increasing drama of Julius' marriage to the enigmatic Anna.
And while he is away, Tobie and Gelis start to unravel some of the hidden secrets of his birth and childhood,

I have to say that I've never been as great a fan of the Niccolo series as I am of Dunnett's Lymond books, but rereading them now I do think that they're much subtler and more intricate works.
Dense, resonant, complicated and somehow maturer, they're never an easy read but always a riveting one, Here Nicholas reaches his lates and finally by the end becomes an adult, I don't want to spoil the plot for any new readers but the last part of this book is one of the highpoints, in my view, of Dunnett's writing.
And the deliberate intertextual links with the Lymond series just add emotional depth to an already moving story, Very highly recommended, but do make sure you have the time to give this the space it needs, Maybe my favorite of the series, Nicholas is such a fascinating character, It was so satisfying to see him mature as an individual, and finally begin to realize the kind of relationships that he has always had/needed.
It has been hard to watch such an incredibly gifted character exemplify such selfdestruction, through undisciplined mania, I'm so excited to jump into the next and final installment of the series, Still working my way through these eight Dunnett novels, They're very well written and I'm liking them better as I go along, I got bogged down around books three and four, just hating the characters and getting irritated with the convoluted plots and abundance of foreign language quotes that are never explained.
But now, reading book seven, I am more in the swing of the style and have seen enough redeeming qualities in the main characters that I'm no longer hating them.

I do have to say that certain plot devices are becoming rote, Whenever the hero is wandering alone on any street or path the reader immediately knows he's going to be mugged, . . in somewhat gory detail. Deception is also so common place in these books that readers become dulled by it, rather than surprised, He had not known, until recently, that love could exist in so many different forms,

Januaryfinds Nicholas de Fleury in Danzig, There are consequences from his vengeance in Scotland and Nicholas is in hiding, But Nicholas is not the only person at risk, and his need to protect

those he feels responsible for including his estranged wife Gelis, their son Jodi, and many of his friends and associates, means that he is soon on the move.
There is also a possibility that he may be able to recover the gold which was stolen from him in Cyprus,

Nicholas de Fleury is a fascinating and complex hero, and fifteenth century Europe provides a fascinating historical and cultural backdrop for his endeavours and adventures.
While some of the action takes place in Western Europe, Nicholas travels to Russia and beyond, But then he returns, to face all manner of truths,

Three things make this series special for me: the larger than life character of Nicholas de Fleury himself the way the fictional characters are inserted into history and the way that the history itself comes to life off the pages.


This is the seventh volume in the House of Niccolo series, and to appreciate the series they really need to be read and for some of us, reread in order.
Im writing this review having just concluded my fourth reread of the book, Why Because each reading has so far provided me with new insights and possibilities, Ms Dunnetts novels are like that: complex, sparkling and full of possibility, Im looking forward to my reread of Gemini, the final book in the series,

Jennifer CameronSmith This is theth book in the series, I have read the House of Niccolo Series of eight books, and I have found her characters to be deep and rich, They are not without flaws and make mistakes and suffer from the consequences, They are, most of them “bigger than life” in the sense they are so intelligent, learn languages and foresee events and plan for all the possibilities.
She visits several settings in each book, each with its own set of characters, and great attention to detail in describing what it is like to live there everyday.
She often has a grand event, for example Carnival in Venice that she describes vividly, She takes time to give rich details of the time period, her settings, and the backgrounds for her plots, Her impeccable research is second to none,

But that's not the only reason I love her work so much, What she does best is tell a great story, Her stories are full of action, adventure, daring successes and devastating setbacks set against the backdrop of the lates, when the Middle Ages were flowing into the Renaissance.
New discoveries, strong trade amongst a wide variety of countries from the Mediterranean to Iceland and Scotland give the characters great opportunities to make and loose fortunes.
She draws you into the book and then keeps you there like a river with a strong current that sweeps you along over rocks and rapids as well as thundering waterfalls of action and emotion.
Dorothy Dunnett books stand the test of time, because great writing and story telling will never go out of style,
It's hard to give these books less than four based on the scale of the achievement alone, I would say having Nicholas in exile for all butpages was a hard ask in terms of investment in the adventure plots, Even though the pay off was good and somehow there was lots of momentum, I was mostly reading because I was desperate for Nicholas to go west again.
I'm just super invested in Nicholas parenting plot tbh and I'm considering forgiving Gelis even though I don't want to at all, So a slightly grudging four this time, In this volume we have the redemption of Niccolo from the worst period of his life, Niccolo is a fascinating character, brash, mysterious, nearly unlikeable despite his charm, and his selfeffacing silliness that makes him let people assume the worst about him without correction.
Yet he is legendary with his luck, his amazing abilities and his physical stature, This volume ends with Niccolo changed but the world around him changing even more dramatically, Loved it.
Dorothy Dunnett is as I have said before a master story teller,
It can be a frustrating read at times, but also mind blowingly beautiful and John Banks makes this book all the worthwhile and a read to remember.
Nicholas, exiled from his friends and family, can be found carousing through the winter with pirates in the vicinity of Danzig, But when his old companion Julius and Julius's wife Anna settle into town the old Nicholas gradually resurfaces, Julius is the one of his company who unhesitatingly dashes into dangerous hijinks with Nicholas, Two of them in a row become neardeadly, and when the scene clears Nicholas is traveling with Anna into the Crimea,

Much as he loves his wife and son, Nicholas keeps heading east, away from them, He and Gelis have learned to interact on a special plane, so when at last he is forced back toward the west, she is waiting for him in spite of the enemies aiming at them and their son.
Also for the first time, his friends understand him beyond judgment,

CAPRICE AND RONDO brings the satisfying resolution we have been waiting for, It isn't the last book in the series, but it does find Nicholas considering people as feeling friends rather than as pieces of a puzzle, and because of that, he is equipped for the events in GEMINI.
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