Niccolo Rising By Dorothy Dunnett [Buy this book] Review by Ellen Isaacs Rating: 0 -4 -3 -2 -1   0 +1 0 +3 +4

I had several problems reading this book. First, I simply had trouble following what was going on. Dunnett's prose is written in what I assume is the style of the day, which make it a bit more work to interpret, but she also has a way of putting things that seems to obscure the basic action. Right from the first chapter, I had only a vague notion of the physical events she was describing. I spoke with some others who read the book and they too had trouble deciphering the action, but those who liked it said they just ignored that and plowed along anyway. That's just not my kind of book.

I also had trouble getting to know and understand most of the characters. There are many, and really only the main one is richly described. When reading historical fiction, I like to get a sense of the culture and common values of the people at that time, and only some of that came through the obscure prose.

I'm disappointed because I love good historical fiction and I'm eager to find more that I can savor, but this one was just too much work for not enough benefit.

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