Dorothy Dunnett
Mar. 12th, 2002 10:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bryantI've sort of been in this trance the last few days. I picked up Niccolo Rising on sort of a whim, since I'd heard her name more than once from people I trust. What I found was one of the best prose stylists I've ever read, complex plots, interesting characters... my god. I had no idea. It's such a complete and total joy to find an author this good.
"It began mildly enough, the awkward chain of events that was to upset the bankers so much. It began with sea, and September sunlight, and three young men lying stripped to their doublets in the Duke of Burgundy's bath.
"Of the three, Claes and Felix were watching the canal bank for girls. Julius, his instincts blunted by an extra decade, was content to sink back, agreeably fortified, and forget he was anyone's tutor. A good astrologer would have told him to get out at once."
She's so elusive. The language is crystal clear, very precise, and everything's described in allusions -- which is a stunningly unexpected mix. She requires involvement from the reader, but that involvement comes at no great price, for it's such a pleasure to be involved with her words.
Just -- wow.
"It began mildly enough, the awkward chain of events that was to upset the bankers so much. It began with sea, and September sunlight, and three young men lying stripped to their doublets in the Duke of Burgundy's bath.
"Of the three, Claes and Felix were watching the canal bank for girls. Julius, his instincts blunted by an extra decade, was content to sink back, agreeably fortified, and forget he was anyone's tutor. A good astrologer would have told him to get out at once."
She's so elusive. The language is crystal clear, very precise, and everything's described in allusions -- which is a stunningly unexpected mix. She requires involvement from the reader, but that involvement comes at no great price, for it's such a pleasure to be involved with her words.
Just -- wow.
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no subject
Date: 2002-03-12 11:26 am (UTC)Quite addicting.
no subject
Date: 2002-03-12 03:37 pm (UTC)She's wonderful. I have been saving Niccolo Rising to reread the next time I need a good infusion of - all of that. Crystalline evocation.