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King Hereafter by Dorothy Dunnett
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King Hereafter

by Dorothy Dunnett

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A very odd book. I was enjoying it very much at the beginning, and quite liked Thorfinn, barbaric but clever pagan viking that he was, when suddenly he turned into Francis Crawford of Lymond. Oh well.I wonder, is Dunnett only capable of writing that sort of hypercompetant, ultra-energetic Great Man character, or is it only that she thinks that is the only type of character worth writing about? They make me tired, and I never quite believe in them.But Thorfinn wasn't quite Crawford, for which I was grateful. First, he was wrong occasionally. Several times, in the end, when everything started to go bad. And I liked his stubborn paganness, while at the same time slightly despising his political using of christianity.And Groa. Why on earth, if he loved her, did he neglect, avoid, and insult her for five years running? I must be missing something.I liked Thorkel. In some ways he was more heroic than Thorfinn, more to my liking. A little too devoted, like . . . A kickable dog.Were death rates really so high, amongst early-medieval royalty? A wonder anyone wanted to become king, if it meant lisence for all other claimants to burn your house around you, marry your wife on your deathbed and slaughter your family as potential rivals who would do the same in their turn.
krisiti | Jul 1, 2009 |  
Few works of historical fiction that I've read over the years so completely captures the spirit of an age as this work. While a work of fiction, the author works in a great deal of the detail that we know from historical accounts regarding the real MacBeth. She has a good eye too, for capturing warfare of the period including MacBeth's Norman mercenaries. Her MacBeth is a very human figure. Well worth reading. ( )
Ammianus | Feb 19, 2007 |  
This is a fictionalised account of Macbeth, but don't let that stop you. ( )
aukestrel | Aug 9, 2006 |  
I truly admire and love Dorothy Dunnett, and this book, like all her others, is a masterpiece of historical fiction.

But it doesn't work for me. I've tried to read it ten times, and I always get bogged down in the dreary setting, and the thousands of characters. This is my failing, I think, and not hers. However, if you're new to Dunnett, my strong suggestion would be that you start with the Niccolo books.
greenery | Apr 13, 2006 |  
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Series (with order)
Canonical Title
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Awards and honors
Epigraph
Wealth dies.
Kinsmen die.
A man himself must likewise die.
But word-fame
Never dies
For him who achieves it well.

Wealth dies.
Kinsmen die.
A man himself must likewise die.
But one thing I know
That never dies--
The verdict on each man dead.
(Hávamál)
Dedication
First words
When the year one thousand came, Thorkel Amundason was five years old, and hardly noticed how frightened everyone was.
Quotations
Last words
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Book description

Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 009995740X, Paperback)

Back in print by popular demand--"A stunning revelation of the historical Macbeth, harsh and brutal and eloquent." --Washington Post Book World.

With the same meticulous scholarship and narrative legerdemain she brought to her hugely popular Lymond Chronicles, our foremost historical novelist travels further into the past.  In King Hereafter, Dorothy Dunnett's stage is the wild, half-pagan country of eleventh-century Scotland.  Her hero is an ungainly young earl with a lowering brow and a taste for intrigue.  He calls himself Thorfinn but his Christian name is Macbeth.

Dunnett depicts Macbeth's transformation from an angry boy who refuses to accept his meager share of the Orkney Islands to a suavely accomplished warrior who seizes an empire with the help of a wife as shrewd and valiant as himself.  She creates characters who are at once wholly creatures of another time yet always recognizable--and she does so with such realism and immediacy that she once more elevates historical fiction into high art.

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:20 -0400)

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