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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
56 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not her best, but still quite good....,
By
This review is from: King Hereafter (Paperback)
There are some reviewers here who question critically whether Dorothy Dunnett has accurately identified the historical MacBeth in her novel, King Hereafter. Need I point out the irony? Whether MacBeth was Thorfinn, Earl of Orkney, or Duncan, King of Alba, or someone else entirely, has little to do with the value of this book - a work of historical fiction. After completing Dunnett's 8-volume House of Niccolo, I quickly added her to my list of favorite authors. At first impression, her writing style could be called cryptic, even disjointed, her cadence unfamiliar. Her research is impeccable and without some foreknowledge of the period setting, Dunnett's density and detail may frustrate the reader. An 8-volume work affords the reader much time to become acquainted with author and subject. Not so, in the single-volume King Hereafter. One must have some experience with Dunnett or truly be a fan of the age and genre to rejoice in this tale of MacBeth. Yet, one need not rejoice in a book to find it, in the end, a worthy read. If the reader can navigate the obscure asides in which she clearly revels, become comfortable with her unique rythym, Dunnett's King Hereafter will engross and enchant, will certainly educate, and provide it's consumer much pleasure. A rousing 11th-century tale of royal intrigue, power politics, romance, and wry humor spanning the breadth of medieval Europe, King Hereafter easily merits 4 stars.
45 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A big, fat, crackerjack historical novel about Macbeth,
By
This review is from: King Hereafter (Hardcover)
My first Dunnett, and a crackerjack. OK, a big, fat crackerjack historical novel about 11th century Britain, specifically on the life of the historic King Macbeth, who ruled Orkney and northern Scotland 1040-1058. For good measure, we get Lady Godiva, too. Plus Duncan, Malcolm, and Duke William waiting for his Big Moment, over there in Normandy.Google for a fine, short review by reliable Danny Yee: "King Hereafter is a dark and sombre work...and at near nine hundred pages not one to be tackled lightly. It is, however, a rewarding feast for those who like solid historical fiction." Nice background for the book at dorothydunnettdot)co(dot)uk/dunnettqa5.htm She read some 700 books for KH! And compiled "145 interlocking European family trees, laid out in miniscule writing on a piece of wallpaper 20 feet long." Now, that's research! Anyway, it's reassuring that the historical background is as good as she could make it, plus it's a ripping (hacking, stabbing, disembowelling...) good yarn. Boy, Britain went seriously downhill, in the civilization dept., when the Romans left. Positively *medieval* back then <GG>. Happy reading! Pete Tillman
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A passion for Scotland and its history make a superb book,
By
This review is from: King Hereafter (Paperback)
First of all, this is historical fiction. The author isn't trying to 'prove' that any names from her homeland's ancient past are who she says they are in her tale - she is simply writing, with all the passion and expertise at her disposal, a story of what might have been. Shakespeare did the same kind of thing. Dunnett gives her Macbeth a more sympathtic press, but he is hers, not Shakespeare's or history's.She has always excelled at using the minutiae of research to give her people a convincing world to move in. This is no less true in this story than in the Lymond or Niccolo chronicles, and it may surprise many readers who don't know the so-called Dark Ages that for the rich and well-connected this were actually a cosmopolitan, widely-travelled era when politics,religion and intermarriage connected most of Europe. The picture she paints of the birth of the Scots nation is plausible, and her people have the authentic feel of living people breathing air that was less chemically polluted, but otherwise no different from our own. I loved this book. It is one of the very few historical-mythic fantasies that I cosnider on the same level as Rosemary Sutcliife's sublime 'Sword At Sunset'. Dorothy Dunnet has done her utmost to create a Matter of Scotland with the same convincing texture as Sutcliffe's Celtic take on the Matter of Britain, and it's a job well done.
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