These books are also what got me interested in geography - a huge number of locations are described within, and the writing makes you want to visit them all, to visualise the book's events happening where you are standing.

Worth reading if you have any interest in historical fiction, or love complex plots and many many characters (there's a character list at the front - the one in Book 8 is 16 sides long), but DO START WITH THE FIRST BOOK - they won't make nearly as much sense otherwise.

If you find Niccolo Rising or any of the other Niccolo books difficult to read (and I did at first), try reading the Lymond Chronicles first - the plots are almost as complicated, but the characterizations, while no less believable or complex, are sometimes less ambiguous. The Lymond books generally move faster, plotwise, and are easier going and a bit more romantic (in the idealistic sense of the word, not the love sense).

Please, please, do at least try and read these books, don't dismiss them, they're really excellently written in every way. There's a good reason why Dorothy Dunnett had a diehard following of fans during her lifetime, fans from all different backgrounds and locations.


This novel epitomises all that is excellent in the series.   August 18, 2001
 7 out of 7 found this review helpful

In this novel we begin to realise the full extent of the hatred which Gelis has for her husband Nicholas and the lengths which she is willing to go to in order to exact revenge for her dead sister Katelina. We follow Nicholas as he travels from Scotland to the Tyrol, Cairo and Cyprus, driven to find whatever it is that he needs to know. It is uncertain whether his motivation is primarily profit or his unseen son. The cunning and capacity for plotting of Gelis are gradually exposed as she and Nicholas engage in a battle of emotional manipulation. Along the way Nicholas is forced to face up to ghosts of the past, both through the counsel of Father Godscalc and his return to Cyprus where Katelina perished. As Nicholas pursues his goal his old enemy Simon de St Pol is a constant thorn in his side, in both his business and personal affairs. Their animosity reaches a dangerous level while Nicholas is in Scotland and others become drawn into the wider consequences of their antagonism. We see a new side to Anselm Adorne, nobleman of Bruges as he attempts to control Nicholas and his tortous affairs, and wonder of Nicholas does not make yet another powerful enemy. The Unicorn Hunt will be appreciated by any readers familiar with the House of Niccolo series and Dorothy Dunnett's ability to skilfully twist the plot so that you are left wondering at every page. The evocation of time and place are unsurpassed in the historical novel genre. As a continuation of the life of Nicholas the book leaves you eager to begin the next volume and reveals some of the deeper secrets of the series concerning the main protagonists.