#this is why i don't write reviews lol but in conclusion. to lie with lions my beloved

[leojurand]

so i finished my to lie with lions reread yesterday and i really don't know how to talk about it because i think it's a perfect book.

there's just nothing i don't like about it. i can't even nitpick. to me, it's +600 pages of as close to flawless as anything can be literature. it's crazy that someone can write a perfectly paced and executed long and dense 6th book in a series but dunnett did it.

and it couldn't have been easy because this is probably the most chaotic book when it comes to characterization, specifically that of nicholas and gelis. they're not simple characters at all. they have very complex and layered motivations and emotions, but especially on reread i feel like they were written masterfully.

nicholas de fleury is truly one of a kind. there's no protagonist like him in any genre. getting to a point where you understand him is not easy at all, maybe even close to impossible for the first half of the series (a feature, not a bug!), even though you follow his pov very often, unlike francis. but he still hides things from you, and from himself, and he surprises you all the time, and you have to judge for yourself and decide which actions or feelings are genuine, and what is a part of a scheme, maybe both things at the same time. and that to me is one of the best things about this series, because nicholas himself is a puzzle you have to try and solve, and it works because he's one of the most complex and interesting fictional characters of all time.

and if nicholas is complicated, gelis even more so. it's genuinely so hard to get her and the reasoning behind everything she does. in fact, i don't think you can really know 100% of the whys of gelis, just like with nicholas you have to pay attention and decide the truths and the lies. and she's so fucking good, man. i love that she's allowed to be so messy and flawed and entertaining. and still live, you know lol

the culmination of everything nicholas and gelis go through and do to each other is, again, masterful. an incredible pay-off that i don't think anyone else could have written better. the heightened emotions, the reveals, the insanity of it all... peak literature.

there's just too much i could praise this book for and i can't do it all in one post but of course i need to mention iceland.

part 3 of this book is almost like its own novella that can exist by itself, and i love that so much because in a way that's also how nicholas feels about it. this beautiful adventure away from the chaos of his life, untouchable, untainted, that he will never forget.

the beauty of the prose matches the beauty of the land. i adore the comparisons to nordic myths (the baldur light, and loki fire). i love that you can see how much iceland affects nicholas because he compares things that happen to the volcano hekla, or gelis's eyes to the icelandic glaciers. the language in this part of the book is gorgeous and intentional and it has weight, if that makes sense.

from the start, with the excitement of the trade scheme and the battles on ship, to the beautiful bond nicholas forges with kathi (and that is, honestly, the main event of the whole thing), everything about iceland is perfect. and i've used that word so much throughout this post that maybe it has lost its meaning, but really. if someone asked me to give an example of what dorothy dunnett is capable of doing as an author, i'd show them iceland without a doubt.

and that's it! maybe! next is caprice and rondo and i'll get to it whenever... but i'll keep talking about house of niccolò of course, that's my whole brand 🫡