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Title: A laborious disappointment
Review: I'm a lover of historical fiction, especially ones set during the Middle Ages. This is the reason I pruchased Niccolo' Rising by Dorthy Dunnett. I was especially excited by the Bruges setting, as I have visited this beautiful and historic walled city a number of times. However, the novel has not lived up to expectations. It is a tedious read mostly because of Dunnett's extremely awkward writing style. In addition, she makes the story way too complicated with too many characters that are not necessary to the plot. Her descriptions of places and characters fail to give the reader adequate, let alone clear, mental pictures. It's too bad that her tedious and complicated writing style got it the way of an otherwise interesting story line. Even Hella Haassee was an easier read. I will not continue with this series of novels, and my choice for this genre remains Sharron K. Penman.
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