finally done!

Bet you thought I'd never finish Race of Scorpions at the pace I was going. Well, last night was the night, folks. Over, finished, complete. It finally returned to my bookshelf, where of course, volumes four and five are waiting patiently for their turns.

Now that I've experienced three of Nicholas' adventures, I think I'm beginning to withstand his irritable traits a bit better. (He's still not as swoon-worthy as Lymond, but then, really, who is?) The third book makes him a tad more human and luckily, for once, his damn feud with Simon is set on the back-burner to be dealt with later. I for one was extremely grateful for that merciful move and for finally allowing Katelina to end her nasty streak of ridiculous behavior. I rather like the new character of Diniz Vasquez and I surprised myself by being upset when Abul Ismail ("He was a good doctor... when he wasn't burning the guts out of people") met his sticky end. Still hate the Venetians, though. Carlotta had been terribly cool in the beginning but ended up disappearing half-way through; Primaflora was no substitute, nor Cropnose (who I couldn't stand at all).

The supporting characters, otherwise known as the Bank of Niccolo, remain the best parts of the adventures. I think I'm even going soft with Astorre and Ludovico da Bologna now. I sorely missed Julius and Gregorio, though I suppose juggling all those characters (a five page list, for heavens' sake!) does tend to be impossible. Hopefully they'll turn up in the next one. Or I should say, the one after the next one: I've decided to take a brief break from Niccolo (I think I've earned it) and have moved on to Arturo Perez-Reverte's The Seville Communion. So far so good.