Rating: 
Summary: Once and Future King
Review: For me, the tour de force of one of the great novelists, brought to more vivid life by a visit to Orkney last year, and before, on the shores of Loch Bracadale in Skye - "on a day such as this it would not be a hardship to die!" The sense of destiny and impending tragedy is similar to T.H.Whites masterpiece of Arthur - the parallels are remarkable - and the vivid imagery of Dark Ages Scotland is quite excellent. At odds with Shakespeare's calumnies - but what would you expect of the English? - the book weaves a tale of love and slaughter, treachery and transcendent ideals, and the story might serve as an allegory for the shaping of the infant Scottish nation a millenium later.
Rating:
Summary: couldn't be too long
Review: for the first twenty pages or so, dunnett's dense - DENSE - work seems hard going. the reader is not eased into the atmosphere of thorfinn's world, he (or she) is plunged. all the same, after the first shock, the book is impossible to let go of. it is long, no doubt, but it is so detailed, so wide-ranging, and the characters are so perfectly drawn that the 'novel'- although it seems too well researched to be dismissed as fiction - never looses its draw. it is more than worth the effort of that first slog. the book is both entertaining, edifying, and ultimately unforgettable.
Rating:
Summary: One of THE BEST books I've ever read!
Review: I admit I had a hard time getting into it at first, but then I couldn't put it down. Dunnett's images are some of the most vivid I have ever read; I could hear the shouting of battle and smell the sea air, yet she doesn't bog the reader down with too many details. If you've read your Shakespeare, you know how this book has to end, and I found I cared about the characters so much I didn't want to finish (and therefore seal their fate). Yes, Dunnett took a bit of historical license, but then, so did Shakespeare...I find her version much more sympathetic. Made me cry in parts...on the bus. This was my first foray into Dunnett's work and it made an instant devotee out of me (I instantly turned around and devoured her "House of Niccolo" series).
Rating:
Summary: Expansive
Review: I have had a difficult time starting Game of Kings because King Hereafter was my first introduction to Dunnett. Hereafter does not rely on flowery, eloquent language to make the lead players seem important. The fact that there is a Scotland today speaks for Macbeth's importance enough. I think Dunnett does represent Thorfinn as the real Macbeth and that heightens more the sense of destiny and fate within the book than it does the historical significance, which is already profound enough. As for the expansive-ness of the book... forget the impressive length of time covered in this book (721 pages of wonderfully small print); consider the miles... Finland, Norway, The Orkney Islands, Caithness, Alba, Wales, Ireland, England, Russia and a pilgrimage to Papal Rome. Dunnett has so much to work from and none of it is irrelevant or tedious background. She weaves it all together perfectly - illuminating just the right information as we need it and are best able to digest it. I believe this is her greatest attribute as a historical fiction author... using the pace and prose of fiction to bring the history into an understandable focus for the common Joe reader like myself. On the central hero... Macbeth is revealed as a King with the strength and practicality of a Viking not tempered with but instead sharpened to a deadly razor edge by his love/understanding of subtle political intrigues that years as a court hostage taught him. His passing encounters and relations with historical figures that I have previously read in depth (like Llewelyn of Wales) is a fascinating outsiders view. For that reason alone Hereafter is a must addition to any 11th century reader's library. Highly recommended for historical fiction fans. Highly recommended for political fiction fans. Moderately recommended for historic romance fans.
Rating:
Summary: I do not want the book to finish
Review: I have just finished reading this book and I have decided that if I read nothing else in my life, I would be happy because I would simply reread this book over and over again. I used to not think much about Macbeth, based solely on Shakespeare, but now I have an entire different attitude. The problem with a book like this is that you become dissatisfied with your real life. At the moment I would by far prefer to live at the turn of the previous milennium.
Rating: 
Summary: my review
Review: I have read all the Niccolo series from this author and have always enjoyed her writing. In this book, she tells us of the story of McBeth. I had only heard of this King through Shakespeare's play, but this time I was able to really learn about his life, his contemporaries and his heritage. Ms. Dunnett has a very special way to write about her characters that keeps the reader thinking. Her writing could be considered outstanding, being very intelligent and taking always into consideration all the many different currents that run through everybody's life, specially that of a King. A very enjoyable read.
Rating:
Summary: my review
Review: I have read all the Niccolo series from this author and have always enjoyed her writing. In this book, she tells us of the story of McBeth. I had only heard of this King through Shakespeare's play, but this time I was able to really learn about his life, his contemporaries and his heritage. Ms. Dunnett has a very special way to write about her characters that keeps the reader thinking. Her writing could be considered outstanding, being very intelligent and taking always into consideration all the many different currents that run through everybody's life, specially that of a King. A very enjoyable read.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I love historical fiction and so I was very excited to read King Hereafter. I am not terribly knowledgeable about MacBeth, either the historical or the Shakespeare version, but I trusted that Ms. Dunnett's fabulous writing would carry me along anyway. This book seems to differ from her other works in that the writing is less absorbing and her characters are poorly drawn and even confusing. Whereas I couldn't read her other books fast enough,I had to struggle to read King Hereafter all the way through. By the end of the book I did feel some empathy for the main characters but all in all King Hereafter does not measure up to Ms. Dunnett's previous efforts.
Rating: 
Summary: Impossible to get into.
Review: I love historical fiction, usually the longer the better, but found this monumental novel impossible to get into. None of the characters captured my imagination, and eventually I gave up on this book out of sheer boredom. Let's just say Ms. Dunnett is no Sharon Kay Penman.
Rating:
Summary: lovely view into the past
Review: I resisted this book for years though I love the other Dunnett books. But I enjoyed it thoroughly when I finally read it. How much people did travel, even in those "Dark Ages"! END
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