Spring of the Ram by Dorothy Dunnett

The first book was so good, I couldn't wait to read the second in Dorothy Dunnett's House of Niccolò series, Spring of the Ram. This one is exciting and fascinating, as Nicholas races to Trebizond on a dual mission: beat out a rival for the best trade deals, and rescue his 13-year-old stepdaughter from a dubious marriage with that same rival. At the same time, Trebizond is threatened by the Sultan Mehmet, and Nicholas is bringing soldiers to help defend this last outpost of the Byzantine Empire from takeover by the infidel.

There's much to enjoy here: hair's-breadth escapes, the Trebizond court's decadent glories (arcane ritual followed by bath-house shenanigans), plenty of fighting, ruses, scams, and guile. It's interesting to see how young Nicholas has to fight to establish his leadership among men older and more experienced. Descriptions of exotic Trebizond were absolutely good enough to eat, full of lush detail, immensely satisfying.

Dunnett is not one of your happy-ending writers, though, and I was a bit disappointed at how mixed the payoff was. I guess I have to expect this; her plots tend to follow a failure-success-failure structure, and no victory so far has been unambiguous. Also, I would like to know what Dunnett has against dogs. In Book 1, an innocent hound gets it; here, an innocent lapdog. At least the deaths were mercifully swift. I will not expect any dog encountered in future books to have a long lifespan.