In the Middle Ages, a good story involved a fair amount of fabulism and fantasy. Readers may be better served knowing this up front, however, as Anderson’s blending of highly specific, period-accurate details and elements of outlandish medieval lore may otherwise be confusing ... There’s much to recommend about Nicked, though sometimes its disparate elements can feel a little at odds with one another. Anderson’s world-building is thorough and immersive, though he often seems to linger on small details, showing off what must have been copious research in a way that seems excessively showy.
Anderson humorously exploits the polar-opposite qualities of Tyun and Nicephorus, as well as the blind spots of power-hungry leaders ... Alongside the humor and tension, Anderson plumbs questions of what constitutes as faith, and the circularity of human history.
A thrilling and fast-moving international adventure narrated with wit and humor ... Nicked delivers an entertaining and grown-up adventure rooted in religion, humanity and friendship.
Readers who expect to find themselves in a medieval world will be disappointed. But if a plot full of twists and turns is intriguing enough to make up for that, the book certainly delivers ... Usually writers try to avoid words that don't fit the period of their story. Anderson feels no such compunction ... The overall effect can be amusing or jarring.
Enthralling ... In a novel this funny, it would be all too easy to let an omniscient, present-day narrator earn laughs at the expense of its characters’ outdated beliefs, but Anderson instead approaches the medieval with curiosity and compassion.
Anderson stocks the exhilarating narrative with sea battles, comely spies, duels, and double crosses, and succeeds at transporting the reader back to 11th-century Italy and Byzantium.
