In The Anxiety of Influence, Harold Bloom talks about how a monumental work will affect readers' perceptions of works that come after, whether or not the author or writer in question was directly influenced by the monument.

I was very aware of this as I read this novel and kept being thrown back to the Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett. In part because of the familiar names and places of the Scots Borderlands, but also because of the clever, cruel hero who turns out to have a semblance of a moral code, and the description of his beauty even when he's puking drunk or gutting hapless enemies, the unsentimental violence (you know when you encounter this tone that any dog someone loves is going to be toast in some gruesome way, and probably a child or two as well), and the sexually twisted villain.

This particular novel centers around the Babington plot, as well as dealing with dueling neighbors and fractured families. I don't think it reaches the heights of brilliance that Dunnett does at her best, but then she took several books to get there; this one is a fast read, smart, vivid, and will probably appeal to Dunnett fans.