The Game of Kings

Starting the Lymond Chronicles is not for the faint of heart. In the first 50 pages you will meet Lymond, Francis Crawford and the Master of Culter. Somewhere around page 100, you will learn that they are all the same character. Many first time readers are put off by the complexity and by the image of this arrogant, polyglot, male-diva storming around Scotland offending everyone he meets. This is supposed to be our hero?Indeed... Read Full Review

I hesitated before reading this book, the first in a set of six collectively called "The Lymond Chronicles." I'm already three deep in Patrick O'Brian's historical series, so I wondered if I would be tempting my history filter to overload by starting another so soon? Not to worry, because the two time periods and areas are quite unlike each other, and there seems little chance that I will mix the two in my memory. Comparing... Read Full Review

There really is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I bought The Game of Kings after reading the recent article on Dorothy Dunnett in the NY Times Book Review. I couldn't believe that anything as good as they described could have escaped by attention--I've had life long love affair with historical fiction. But it had escaped by view and I'm almost giddy with the knowledge that there are five more in the Lymond series,... Read Full Review

Wildly Thrilling, Fully Satisfying! My sister reticently recommended this series knowing that while I enjoy reading, as a full-time working mother of an active toddler I don't necessarily have the time or inclination to tackle too difficult a read. Needless to say, I was so engrossed with The Game of Kings I was up until dawn on many a night eagerly pursing the clever, twisting, endlessly engrossing exploits of Francis... Read Full Review

I picked up the first of this series because a note at my favorite bookstore said, "These are the best books in the world." I read Game of Kings and did not think it was the best book I'd ever read but was willing to try another one. By the end of the second book I couldn't put them down. But they are not easy to read. Game of Kings, although the only stand-alone of the series, is particularly difficult because of the ... Read Full Review