The Game of Kings (Lymond Chronicles, 1)

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 he is. In Game of Kings, Lymond is wanted for treason and if caught he'll hang. Scotland is at war with England, and political machinations between Scotland, England and France are at a delicate state in which, as Lymond says, they are all "energetically cheating". As Lymond tries to clear his name, he is also working to assist in the war effort, but which side does he support? And how can you focus on the plot when every other phrase Lymond utters is a quotation or allusion? Some advice to help you get started:1. Skim over the quotations. As one character says - I wish he would speak plain English! The quotes help add color to the scenes, but if you are getting bogged down, skip them, until you are ready to reread. (And then, you might want to have the Dunnett Companion with you, so you can get the full translation.)2. Keep track of the characters. There are many, and as I mentioned above, they aren't always called by the same name. 3. Let yourself be drawn in. This is not an easy read. But once you start to connect with the characters, you will find it hard to put down. If you are still reading by the time you come to lisping Spaniard scene, I suspect that you will become hooked on the series. It's been 5 years since I discovered Dunnett, and with each reread, I am finding something more to the story. This is a series that will open your mind to the wonders of well-crafted sentences, and fully-developed characters in the hands of a brilliant author. Dunnett is one of the few authors I'm aware of who never spoon-feeds her audience. You must come up to her level to progress through the book. She produced dense, well-researched books with many subplots and diversions along the way to the resolution. And in Francis Crawford of Lymond she created a tortured hero who will rip you to shreds with his words, make you laugh at his amazing stunts, and then touch your heart with his music, all while keeping you in constant wonder about what might happen next. Highly recommended.

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 the two to each other might prove useful, though.Dunnett has only one protagonist, instead of O'Brian's two, and he is a figure whom is quite larger than life. When we meet Lymond at the beginning of this novel, he is a confirmed rogue, wanted by his native Scotland as a traitor and *persona non grata* as well with the British. He survives as a Robin Hood, with a band of sixty-odd men, taking advantage of the interminable conflict between England and Scotland to feed and supply his men. He seems to revel in antagonizing his older brother, possibly with a purpose (trying to claim his inheritance a la Esau?). An excellent swordsman, a fierce and loyal leader, and a polyglot--there seems to be nothing that his quick wit and rapier-like mind cannot do.Well, there is one thing, and that is to explain himself. Much of the plot of The Game of Kings concerns Lymond's search for the Englishman who can restore his reputation in England, who can provide him an alibi that will show his kindred that he is not a traitor. Yet his pride will not allow him to explain (or try to explain) just how he expects this to be achieve to anyone--family or friends. Which is a pity, because several characters here would react quite differently if Lymond would only speak his mind. Speak he often does, in several languages (a passing knowledge of Latin and French helps when reading some of the trickier passages), but these are often quips, not information.Like the best rogues of old, you cannot help but like the fellow. He has his own code of conduct and, especially compared to the obsessive maniac his older brother becomes, a style that recalls the best of Sean Connery (another Scot, don't you know) in his portrayal of James Bond. There's a comparison that sits a little truer--Lymond is the 16th century Bond.This is adventure stuff of the finest degree. There are shooting contests, secret raids, impersonations, captures, intrigues, and a long, glorious duel between brothers. Yes, there is history here, too; I understand a little more about the makeup of Scotland and its past politics than I did before. Dunnett's details are not in the rigging, as O'Brian's are, though. She has a much larger picture in mind, and if she throws in an Errol Flynn to keep you amused while getting to it, so what?I more than enjoyed this, and I will most likely continue the series at a later date.

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, then I can begin the Niccolo series.I recently read Timeline by Michael Crichton, a story premised on 20th century scientists going back into medieval France. It was a bad book and I never felt that the characters had gone back or that Crichton had any idea what life was really like back then. Dunnett, on the other hand, not only convinces you that she knows the past, she transports you there. Crichton's book probably would have been quite good if Dunnett had written it. Dunnett's prose is not easy to read--it requires your absolute attention and a good dictionary close at hand, but the rewards are enormous. My biggest dilemma right now is whether to re-read this book and thereby unpeel the onion some more or plunge into Queen's Play, the second Lymond book (I'll probably do both simultaneously). While there are innumerable things I liked about this book, I'll focus on three of them:1. The characterizations. Rather than simply paint a character as good or evil when we first meet them, Dunnett slowly unfolds them a layer of time through what they do and say (and often by what they don't do or say). In the end, the characters feel like real life humans, with both flaws and strengths. I found the young blind woman, Christian Stewart, to be both complex and wonderful. And Lymond has more layers that a wedding cake.2. The prose. Yes, it's difficult. Yes, it's often ambiguous. Yes, it's filled with obscure allusions and foregn phrases. You don't need to understand them all the first time through. But in the end, Dunnett is quite simply a wonderful stylist of the language. One of the characters said this about a coming war: "I don't like this war. I don't like the cold-blooded scheming at the beginning and the carnage at the end and the grumbling and the jealousies and the pettishness in the middle. I hate the lack of gallantry and grace; the self-seeking; the destruction of valuable people and things. I believe in danger and endeavour as a form of tempering but I reject it if this is the only shape it can take." That is great writing and very wise.3. The Plot. In the end, it's simply a great story, with more twists and turns than can be fully comprehended in one reading. I read the last 150 pages in a big gulp. This is a great book--I'm sure it's a great series, one that will be right up there with Aubrey/Maturin. The thing that will now keep me up nights is the question whether there is another great series out there, wonderful but undiscovered.

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 Crawford of Lymond, Dunnett's astoundingly human yet otherworldly heroic antihero. The plot lines, like the characters, are intricate, involving and compelling. Each book can be read on many levels: pure action adventure, expertly executed historical fiction, stimulating intellectual gamesmanship, academic and literary, morality play with a twist, and more. Dunnett toys with her readers like Lymond toys with his antagonists and allies alike -- and that's half the fun of it! These are excellent books. You will be challenged, you will be entertained, you will be well rewarded for your efforts.

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 quotes in antique foreign languages. I didn't try to decipher them, and by the second book they all but disappear. All I can say to those readers who found the series difficult to read is that reading it is worth your patience. If you like authentic historical fiction, exciting action, and compelling characters, plough on ahead! Lymond as a character is not easy to understand, but rest assured that most of your questions will be answered by the end of the series.