Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lymond Series No 4: DO NOT READ THIS ONE FIRST, 21 April 2006
This is the fourth book in a series which you will either love or hate. It is also one of those multi-book series which must if at all possible be read in the right order, which is
1) The Game of Kings
2) Queen's Play
3) The Disorderly Knights
4) Pawn in Frankincense
5) The Ringed Castle
6) Checkmate
This book mostly takes place in the mediteranean area and 16th century Istanbul and in some ways it is the climax of the series, particularly of the battle of wits between Lymond and Gabriel.
While all the books in the series have titles influenced by Chess, this is the one which actually features a literal chess game which is possibly the most memorable in any work of literature and has continued to influence books and films for decades.
(Think of the Wizard Chess game at the climax of "Harry Potter and the Philospher's stone" but this is much darker and more adult.)
There are two reasons why this series, and indeed the author's similar "Niccolo" series, should be read in chronological order. The first is that the plots are incredibly complicated and if you read them out of sequence you have no chance of understanding what is going on.
The second is that many of the characters meet their deaths in ways which are exceptionally unpleasant both for themselves and for the characters who survive them, and that particularly applies to "Pawn in Frankincense". This book features the very disturbing killings of several key characters in the series. If you read this one before any of the first three books, knowldge of how those characters are going to die, and the effect it will have on surviving characters, is likely to have a significant impact on the pleasure you would otherwise have had in reading about them for the first time when you do get around to reading the earlier books.
Like the books, the central character, Francis Crawford of Lymond, is brilliant, violent, and extremely complicated. Unlike the books he is very flawed. Lymond is a mercenary with particular interests in Scotland and France, and gets involved in nefarious deeds all over the world as 16th century Europeans knew it. Dunnett brings the splendour, cultural ferment, and violent cruelty of the Renaissance world splendidly to life.
If you are at all squeamish, or do not like having to make your brain work overtime to follow a book, leave this series alone. Lymond's story is neither "chewing gum for the brain" nor a comfortable read. And even if you prefer flawed heroes to knights in shining armour, Lymond may infuriate you from time to time. But if you can put up with these features, these books will richly reward the effort you make in reading them.
There is no middle ground: you will either hate the Lymond series or recognise these books as one of the greatest works of historical fiction ever written. Or very possibly both !
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
gut-wrenching, heart-breaking, exhilerating historical fiction, 26 Mar 2008
If you haven't yet discovered Dorothy Dunnett (and she's a long way from the usual 'historicals' like Gregory or Chadwick) then this isn't the book to start. 4th in the magisterial and most compelling series of Lymond novels, this is mid-way through the series and you have to read the others (Game of Kings, Queen's Play, most importantly Disorderly Knights) first. Knights is particularly important since this book is a direct continuation of the plot-line that was started there.
As other reviewers have said, Lymond is the most charismatic of heroes, and lives in a real C16th world, not a modern world dressed up in doublet and hose. Dunnett immerses us in a world foreign, exotic, familiar and unfamiliar and no-one manipulates both plot and character as she does.
At the heart of this book is a physical journey from Scotland to Constantinople; and an emotional one that leads all the characters to love, to death, to self-knowledge and to the brink of madness. But this is never a self-consciously 'literary' read, but a genuinely thrilling, page-turning story that takes the readers' emotions on the same roller-coaster ride as the characters.
This is perhaps the most distressing book of the series and yet critically important to the story arc. Dunnett is just the most amazing writer and Lymond one of the most real characters you will ever meet in fiction.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Emotional and intense (and, of course, brilliant in detail), 12 May 2008
As with all the books so far in this series: terrifically researched, excellent sense of place and wonderful characters - these points almost go without saying now.
Thank you to the reviewer of Disorderly Knights who suggested having Pawn in Frankincense ready, because having finished the former, I would was so glad that I could go straight on to the latter.
As for the pawns themselves - well, the writing and the crafting of the plot thoughout is so very clever, so involving and in places so disturbing, that by the time we reach the climax it is almost unbearable. And the writing at this point is absolutely heart-rending.
On to no. 5 to see if some of my questions are answered!
(and, as written by Marshall Lord in his review - don't read this one first, for the reasons he gives!)
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