Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lymond series No 2: brilliant but not for everyone, 21 April 2006
This is the second 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
The Queen of the title is Mary Queen of Scots, a child ruler at the time of the story, with much of the action in Scotland and France relating to intrugues as to who will control the person of the young Queen.
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.
I made the mistake of reading one of the later books first. When I came to read this one, advance knowledge of how an important character in this book is going to die, and how Lymond is going to find out about it, seriously affected the pleasure I would otherwise have had in reading the passage when they meet for the first time in "Queen's Play".
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 !
|
|
|
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
second in the Lymond chronicles, 7 Jan 2007
After the Scottish setting of Game of Kings, Queen's Play moves to France and the French court of Henri II and his queen Catherine de Medici. Someone is trying to kill the young Mary Queen of Scots who is betrothed to the Dauphin, and Lymond, working secretly for Mary de Guise, is there to stop the plot. Poisonings, love affairs, crazy races through the rooftops of paris - and Lymond comes close to falling in love.
This is also the first book where the Dame de Doubtance appears who is an important character throughout the series, and also introduces Archie Abernethy, one of Lymond's truest friends and spiritual father.
I can't say how wonderful this whole series is, and would give all the books a 10-star rating if I could!
|
|
|
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Book # 2 in the Lymond Chronicles and all is not what it appears, 3 Feb 2008
It is two years since the close of The Game of Kings and someone is planning the murder of young Mary Queen of Scots, and Mary of Guise summons Francis Crawford of Lymond to France to stop the murderous plot. Francis comes in disguise as a member of the entourage of a Prince of Ireland, and the game is on. Thady Boy Ballagh nee' Lymond charms the decadent French court with his wit, sarcasm and music as Dunnett slowly unpeels the layers of her tale with plot twists and surprise turns around every corner. No one is what they appears to be at first glance, even Francis. Is Thady Boy really a drunken sot or is someone trying to poison him? Someone is trying to kill O'LiamRoe but is it because they think he is Lymond in disguise? Does the young Archer Robin Stewart who befriends Thady Boy have another motive than friendship?
While the book is slow at times, this story unfolds amidst the decadence of the French Court, it's hard drinking, partying courtiers, scheming noblemen, a race and treasure hunt atop the roofs and steeples of Paris (brilliant!!) and ending in a nail biting finish as the plot to murder Mary comes full circle and Francis' efforts to save Mary include some members of the King's menagerie -- a couple of elephants, a roaring lion and even the chimpanzees get in the act.
Throughout, Francis Crawford is a fascinating hero, and is as suave, debonair, flawed and fascinating as only a 16th Century version of James Bond could be. This is a complicated tale, and one that a reader has to pay close attention to, if you let your mind wander you may have to back track occasionally as I did. However, if you enjoy a complicated, action packed, surprise around every corner type of novel ala Dumas, you will probably find this series to be right up your alley. Five stars and now on to book #3 The Disorderly Knights.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
by Dorothy Dunnett
by Dorothy Dunnett
by Dorothy Dunnett
by Dorothy Dunnett
With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is). 
Amazon Home