- Paperback: 503 pages
- Publisher: Vintage Books; 1st Vintage Books Ed edition (1 Jan 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0679777458
- ISBN-13: 978-0679777458
- Product Dimensions: 13.2 x 2.3 x 20.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 548,522 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
The Disorderly Knights: The Lymond Chronicles
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in The Disorderly Knights (Lymond Chronicles) for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
The third volume in The Lymond Chronicles, the highly renowned series of historical novels by Dorothy Dunnett, Disorderly Knights takes place in 1551, when Francis Crawford of Lymond is dispatched to embattled Malta, to assist the Knights of Hospitallers in defending the island against the Turks. But shortly the swordsman and scholar discovers that the greatest threat to the Knights lies within their own ranks, where various factions vie secretly for master.
About the Author
DOROTHY DUNNETT is the author of the Lymond Chronicles and the on-going House of Niccolo series. She was awarded the OBE for her services to literature in 1992. She was married to the late Sir Alastair Dunnett; they live in Edinburgh.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
ON the day that his grannie was killed by the English, Sir William Scott the Younger of Buccleuch was at Melrose Abbey, marrying his aunt. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
ON the day that his grannie was killed by the English, Sir William Scott the Younger of Buccleuch was at Melrose Abbey, marrying his aunt. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is the third 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 disordely knoights of the title are the knights of St John of Malta. This book also features a battle of wits and intrigue betweem the central character, Francis Crawford of Lymond, and his great enemy Gabriel.
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. If you read one of the later books first, advance knowledge of how characters are going to die, and the effect it will have on surviving characters can have an impact on the pleasure you would otherwise have had in reading about them for the first time.
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 !
1) The Game of Kings
2) Queen's Play
3) The Disorderly Knights
4) Pawn in Frankincense
5) The Ringed Castle
6) Checkmate
The disordely knoights of the title are the knights of St John of Malta. This book also features a battle of wits and intrigue betweem the central character, Francis Crawford of Lymond, and his great enemy Gabriel.
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. If you read one of the later books first, advance knowledge of how characters are going to die, and the effect it will have on surviving characters can have an impact on the pleasure you would otherwise have had in reading about them for the first time.
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
Format:Paperback
And this is where, to some extent, the series really starts to hang together inextricably. The first two books are important, but from now on each volume leads straight into the next, and I can only imagine the painful frustration of readers following the series when it was first published and they had to wait years for the next installment.
Opening in Scotland prior to Queen's Play, we see Lymond first in his home setting, restless and increasingly powerful, before following him to Malta where he fights for the Knights of St John against the Turks before his own personal story (carrying on from Queen's Play) takes central stage for a bit.
Back in Scotland, Lymond creates his own mercenary force (a kind of Renaissance SAS!) but finds both it and his own leadership increasingly undermined.
'Knights' contains some of the most powerful writing you will ever read, especially the last quarter. Lymond is a hero that we don't always understand, and this book shows him, ostensibly, at his worst - but there's always another story or another way of seeing things.
Dunnett never shies away from killing of main and much-loved characters but the two deaths here are some of the most heart-breaking and moving for me. And make sure you have the next volume (Pawn in Frankincense) ready because this one really ends on a cliff-hanger!
Opening in Scotland prior to Queen's Play, we see Lymond first in his home setting, restless and increasingly powerful, before following him to Malta where he fights for the Knights of St John against the Turks before his own personal story (carrying on from Queen's Play) takes central stage for a bit.
Back in Scotland, Lymond creates his own mercenary force (a kind of Renaissance SAS!) but finds both it and his own leadership increasingly undermined.
'Knights' contains some of the most powerful writing you will ever read, especially the last quarter. Lymond is a hero that we don't always understand, and this book shows him, ostensibly, at his worst - but there's always another story or another way of seeing things.
Dunnett never shies away from killing of main and much-loved characters but the two deaths here are some of the most heart-breaking and moving for me. And make sure you have the next volume (Pawn in Frankincense) ready because this one really ends on a cliff-hanger!
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The third in the "Lymond" series, but capable of standing alone,this is a rich feast for lovers of history and adventure. Francis Crawford fresh from retrieving his reputation in Scotland (The Game of Kings)has been retained by Mary of Guise to safeguard the life of her small daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots, (Queens Play) and now travels to Malta, stronghold of the Knights. He meets a smiling villain of such charm and iniquity that the reader is barely willing to concede his corruption util the very end of the book. Rich in authentic detail full of sparkling dialogue, rich humour and tantalising scholarship this will enmesh you in 16th century Europe from the opening page. The action never lags. Francis Crawford the hero and anti-hero, continues to cut a swathe maturing with humour and discipline, with ingenuity and military expertise. You will finish this longing for more. It is a magnificent springboard into the poetry, manners and political strategies of the time, and a skillful thriller whose pace never lags.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
"It is beyond the testimony of angels..."
In this fabulous historical novel, third in the Lymond series, Ms Dunnett's geographical range extends over parts of Scotland, Northern England, and the Mediterranean world, mainly... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Eileen Shaw
Dorothy Dunnet
This book,The Disorderly Knights, arrived safely and swiftly,and is a very well researched historical novel, ranking with the best of the genre. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Mrs. S. A. Charlewood
Has Lymond found his master?
Fresh from his triumph at the court of France's Henry II, Lymond has arrived in Malta, the beleaguered homeland of the Knights of St John. What has drawn him here? Read more
Published 16 months ago by Editor, Dorothy Dunnett Readers' Association
Book #3 in The Lymond Chronicles and what a nail biting finish!
Francis Crawford of Lymond is sent by the French King to the Island of Malta where the Knights Hospitallers are threatened by an invasion from the Turks. Read more
Published on 16 Feb 2008 by Misfit
Memorable and exciting
A gripping, swashbuckling thriller, with a classic master villain who almost has you believing along with half the characters in the book that our hero has lost the plot - until he... Read more
Published on 23 Mar 2000
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Fantasy > Contemporary
- Books > Fantasy > Historical
- Books > Fiction > Contemporary Fiction
- Books > Fiction > Historical
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
