Product Description

The opening book in the world famous "Lymond Chronicles", Dorothy Dunnett's bestselling series. Lymond is back ...the whisper spreads quickly on that warm August night in 1547. Francis Crawford of Lymond, and outlawed rebel, is in Edinburgh again ...and his arrival in Scotland ignites a series of explosive events. Against a background of political intrigue and violence, Lymond is tracking three men, one of whom holds the only answer he can give to the world, the parliaments and the men who condemned him.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #139378 in Books
• Published on: 1999-02-25
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

Review
Dunnett fans with blank spaces on their bookshelves will be glad to hear that the first volume in the hugely popular 16th-century adventure series, The Lymond Chronicles, is once more available, in paperback. First published in the 1960s, the series has never lost its grip on readers' imaginations. (Kirkus UK)

Dorothy Dunnett has written one of the most elegantly attired and excitingly conceived historical novels of the season. This long and lively chronicle of mid-sixteenth century Scotland runs the gamut of adventure and intrigue in the manner of a clever chess game, and she has been extremely generous with plot, sub-plots and a whole array of colorful subsidiary characters. However, while her style never permits these virtues to become intractable, the events themselves sometimes overpower the sheer story-telling. Set against that moment in history when Mary Queen of Scots was only a child and her throne the target of both English and French machinations, the story here tells how Lymond, supposedly a double-dealing rogue, defends Scotland through a series of stunning ruses, raids and reprisals as they occur at Heriot, Hume, Carlisle and Dumbarton. The drama is heightened by Lymond's relationship with his older Baron brother, who regards him as a traitor and the seducer of his wife, and in Lymond's romantic activities with other women. The confrontation scene between the two brothers towards the close of the book, and Lymond's treason trial, are gripping and psychologically rewarding. It is a passionate, panoramic, suavely engineered tale which brings a spirited past to life con brio. (Kirkus Reviews)

Synopsis
The opening book in the world famous "Lymond Chronicles", Dorothy Dunnett's bestselling series. Lymond is back ...the whisper spreads quickly on that warm August night in 1547. Francis Crawford of Lymond, and outlawed rebel, is in Edinburgh again ...and his arrival in Scotland ignites a series of explosive events. Against a background of political intrigue and violence, Lymond is tracking three men, one of whom holds the only answer he can give to the world, the parliaments and the men who condemned him.

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, and lives in Edinburgh.

Customer Reviews

A complex, rewarding read
I read this book on the recommendation of a friend and had no real idea what to expect. After the first few pages I felt quite bewildered, rather like the only player in a game who has not fully understood the rules. The action moves at a tremendous pace and Dunnett gives no quarter to those who have no knowledge of the history and politics of 16th-century Scotland. But even if you are a little confused, stick with it - it all comes together beautifully. And please read it slowly and carefully. I didn't and that's partly where I went wrong to start with - I always read too fast and that's something you can't afford to do with this book with all its twists and turns. It is very well written and very well researched. I will definitely re-read The Game of Kings, because I enjoyed it immensely and because I know I will appreciate all that I missed first time around. (But before I do that I'm going to see if I can find a copy of Queen's Play!)

Francis Crawford of Lymond, 16C's James Bond?
What fun! Its 1547, Henry VIII is dead and his young son Edward VII sits on the throne, as does a very young Mary sit on the throne of Scotland. Negotiations were made and broken to betroth young Mary to Edward and cement the two countries - or will the Scots marry her off to the dauphin of France instead? Francis Crawford of Lymond, a disgraced nobleman accused of treason sneaks back into Scotland and thus the game begins (to clear his name? is he working for the English as a spy? to murder his brother so that Lymond can inherit the Culter estates?).

Francis and his band of "merry men" immediately begin to wreak havoc, including setting fire to his brother's estate after stealing the silver and holding the ladies (including his mother) at knife point for their jewelry. Throughout, Francis' brilliant wit, sarcasm and heroism keep the reader enthralled and at times laughing out loud. Lymond's escapades take him up and down the breadth of Scotland as Dunnett slowly peels back the layers of her story and keeps the reader guessing until the very end, finishing in a trial of ups and downs, twists and turns ala Perry Mason.

This is not an easy tale to get into, especially if you have no passing knowledge of the Tudor/Stuart courts and noblemen during the 16C. Dunnett also liberally sprinkles her text with quotes from Latin, French and Olde English, you can purchase her companion book if you must know every word and nuance but I did just fine without it -- just skip the Latin you won't miss it. However, it's well worth the effort to stick with it until you "get it" as you will be well rewarded with a jolly good yarn, with as much action, excitement and swashbuckling good sword play as you would find in any Dumas novel -- for me that is the highest compliment I can give any author. A solid five stars, and I am now starting book two in the series, Queens' Play.

Side note, the other two reviews for this book, giving it poor ratings are for the audio book and seem to be complaining about the quality of the audio, and not the book/author itself. I'm not quite sure why they show up here.

Brilliant beginning to a brilliant series
Shockingly I didn't discover Dunnett till about 10 years ago, but since them I have read both her huge series of books innumerable times and still return to them for the amazing story-telling, beautiful writing, and sheer compelling-ness of her charcters.

Francis Crawford of Lymond just has to be the ultimate literary hero: brilliant, flawed, haunted and haunting; I think he was the first written man I ever truly fell in love with and it's a relationship that hasn't palled.

But these are not 'romantic' novels in any kind of reductive Mills-and-Boon or Georgette Heyer way: they are incredibly robust, violent at times, and amazingly rewarding. As other reviewers have rightly said, DD never writes down to her readers, and if that means quoting lightly in Latin, medieval French or Arabic, then she goes right on ahead to do it, because that's the way the character would speak.

Not that these are over-intellectualised, 'novels of ideas' either - they are simply the most stunning evocation of 16th century Europe, brought to us with true charcters who walk off the pages and live their lives as they choose.

In 'Kings', Lymond returns to his home in Scotland, pursued by his bad reputation and an aura of evil. Called traitor, murderer and, potentially, fratricide, he plays out the game amongst the Scottish families closest to the throne of Mary of Guise and her young child, Mary Queen of Scots.

I don't want to give anything about the plot, because it is so intricate and every small comment fits in later, but just try it for yourself and I defy you not to be enthralled!