I'm bumping my initial 4-star rating to 5, since this book is still making me think, and shake my head in wonder, several days after I finished reading it.Now that this series has well and truly sunk its claws into me, I'm chomping at the bit to start the third book, but I made a deal with myself that I wouldn't do that until I wrote a proper review for Queen's Play. So here I am, with lots of thoughts and feelings and love for this series roiling around in my head, a little frustrated that it's so much easier to write a scathing review than explain why a good book is so great.Francis Crawford of Lymond has been summoned by the Dowager Queen of Scotland, who is temporarily living in France with the 7 year old Mary Queen of Scots, to come to France to protect the young queen from an unknown person who is trying to assassinate her. The Dowager Queen, an experienced and canny old politician, thinks she knows exactly how she wants to use Lymond and what she does and doesn't need or want him to do, but events have a way of proving people in this series wrong in their comfortable assumptions. Decisions tend to come back to bite you in this series, and the queen is no exception. Lymond arrives in France in disguise--if you want to be spoiler-free and try to figure out the mystery, be careful about which GR reviews you read since several give away this surprise--and with a bang (a shipwreck which may or may not have been an accident) and he immediately begins turning the French court upside down with his antics while protecting the young Queen Mary. And, not too surprisingly, the unknown assassin turns his or her attention to Lymond to try to kill him off and then take care of Mary later.This book has a way of creating the craziest scenes and making them seem not just reasonable but real: elephants madly rampage through the streets, a cheetah is used to hunt rabbits and maybe something more, Lymond and the young French courtiers race across the rooftops of the town of Blois (if you touch the ground or a floor you're disqualified) in a wildly exciting, death-defying race to be the first to assemble the clues to a puzzle. And the puzzle of the plot against Mary unfolds bit by bit, and managed to surprise me at every turn. Given the exhaustive research that Dunnett put into her historical novels, I have no doubt that elephants and cheetahs really did romp across France in the 16th century.The rooftops of Blois, France (crammed together nice and tight for an ideal footrace)This second book isn't nearly as difficult to read as the first one. The plot is more straightforward and there are far less obscure quotes from books long forgotten by everyone except the author. There is, however, a lot of French (which Dunnett never bothers translating for you). Google Translate and I became very good friends while I was reading this book, although several of its translations left something to be desired ("By five hundred thousand million cartloads of devils. Dunce you came mustaches"??).Lymond himself is a brilliant but flawed hero, growing into his role as a mover and shaker, and as a leader of men. At one point another character tells him: "But he should have been in your mind. He was your man. True for you, you had withdrawn the crutch from his sight, but still it should have been there in your hand, ready for him. For you are a leader--don't you know it? I don't, surely, need to tell you?--And that is what leadership means. It means fortifying the fainthearted and giving them the two sides of your tongue while you are at it. It means suffering weak love and schooling it till it matures." This book has some great insights into life and human nature.I want to see how Lymond grows and changes and see what adventures and hardships he experiences along the way. And shoot, I really want to watch a race across the rooftops now--or, preferably, have Francis Crawford of Lymond chase me across a rooftop.I'm not normally much of a historical fiction reader (unless, you know, there's either a major fantasy or romance component), so huge thanks to Sherwood, Misfit and Marquise for the promptings to read this series and the determination to stick with it when things got rough for a while!
Dunnett is brilliant at action and plot, so much so that in my opinion very few authors are able to knock shoulders with her regarding either. However there are some unfortunate aspects to her writing that are frustrating, if not downright annoying.1-When other languages are used so extensively (in this case French, Gaelic, and Latin) the text requires annotation. Period. The fact that this book is not annotated, in my opinion, is inexcusable. Without it a reader is too often left in the dark. Yes, I also own The Dorothy Dunnett Companion and used it hundreds of times while reading this book, but even so many of the foreign phrases and sentences were not included. 2-Dunnett has a bad habit of randomly juggling how she refers to her characters. At any time she may use their actual name, their title, peerage or family, land-holding or nationality, or any variant aspect of their physical description. It's so excessive that it interrupts the reading by requiring the reader to second-guess or constantly check the character list at the front of the book in a struggle to identify whom she is writing about. 3-The sentence structure and phrasing is sometimes slightly awkward making it difficult to follow her meaning. This includes how she often uses pronouns so it's unclear who may be doing or saying what. The re-reading and deciphering required makes this a stop-start proposition that impedes the reader. 4-Excessive use of archaic, unusual, or even incomprehensible vocabulary. (When the use of several dictionaries still proves unhelpful the author has well and truly stepped over the line of good sense in word choice.) All of these elements combined made what might have been a wonderful reading experience so much less enjoyable. Regrettably, I have to rate this 3-1/2 stars, and it gets that because of the story and historical content. Incredibly dense, often frustrating writing style.
What do You think about Queens' Play (1997)?
An excellent read. I have a trove of phrases lodged in my head, examples of Dunnett's extraordinary word-smithing ('the impacted rooftops of Blois. like some dental nightmare..'). I liked this complicated story very much, but not quite as much as the first in the series, which may have been in part because I had no guide. I wish someone would hurry up and publish one, because it was difficult, and annoying, reading along knowing I was missing clever details capable of astonishing me with their clever aptness--if only some kind soul would explain them to me. Also, there were frequently places where I didn't understand what was going on, and if the stupid character, Robin Stewart wasn't around for Lymond to explain to, I was lost. Also, some of my favorite characters from the first volume weren't in this one, and the new additions, while interesting and likable, didn't take possession of me. It did pall a little, how much Lymond is good at EVERYTHING. I particularly like the hunting scenes, the tennis, the descriptions of the pageantry and menagerie...I was fortunate to visit the Musée de la Chasse in Paris, so the hunting scenes were especially vivid for me. If I can figure out how to do the html tags, I'll upload some pictures.
—Jaima
It took me an entire week to negotiate this installment of the Lymond Chronicles, as I am almost entirely occupied with writing my PhD thesis at the moment. It made a very pleasant respite, though. As with the previous book, Lymond spent a great deal of time disguised, foiled plots, enthralled men, women, children, and exotic animals, and narrowly escaped death (in this case by fire, poison, debauchery, horse-related misadventure, elephant-related misadventure, explosion, and execution by breaking on a wheel, not to mention various fights). The majority of events take place in France, at the dissolute court of King Henri. I found this locale somewhat less pleasant and more oppressive than Scotland’s moors and castles, so did not enjoy 'Queens’ Play' quite as much as The Game of Kings. Nonetheless, Lymond continues to be an enthralling and irresistible character, with apparently endless convenient talents. His misadventures are wonderfully melodramatic and intermittently farcical. Perhaps my favourite moment was the rooftop race, or the wonderful business in the illegal press. The amazingly florid seduction scene also greatly amused me - 'His hands searched her, touching her passions one by one and shaping with his musician's fingers the growing, thunderous chord,' indeed!
—Anna
new word I've learned from this book: An ollave of the highest grade is professor, singer, poet, all in the one. His songs and tales are of battles and voyages, of tragedies and adventures, of cattle raids and preyings, of forays, hostings, courtships and elopements, hidings and destructions, sieges and feasts and slaughters; and you'd rather listen to a man killing a pig than hear half of them through. After the epic struggle to clear his name in Scotland, you would think Francis Lymond deserves some rest, but he has come to the attention of the high and mighty, and they have plans on how to use him. Mary of Guise, the Queen Mother of Scotland doesn't like a free agent of Lymond caliber roaming the home country, and she plots to bring him under her thumb to France, where she and her seven year old daughter Mary Queen of Scots have taken refuge from English attacks at the court of young Henry II. It will be difficult to describe the plot without giving up spoilers. Even mentioning names would point out who made it through from one book to the next (a word of warning: Dunnet outplays even George R R Martin when it comes to offing main players she has built over hundreds of pages and made the reader care deeply about). Queens Play has a very complex plot, but at its most basic level it is a spy story, with one man attempting to infiltrate a foreign government at the highest level in order to save the life of an innocent. The man is out on a limb, as his sponsors deny any knowledge or support of his activities. The only resources at his disposal are his wits and his courage, a fast tongue and a talent for mischief.Disguised as Thady Boy Ballagh, ollave to Phelim O'Liam Roe, an Irish prince coming to the court to ask for French support against the British invading his beloved Eire, Lymond is supposed to keep a low profile, but his journey will become a long list of deadly incidents as he tries to unmask the shadow puppetmasters who would destroy an alliance between France and Scotland ((view spoiler)[ Lymond will drowned at sea, trampled by berserk elephants, stabbed, burned, poisoned, thrown from heights, hunted with panthers and wild boars, mauled by wild horses, and so on. Dunnett is ruthless in applying the old technique of putting her hero under pressure to show what he is made of. But the physical tortures are nothing compared with the emotional turmoil Lymond, and the reader, will go through by the end of the book. (hide spoiler)]
—Algernon
