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Title: The Game of Kings (The Lymond Chronicles Book 1)
Author: Dorothy Dunnett
Published: New York: Random House, 2010 (1961)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 543
Total Page Count: 154,486
Text Number: 451
Read Because: personal enjoyment, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: 1547, Scotland: in the midst of an English invasion, prodigal son Lymond returns home. The Game of Kings is obliquely intelligent, self-satisfied, bombastic, as indulgent as fanfiction, and utterly delightful. I much preferred the first two thirds, when everyone is heartless; the revisions to characters/events that happen in the close is clever and important, but isn't to my taste—as a trope or in how it changes what's come before. But I'll be honest: I enjoyed this book wholeheartedly. The idea of five sequels exhausts me; this wants to be read with a guide in hand, to pick apart allusions and understand the historical setting. But it wouldn't be half as fun if it weren't as smugly brilliant, and frequently inscrutable, as its hero. Dunnett finds practiced balance between intellect and id, and the result is supremely satisfying. I'm only sorry I haven't read this until now.
Author: Dorothy Dunnett
Published: New York: Random House, 2010 (1961)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 543
Total Page Count: 154,486
Text Number: 451
Read Because: personal enjoyment, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: 1547, Scotland: in the midst of an English invasion, prodigal son Lymond returns home. The Game of Kings is obliquely intelligent, self-satisfied, bombastic, as indulgent as fanfiction, and utterly delightful. I much preferred the first two thirds, when everyone is heartless; the revisions to characters/events that happen in the close is clever and important, but isn't to my taste—as a trope or in how it changes what's come before. But I'll be honest: I enjoyed this book wholeheartedly. The idea of five sequels exhausts me; this wants to be read with a guide in hand, to pick apart allusions and understand the historical setting. But it wouldn't be half as fun if it weren't as smugly brilliant, and frequently inscrutable, as its hero. Dunnett finds practiced balance between intellect and id, and the result is supremely satisfying. I'm only sorry I haven't read this until now.
