Introduction

When I first started reading Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles in the 1990's I thought I was alone, that I was the only person being driven mad by her, obsessed with her characters and plots and language. Dorothy’s books got under my skin in a way no other author’s could. They invaded my dreams and walked around there like they owned the place.

They still do.  

Rather than fighting that reaction, I have decided to give into it and immerse myself in her books. This time I will force myself to read s-l-o-w-l-y (harder than you think if you've never been under Dunnett's spell), think about, and comment on every chapter.

I will try to avoid spoilers, focusing instead on what is happening at the moment. However, I will point out things to focus on and look for that I believe will become important or recur throughout the series.

Why am I doing this? First, for me. I hope to exorcise the Dunnett Demon. Well, not really exorcise. I would rather keep the burning passion for DD's books while coming to understand them better and, by way of that understanding, increase my self-knowledge. That sounds pretentious, but then why do we read novels if not to know ourselves, our world, and our fellow creatures better?

Second, I am writing what I would have loved someone to share with me as I read the books for the first time. I'll tell you what this blog is not. It is not a Dorothy Dunnett companion. There are already two of those (recommend you buy them both): The Dorothy Dunnett Companion and The Dorothy Dunnett Companion, Vol II.

It is not an encyclopedic, page-by-page translation of every foreign word and phrase, explanation of every allusion, or analysis of every historical personage and event. For this, please do purchase Laura Caine Ramsey's Ultimate Guide to Dorothy Dunnett's The Game of Kings. It's an amazing piece of research and scholarship, indispensable for any TLC reader.

There are many other DD resources available in print and on the web. A quick web search will turn up fascinating discussions about TLC. But most of these are intermittent, often desultory chats from long ago about one or two items of interest (or controversy), not detailed discussions of each book. Every time I read a web discussion, I'm left hungry for more, but it's too late! The discussions are like reading inscriptions on tombs: they leave you wanting to ask, "What about this!?" But the time when you could engage the principal is long past.

I want to make a brief comment about point of view. In the entire series, there are only a handful of scenes from Francis Crawford's point of view. We see Lymond almost entirely through the eyes of others--people who love him, people who hate him, people who love AND hate him. People who want to kill him, want to manipulate him, want to humiliate him, want to change him, want to save him, want to BE him...but mostly they want what we want: they want to understand him, and that is a full-time job.

This book, this series--all of DD's historical fiction--is not an easy read. Many a reader has given up and walked away too soon. If you read just a little of DD’s devoted fans’ comments on the web, you will see that you should stick with the books. It is meant to be challenging. Dunnett never condescends to her readers. She is demanding in a way that ensures a huge reward for the effort. Once you get a feel for the rhythm and flow of her writing, you will forget you ever had any difficulty at the beginning because Dorothy will sweep you along swiftly and smoothly to a place you’ve never been, never dreamed of, and could never have imagined without her magic. She weaves a spell like no other.

As I reread each chapter, I will discuss what I find interesting, confusing, amusing, important: what is happening, why it's happening, what motivates a character, what to pay special attention to...pretty much anything that I think is worth a comment. I can promise you, I will still miss things--probably some really important things--because DD's writing is so rich and dense. 

Ready to begin? I know a blog is not the ideal format because it reads from most recent to oldest. Here is a link to the gateway to The Game of Kings, First in the Lymond Chronicles. From there, you begin the chapter-by-chapter analysis with Opening Gambit. At the end of each blog entry are "newer" and "older" post buttons and a drop down menu of all the posts by date and title, starting with the first entry and progressing through the book. I hope this will make navigating this awkward format a bit easier.