some ways the most gutwrenching of this amazing series: Lymond has left behind Scotland, his family and he thinks his friends, for a dangerous quest to find a child in the Ottoman empire and bring him back.
But there are numerous enemies, and many trails, and danger is not always where he thinks it is,
For some people Lymond might be at his most highhanded and arrogant in this book, but the revelations as they come, mount up to give us an ever clearer and increasingly complex picture of the man he is.
His choice in the live game of chess is perhaps one of the most brilliant scenes depicted in any novel and will haunt you for a long time as it haunts Lymond and his companions for the rest of the series.
Sheer brilliance! I've read many climactic sequences in novels which have made me feel tense or anxious, but none which made me feel physically ill, as happened in this case: that long, intense rollercoaster of a buildup to a denouement, which, well.
Let's just say that even though I finished the book hours ago, I still cannot think about it too closelyit's much too raw.
I do not want to say too much about this, because I want many people to read this book, and I want them to do so unspoiled.
Suffice to say that it was fiendishly well plotted, There were some parts which I called well in advance, but there were many more which just left me reelingboth from their unexpected nature, and from the impact they had on the characters.
I can't wait to see where the series will go after thiswhere it can gobecause wow, This is shooting right to the top of the list as one of the best books I have ever read OH MY GOD MY HEART.
I just . WHAT. SO UPSETTING. Every book I think it can't possibly get worse and then it DOES, And every book I think I can't possibly love this book series more and I do,
I think it's been years since a book has made my cry uncontrollably like I did reading this one, So heartbreaking and yet so good,
The plot is crazy as usual and this book, like the third, was action packed pretty much from start to finish.
All the new characters were great, especially Marthe, who is badass, All the characters are so well drawn and developed and feel so much like real people, Also they are awesome. Lymond! Phillipa! I missed the Crawford family but if I had my way these books would be all Crawfords having fun times instead of being emotionally destroyed.
I'm so afraid of the terrible things that I'm sure are to come in the next book, But I feel like starting it now, SO GOOD AND YET SO UPSETTING, The chase for a child was nervewrecking and exhausting, Besides, most of the book Lymond is on the edge of the focus, he is somewhere there, doing something, thinking something, and I feel more and more alienated from him.
Now I have my new favourite Fippy, Independent, practical, strongwilled an ideal of a British woman I have recently met at B, Mertz's books she is very likeable and she is a developing character and developing to be a better and stronger version of herself, while Lymond is
failing again and again in his futile search of the meaning and purpose in life.
I feel pity for him, just as I did reading the second book and he is well too gifted and clever to be pitied.
The book of suffer that is how I'd call this one,
I wonder if there will be some hope for Lymond in the next book, Please, do me a favor, and block off a significant portion of your day to finish this book ALONE, I had a busy week, and ended up only having time to read on the bus, When it got to that scene I was finding it difficult to breathe, difficult to continue reading without shaking and crying, and I had to take breaks from the scene to breathe and look out of the window so I wouldnt throw the book across the crowded Ride On bus and break down into tears.
On the walk from the bus stop to my building I actually told myself I had to be as strong as Philippa / Marthe, and I held my head up high with watery eyes and braved the fiveminute walk without having to stop and cry.
As soon as I was alone in the bathroom, the intense emotions took their toll,
What a beautiful book, though! Dorothy paints an exquisite background for us, as we go baby hunting all across the Mediterranean and end up within the gorgeous Topkapi Palace in Stamboul / Istanbul / Constantinople.
It was such fun to imagine the city in all her splendor under the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, with Rustem Pasha as the Grand Vizier.
We are in Jerotts head for a lot of Pawn in Frankincense, and, . . Phillippas!! Phillippa comes along for the ride, and we love that dont we She is so identifiable, and she made the book fun with her letters back to Kate and her sweet, enduring innocence.
Dorothy has created a handful of the strongest female characters that I have ever encountered in fiction, and Phillippa is our strong little preteen/teenager who ends up proving herself beyond anything I would have imagined.
For about a week I was convinced that I would name my first daughter Phillippa, but Im starting to rethink that, Its kind of a horses name, isnt it
Lymond has so many feelings! We never see them, but in this book we certainly do.
I felt like I actually knew what was going on behind those cold beautiful blue eyes for awhile there, Oh my, and Marthe, and the poetry! Ohh, and this book is so gay! Much gayer than the last some of it is only there if you notice it not super obvious, but some of it is pretty blatant.
And Phillippa in the Harem! Scandalous!
I was looking forward to witnessing an OonaghLymond conversation in the first half of the book, and that was cruelly denied to me by Gabriel.
We did pick up another badass female kingmaker of sorts, though, which is Guzel / Kiaya Khatun, We also get Mikal, as one of my new favorite minor characters!
In conclusion: Lymonds parents were fucking around, what will Kate say when Phillippa comes home bahhhh, and will Marthe actually be kind to Jerott
As the tension mounted to what I still consider, nearly half a century later, the most electrifying scene I have ever read, I was startled to realize my hands were sore from gripping the book so tightly.
It was:A, M.
The Lymond Chronicles are a staggering achievement by a towering intellect that will never be surpassed, The greatest historical fiction ever, Ms. Dunnett far outstripped the first three books in the series with this one in terms of both quality and plot,
Far from being a superblycrafted adventurous romp with surprising depth and emotional weight, as the three previous novels were, Pawn in Frankincense is a much more internal novel.
Despite a plot that spans the Mediterranean and the wonders of the court of Suleiman the Magnificent, the internal landscape of each character is explored lovingly but thoroughly.
From the struggles of Jerrott and Marthe to reconcile their internal worlds with the external to the development of Philippa into a strongwilled adult to the completely crushing responsibilities borne on the shoulders of Lymond, the characters themselves present the true apex of the book.
The minor characters are also memorably laid outZitwitz might be my favorite minor character yet aside from Abernathy,
The tension in the book builds like a sick thundercloudstyle tension headache only to break, in the finalpages, and and slowly stagger down to an exhausted, clearheaded gasping at the end of the novel.
I've heard the books continue to improve in quality, but I am not sure how Ms, Dunnett will manage to top Pawn in Frankincense, How do you review a book for which the current rating system with its maximum five looks so insufficient Thats the dilemma facing me.
And as much as I think I cant do justice to it, words might convey what the five cant: explain why exactly I came to love this.
The Chronicles of Lymond had a very rough start for me, very rough not so much for the usual reasons as for the protagonist character himself, and I was highly sceptical of the day Id adore the series ever arriving.
Like it, maybe. Love it, unlikely. Yet that day has arrived, and after "Pawn in Frankincense," theres a place for Francis Crawford of Lymond and Sevigny in my very short list of favourite literary characters.
All right, all right, thats too solemn a way to put it, I have a crush on him, I bloody love him!
Done, thats better now, Forward to the review, bosn,
When the book opens, we see him through the unsentimental point of view of Philippa Somerville, the girl that hated him for long, and the circumstances are so deceptively decadent that were ready once more to place Lymond back so neatly in his little incurable rake box: hes gambling at a bathhouse with a dubious personage.
. . and some nuns. Could it look any more debauched Yet hardly a couple of pages go by before we learn that, as its a rule in Dunnetts books, nothing is as bad or as good as it appears, and Lymond is really on a mission that has for a purpose to recover a child born in the Turkish harem of Dragut whose parentage is part of the plotlines mysteries.
Off we go then on another adventure sailing out of Lyons, with a troupe including headstrong Philippa, loyal and tortured Jerott, ambiguous Marthe, even more ambiguous Kiaya Khatún, tightfisted Gaultier, trusty Salablanca, and sicklysweet solicitous Onophrion.
This voyage will take them along the coast of the Moslemruled parts of the Mediterranean, chasing the child Khaireddin from one place to the next barely stopping to catch their breath, always finding his trace, always getting within arms reach of him, and always crashing down when about to snatch him from his kidnappers.
Its a mad game in which the personage behind the kidnapping dangles Khaireddin as a carrot before the Scots hare to keep him racing against time and hope.
People die, people betray, people hold fast to friends, and people love during this yearslong race that concludes in the most exotic of places, the seraglio of sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in Constantinople.
There, Lymond and his nemesis see each other and have to play chess with human lives its an astoundingly brilliant scene that will put Lymond in the impossible position of playing God with living and breathing pawns.
He is a genius at chess, yes, but is encumbered by the burden of scruples, a disadvantage in this circumstance, The decisions he makes are therefore sure to break the readers heart, Thats as much as can be said without spoiling everyone roundly,
The pace of this storyline is sprightly and rarely allows the reader moments of pause, and the revelations come in so quick and fast as in a long line of ducks ready to shoot.
Id joked that Dunnett had pulled the rug from under me so many times that I was collecting bruises, and as hyperbolic as that might sound, it does illustrate how surprising the twists were.
I didnt expect nor guess practically any but one, which is disgraceful for my poor analytic skills, but with a writer like this one, I dont mind feeling all fooled and silly.
Its even part of the charm of these books by this point, Does it speak for the extent of my conversion that Ive come to have an indulgent soft spot for the rhymes and the often unintelligible quotes that frustrate so many Yes, thats actually happened.
I dont know from where they come and for the most part not even what theyre about really, but there are some that I liked, such as the one Lymond sings to Marthe.
Speaking of, the female characters are strong in this narrative, a very appreciated bonus in a genre that tends by one reason or another to feature mostly males.
To the likes of Lady Sybilla, Christian and Kate from previous installments we have to add Marthe and Philippa now, Both are so welldefined, each in their own consistent characterisation, and add the commonsense touch to the testosteronedriven swashbuckling, and in some instances even save the day for the whole group.
Philippa, to me, has added a new dimension to the phrase “The things we do for love” that strips it of its negativity whilst keeping the undercurrent allusion to sacrifice.
One cant help but love her personality, her practicality and nononsense worldview, a much needed anchor to reality that was so needed in these books.
No, I cant do justice to this book You will have to read it and submerge yourself into the plot, and see with what emotions you emerge at the end.
To me, this deserves to be more widely read and appreciated, so paraphrasing the wise words of Gandalf: Run, people, run to read this now!
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Snag Your Copy Pawn In Frankincense (The Lymond Chronicles, #4) Composed By Dorothy Dunnett Distributed As Digital Format
Dorothy Dunnett