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Book #4 in the Lymond Chronicles and a definite WOW book, February 21, 2008


Pawn in Frankincense opens up shortly after the end of The Disorderly Knights, as Jerrott and Philippa track down Lymond on his search to find Francis' child, stolen by renegade Knight Graham Reed Malett and hidden somewhere in the heart of the Ottoman Empire. Francis uses his position as an emissary of France delivering gifts to Suleiman the Magnificent as an entrée into the mysterious world of the east as he and his companions continue their desperate search for Lymond's son. However, the deliciously evil Graham's schemes lead them on from one false lead to another, as the web is spun to bring Francis and troops further into Graham's evil web. Nothing and no one is as they seem, and the author throws many red herrings and surprises into her tale and eventually we discover that there are two blond, blue eyed children being sought. One child is Francis', who is father of the other?

Although separated, Lymond and his followers all end up in Constantinople, as Graham's plots come to fruition and Lymond, Jerrott, Archie and the mysterious Marthe with the striking resemblance to Lymond begin the fight of their lives in a real life chess game with deadly consequences for any who are "captured", and Francis battles to maintain his wits against the deadly addiction Graham's schemes have unknowingly afflicted him with.

As with the first three books in the series, Francis Crawford is a fascinating hero, and is as suave, debonair, flawed and fascinating as only a 16th Century version of James Bond could be. This book is filled with non-stop action and suspense and ends with quite a big surprise of a cliffhanger which will send the reader reaching for the next book in the series, The Ringed Castle (Lymond Chronicles, 5). A solid five stars and my favorite so far in the series ( )

Any novel by Dunnett must be savored - I can never just plow thru it no matter how badly I want to move the story along. And then, at the end, I want to go back a reread it.

THe chess game at the end was a masterpiece of writing. I found this novel to be the most demanding so far - both physically and emotionally. I was really depressed at the end I had been so fully pulled into the story. ( )

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 closely--it'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 reeling--both 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 this--where it can go--because wow. This is shooting right to the top of the list as one of the best books I have ever read. ( )

Having now read this entire series, I can say with certainty that this is my favorite installment: it's just a roller coaster of emotional and physical turmoil all the way through, and I mean that in the best way possible. As for the climatic chess game set piece: I'm *still* sweating. This is the best thing I've read all year.