Lymond, Lymond, Francis Crawford of Lymond... Eh.Compelling read for the political machinations, even if I don't quite believe in the protagonist. It's the superhero aspect I can't identify with. Brilliant fencer, wrestler, best musician ever heard, linguist, lover, leader, strategist, charismatic, gorgeous... It's all a bit much, understand? In the first novel there was enough of a temper of error and self-doubt, and his best-at-everythingness wasn't so much on stage.And yet I suppose there were such people. The proverbial renaissance man: Henry VIII was a musician and athlete, before he went to fat, it's said. Others... I suppose someone has to be the best.I have the same problem with the Miles Vorkosigan books. He's a bit much... I think it's the charisma again. I suppose that sort of overwhelming personal magnetism doesn'tt penetrate the book-brain barrier for me very well.Maybe it's inadequacy: I'm not charismatic, brilliant, or good at most things, so reading about someone who is makes me feel deficient. The arrogance bothered me, too. "Making him into a leader of men." "I made him mine." Having sex with Oonagh, to teach her self-knowledge... Guh. ( )

It is two years since the close of The Game of Kings and someone is planning the murder of young Mary Queen of Scots, and Mary of Guise summons Francis Crawford of Lymond to France to stop the murderous plot. Francis comes in disguise as a member of the entourage of a Prince of Ireland, and the game is on. Thady Boy Ballagh nee' Lymond charms the decadent French court with his wit, sarcasm and music as Dunnett slowly unpeels the layers of her tale with plot twists and surprise turns around every corner. No one is what they appears to be at first glance, even Francis. Is Thady Boy really a drunken sot or is someone trying to poison him? Someone is trying to kill O'LiamRoe but is it because they think he is Lymond in disguise? Does the young Archer Robin Stewart who befriends Thady Boy have another motive than friendship?

While the book is slow at times, this story unfolds amidst the decadence of the French Court, it's hard drinking, partying courtiers, scheming noblemen, a race atop the roofs and steeples of Paris (brilliant!!), and ending in a nail biting finish as the plot to murder Mary comes full circle and Francis' efforts to save Mary include some members of the King's menagerie -- a couple of elephants, a roaring lion and even the chimpanzees get in the act.

Throughout, 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 is a complicated tale, and one that a reader has to pay close attention to, if you let your mind wander you may have to back track occasionally as I did. However, if you enjoy a complicated, action packed, surprise around every corner type of novel ala Dumas, you will probably find this series to be right up your alley. Five stars and now on to book #3 The Disorderly Knights. ( )

Mary of Guise, the Scottish Queen Dowager, returns to her native France with her daughter Mary, the little Queen of Scotland. The little girl's life is in danger and her mother insist to have Francis Crawford of Lymond around to ensure her protection. However, Lymond cannot arrive as himself... so he arrives in the company of Irish Prince of Barrow, as his ollave Thady Boy Ballagh. The first hundred or so pages I was so confused who was supposed to be who that I really struggled to get anywhere with this book, and even when I felt I had got into the story, I got bogged down every now and again. ( )

Predominatley set at the court of Henri II in France, here we have the James Bond of the 1550s Francis Crawford of Lymond, delving into intrigue as only he can. In disguise, he is set to protect the life of the little Queen of Scotland, Mary, who is affianced to the Dauphin. Phelim O'LiamRoe, a prince of Ireland, adds a wonderful character to the court, along with the sheer hurdy-gurdy life of Thady Boy Ballagh. I enjoyed this second book in the series a little more than the first, though it has been around 3 years of reading between them. I think I understood Lymond a little more, and Dunnett's writing style too. Wish I had copies of the Companions to help with translating some of the foreign dialogue though. ( )

Queen's Play deepened my belief that Dunnett was writing the Lymond Chronicles just for me. Because not only did it have the same wonderful dialogue and attention to historical detail, the same wit and Byzantine plotting as The Game of Kings, this one had Irish characters. Or, to be more specific, it had Phelim O'LiamRoe, who just happens to be Prince of the exact part of Ireland I come from. My tiny, historically unimportant part of Ireland.

I think Trin can attest to the 'oh my god for serious?' text message she received when I reached that part of the novel. Dunnett's attention to detail is so good that I literally read the first couple of the O'LiamRoe's titles, and thought 'hey, that must mean that he's related to my clans'; the fact that he then turned out to be the Prince of the Slieve Blooms wasn't so surprising, though it still did make me shriek with glee. She did, admittedly, mess up the vocative case for those occasional times she used Irish; but I think I can forgive her for it, especially considering the fact that the difference in stress between Irish and Scots Gaelic was actually an element in this at one point. The stresses are one of the ways in which you can tell whether or not an Irish speaker is a native or not, but that's such a rare thing to pick up on.

Now, of course, it's just a matter of tracking down the next volume in the series. I still can't understand why the first volume is in print, and the fourth, but none of the rest. ( )