Review: The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett

Narrator: Samuel Gillies
Genre: Historical Fiction
Series: Yes, The Lymond Chronicles #1
Length: 25 hours
Copyright: 1961 (book), 2000 (audio)
Publisher: Recorded Books
Buy: Amazon

Summary: from Good Reads.
Dunnett introduces her irresistible hero Francis Crawford of Lymond, a scapegrace nobleman of elastic morals and dangerous talents whose tongue is as sharp as his rapier. In 1547 Lymond is returning to his native Scotland, which is threatened by an English invasion. Accused of treason, Lymond leads a band of outlaws in a desperate race to redeem his reputation and save his land.


Feelings:
This audiobook was a little slow at first, but once the characters were introduced it started moving faster. Lymond is loquacious and verbose. He values his intelligence and wit above all other things. He uses them to deceive and pillage throughout Scotland in his quest to clear his name with the Scottish court.

There are both pluses and minuses to this book. I know that giving it a five bird rating might make you think this book is for everyone. It isn't. However, there were many things in this novel to respect and love. I think the cons for the book are very few and the amount of enjoyment I got from this book far out ways my initial opinion. Most of the cons I had, vocabulary, Scottish accent, use of Latin, Spanish, and French, and following the narrative as it switched perspective were things that resolved themselves as I became acquainted with the writing style. Yes, if I had a dictionary while I was listening and the desire to look up every word I didn't know I would have been pausing all the time. You can find huge lists of words in other reviews of this book. However, it think exposing oneself to new vocabulary is a good thing. We all have the potential for growth and this book presents a story that is engaging while offering a challenge.

Things I really enjoyed about this audiobook were the characters. They make mistakes and they are human in the way they deal with these mistakes. There are regrets and characters grow and work to correct their past blunders. Many times in stories characters only learn from or grow from mistakes when it suits the narrative. I didn't feel that way about this novel.

The story itself was very interesting and the history surrounding the story seemed to be only a small part of the story. I was glad for that because if the plot climax was dependent on history it would not be a surprise. I like to be surprised by the climax and this was able to do that.

Samuel Gillies did an amazing job reading this audio book. This seems like it would be a difficult book to read given the vocabulary of our characters. I don't know that I would have enjoyed reading this book as much as I enjoyed listening to it.

I highly recommend the audiobook. The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett was amazingly crafted and the story and characters were wonderful to follow as they travel the country.