Comments | dangermousie: Lymond. How you make me swoon.

dangermousie

Lymond. How you make me swoon.

Jun 14, 2006 22:45

Batten down the hatches, here comes Hurricane Lymond.

Reading Freedom and Necessity, whose hero is a bit on the Lymond-light side is making me reread the entire Lymond Chronicles, a series of six novels, by Dorothy Dunnett, set in 16th century and following the protagonist, Francis Crawford of Lymond, who is brilliant and beautiful and fucked up ( Read more... )

lymond, quotes, books

Comments 21

Lymond!Love! winterspel June 15 2006, 03:05:18 UTC

How much do I hate you for writing this spoilery post?

However, I am very strong, so my eyes are averted from the spoilery crack. I just started Book 5 and OMG the last book was horribly painful (in the best kind of way). I loved it and it broke my heart. Just when you think that things can't possibly get any worse...they do.

So this is me being soooo good and NOT reading the crack you posted. Damn you.

;)

Re: Lymond!Love! dangermousie June 15 2006, 03:14:43 UTC

Heh. Sorry. But yes, do not click because hugely spoilery (not about the end or anything, but it would spoil a number of things I wouldn't want spoiled for the world ( ... )

yavannie77 June 15 2006, 09:34:20 UTC

Darn you. I can't read that quote either, since I still have about 100 or so pages of Ringed Castle left to read... (And I can't concentrate on finishing it before tomorrow's exam is over and done with, blech.)

Ringed Castle, I must admit, has been a positive surprise for me. Ok, I don't want to sound ridiculously prejudiced, but I was very doubtful about Russia as a setting for Lymond. But my gosh, I'm so glad I was wrong with my doubts. The post of Voevoda Bolshoia fits him perfectly. And as you said, Russia sounds authentic, not poorly written or utterly depressing.

And Pawn? O-m-g. It so hurts to read about Lymond's chess games with the Tsar after having read the previous book. *shudder*

I'm so glad my friends recommended the Chronicles for me. They are a challenging read, but every bit enjoyable. Dunnett's characters are so multifaceted (oh, how I loved Gabriel for about quarter of a book - although with a certain premonition that nobody's that good, eh) that they become very believable psychologically. No fear of flat ( ... )

dangermousie June 15 2006, 18:04:01 UTC

Yeah, RC is so bleak and yet so beautiful. Those chess scenes freak me out. But then of course there is the whole bit with Guzel and how she gets Lymond to be with her by using that boy (and she knows Lymond, doesn't she? The way to get him is make him sacrifice himself for someone), and of course the sex is accomplished and perfect and so cold (and makes Lymond feel like a complete whore even more, but that's another matter).

I love those books.

Lymond - Oh My! anonymous June 15 2006, 18:37:54 UTC

Oh My! What a treat to come to your blog after a few days and find this! One of my favourite works of fiction, and Lymond and Phillippa are my all-time favourite couple ever (followed very very closely by Lord Peter and Harriet) - I am on a LP re-read right now, started at the end and and working backwards. Gaudy night - lovely, lovely book, and going to read 9 tailors next, just because I feel like obscure bell-ringing info ( ... )

Re: Lymond - Oh My! dangermousie June 15 2006, 18:45:47 UTC

Wow, thank you!

Lymond and Phillippa are my all-time favourite couple ever (followed very very closely by Lord Peter and Harriet) -

Oh, that is exactly so for me as well (I just wrote a really long convoluted post comparing the two couples). Dunnett (and Sayers) is on of the few authors who can both convince me her character(s) are brilliant and that they are deeply suited for each other, however messed up they generally are.

I adore Gaudy Night. My favorite is Busman's Honeymoon though. Or maybe Murder Must Advertise, but I love them all.

read Pawn - you can imagine the effect on a hormonal woman who had just had a baby boy....I still can't re-read the chess game scene, and that was 6 years ago.

Wow. I cannot even imagine. That scene deeply horrifies me and I am not a mother yet. While I love Dunnett for following through: Lymond has an impossible choice and there is no way out, I hate it for what it makes me feel.

I didn't read RC and Checkmate for almost 6 months after Pawn - it took me that long to recover from that... ( ... )

Re: Lymond - Oh My! anonymous June 15 2006, 19:40:11 UTC

You know what you made me do??? I have work deadlines, and instead, I went to yahoogroups - I belong to both Lord Peter and Marzipan...and trolled those for a while...now I'm panicking about work! And of course, I had to come back here and see if you had posted anything more about Lymond/LP!

Busman's Honeymoon - yes, LOVE it...but my favourites are Gaudy Night and 9 tailors...with MMA close behind. I actually walked all over Oxford on a Gaudy Night pilgrimage a few years ago...drove my husband nuts! :-) BUSM - though the book as a whole is not in my LP favourites, certain scenes/chapters are: all of the letters, the DD's diary, the description of the wedding and their getting away, and the first day (the day of the chimneysweep), and of course, the scene by the fire after their cocktails at the parsonage.
Oh Heck, I feel a reread coming on...

Bitterlemons, in agony!

Re: Lymond - Oh My! dangermousie June 15 2006, 19:44:29 UTC

Sorry about the deadlines! I really am. I know what it's like to be carried away by books.

I remember going to Oxford, years ago, and getting all excited because of the Lord Peter connection. Yeah.

I've only read Nine Taylors once, a long time ago. I remember liking it a lot, but it's due for a reread because I don't remember it so well.

all of the letters, the DD's diary, the description of the wedding and their getting away, and the first day (the day of the chimneysweep), and of course, the scene by the fire after their cocktails at the parsonage.

Oh yes. I love it all so much. I still giggle/sigh when she call him "My Lord."

vierran45 June 29 2006, 19:38:03 UTC

I love love love the Lymond chronicles and I really want to reread them as soon as possible, but I can't do that until yavannie77 returns my books :(.

That passage... *sigh*

I want to reread them, but I also dread doing it, because I know that they will put me through an emotional wringer and I'll be a complete wreck after reading the books.

alexandral February 28 2008, 10:19:17 UTC

EEEEEEEEE! Thank you! This looks worthy of 3000 more pages of reading. :D Please spoil me - so they will never be together?

dangermousie February 28 2008, 16:07:22 UTC

No, they get a happy ending (one of my fave endings ever), after a lot more angst and misery, and some of my favorite scenes (one when he tells her everything in his past and she does end up feeling awful...not for what he's done but what has been done to him. It's probably my favorite scene in that whole book, especially that bit, when he tells her 'I love you in every way known to man.' *thud*

There is another whole bit where she can't bear to have him touch her (for various very spoilery plot reasons etc etc), but yes, they end up having this amazing happy ending.

alexandral February 28 2008, 16:19:23 UTC

OOOOOOO! This definitely deserves 3000 pages of reading and thank you very much for spoilers! I shall persist!

IHmmm, if it is fine to ask more - which book does their romance start in? I think she is already in the first book but no romance, alas!

dangermousie February 28 2008, 16:24:36 UTC

Well, he is 11 years older than she is (he is 21 in GoK and she is 10, so no romance there is a good thing). She first gets to like him as a person in Disorderly Knights (third book) but she is 13? 14? in it? So no romance, obviously. She has a huge role in Pawn in Frankincense (4th book) and that's when they get married, but it's to protect her, not love (she is 16 at the time). He falls in love with her near the end of Ringed Castle, the fifth book. I think she is 20 at the time? And Checkmate is absically one huge, tormented, super-awesome romance. It's my favorite romantic novel. So good. if you want to read out of order, you can always skip to CM but I don't know if I recommend that. There are some amazing passages there though.