Anne Todd O. (forestguardian) reviewed Checkmate (Lymond Chronicles, Bk 6) on + 88 more book reviews
Ah too bad this is the last in this exciting series but my friend who bought me the first book just told me about Nicolo. Hooray. While I was waiting for it I read the King Hearafter. Excellent "prequel" to the Lymond series.
The best of the series! If you like Dorothy Dunnett, make sure you read this one. I couldn't put it down. Her writing is a good as Shakespeare's best dramas.
This last in the series The Lymond Chronicles is as marvelous as its five predecessors. Dunnett created an historical tapestry of an extravagant era: great excitement, political intrigues, romance, danger, sense of place, and humor. Characters are convincing and highly developed, and the interweaving of plot with historical fact is seamless. Best historical fiction of our age.
If one could say Perfection? This book left me breathless for the most part (as did all the others in the 6-bk series). But of course, this is the culmination of the adventures of young Lymond (all this by the time he is 32!). The end was riveting, about 8 pgs before it I had to weep privately, on & off for an hour or so; it was incredibly moving. Then the finale is joyful. But of course leaves me longing for more of this unpredictable, complex character & his companions, & dear Phillipa. So I can always go back and read my first love, the Niccolo Series by Dunnett. Niccolo being an earlier relative (I won't say what!) of Lymond. Dunnett is truly, as they say, "the greatest historical fiction writer of the past century." Never been to so many countries, learned more than I ever learned in school (or wanted to) - or felt so at home in the past....
