Checkmate: Book Six in the Legendary Lymond Chronicles

by Dorothy Dunnett

Book Overview

Combining all the political intrigue of Game of Thrones with the sweeping romanticism of Outlander, Dorothy Dunnett's legendary Lymond Chronicles have enthralled readers for decades and amassed... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679777482
• ISBN13: 9780679777489
• Release Date: September 1997
• Publisher: Vintage
• Length: 608 Pages
• Weight: 1.14 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.4" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Checkmate

These are absolutely wonderful books -- erudite, witty, beautifully written, magnificently characterized and wonderfully plotted. They, and perhaps particularly this last installment, aren't going to be for everyone. Readers who dislike sentiment and who get bored with long expository passages won't find this is their favorite book. Even I, who love melodrama, found myself tempted at some points during CHECKMATE to shake the characters violently and yell, "Get over it!" But it's gorgeous stuff nonetheless. Dunnett's whole six-book series is the story of one outstanding character, only rarely told from his point of view, and aided by a vivid supporting cast. She spares him few agonies (even if at times one feels he overreacts just a tad) and gives him great beauty and great talents. Writing in impeccable omniscient point of view, she captures the 1500's beautifully with only a tiny hint of an anachronism here and there. I recommend these books to readers who enjoy character-driven historical fiction with considerable action as well as considerable emotion.

The Best Ever

My Father used to get mad at me because I didn't hear anything while I was reading. "Gone With the Wind" when I was nine, "Lolita" when I was 10 (no, I didn't understand it!- I read it again later), "Henry the 8th", etc. and etc. I was addicted at an early age. But until I read the Lymond series I didn't realize the depth of my addication. The electricity went out one night so I read by flashlight. Philippa and Lymond made Scarlette and Rhett pale by comparison. Not to mention Dolores and Humbert Humbert. With DD's series I almost felt like a voyeur. When you read a book and at the end you feel as if you intimately know the characters, you can only praise the author that imagined them for your enjoyment (education?). Being an American living in France, understanding French did help deciphering the quotations: "Tant que je vive...As long as I live...". And "medianoche" was a mystery until recently when I found out that it's a meal eaten around midnight, thanks to Le Catalog des Musees. Yes, I can understand the readers that found the 1st book in the series a little (a lot) difficult. But I can only think: Too bad for you! You have missed out on a treasure. Please try again. You'll never find more complete characters - male/female, young/old, rich/poor, whatever! They still live inside my head and I am happy to share their world, a world I would have never known without DD's talent. I love to read history books now thanks to the author of the Lymond series. And I have never read such a touching love story (Scarlette and Rhett - get real!).

Amazing

A chance recommendation by a friend introduced me to this series and all I can say is that I am grateful for that suggestion. I have rarely enjoyed a series so much or found myself so involved with the characters and their lives. This final book, Checkmate, left me in awe of Lady Dunnett, severely attached to Lymond and Phillipa, immensely pleased with the conclusion and resolution, and more than a little reluctant to agree with Dunnett that there could be no more written about Lymond. No one could finish reading the book without imagining what the future would bring to Lymond and Phillipa. The characters are much too engaging to be put aside with the book upon completion. They grow in front of you and they grow with you until you feel that you have played a part in their character development and not merely seen it happen in front of you. It's wonderful. Lady Dunnett reaches a hand out to each reader and allows him to enter some private corner of these characters' minds until he begins to understand what prompts the characters and to sympathize with them all the more.To anyone considering this book, do not read it without reading the first five books, in order, but definitely do not pass up this series. I could not put the book down. Lady Dunnett is the most skillfull author I know of to truly weave history into the story until the seams between truth and fancy do not show. I felt as though I were leading a double life, both in the present, and in that far away, yet familiar (thanks to Lady Dunnett) world of the Renaissance.This is a book worth reading, and then rereading several times over. It will become familiar, but never old.

The most exhilarating, intoxicating conclusion ever written!

I first read The Lymond Chronicles over ten years ago. I have re-read this series several times since. Checkmate is the most exhilarating, intoxicating conclusion to a historical series ever written! Dorothy Dunnett ingeniously intertwines fictional characters and events with actual historical figures and happenings. The main character, Francis Crawford of Lymond and Sevigny is, to my mind, the most amazing fictional character ever created. He is brilliant, neurotic, scholarly, cruel, willful, witty...I could go on indefinetly. Throughout the series, Lymond is surrounded by intriguing characters, both real and fictional, and travels all over the world in search of his future, but afraid of his past, and the truth of who he really is. He returns to the battlefields of 16th century France in the sixth and final installment of the Lymond Chronicles. He must lead an army against England while friends and family "assist" him, against his will, in his search for the truth.Do yourself a favor: read Checkmate only after you've read Game of Kings, Queen's Play, Disorderly Knights, Pawn in Frankincense, and Ringed Castle first, in that order. You won't ever regret it.

I've never read their equal

Let me preface my review by saying I am an avid reader and have read everything from physics texts to children's books and in all of my journeys I have never found anything equal to the genius of these novels. This last of the series, Checkmate, is the most painful to read, for in it all loose ends are at last tied and all farewells must be said. It is just as satisfying as the previous 5 novels and Dunnet's rendition of the history of the religious battle over the souls of England and France in the 16th century is both riveting and fascinating. Dunnett's skill in story-telling is unparalelled. Her characters are rich and engaging and their world is one in which nothing is as it seems, and where history finally seems real. Lymond is a hero of epic proportions; ambiguous, complex and never disappointing. His trademark wit is always refreshing as is his astounding intellect. These are characters who become part of one's daily thoughts and one is guaranteed to miss them when their story has ended. I reluctantly turned the last page of this book while bravely fighting away tears and plan on reading the series again quite soon because I, like others, often missed the nuances of Dunnett's spectacular plots and dense dialogue in order to move on. I really cannot say enough about these books. When one reaches the end of the journeys of Lymond, one can't help but feel as if one has lived through them oneself, from the Highlands of Scotland to the frozen and snowy grounds of Russia. By the last chapter, I couldn't help but feel that I had earned the right to call Lymond by his Christian name, Francis, as only those closest to him are permitted. The Lymond of Crawford series reiterates and reminds me of the reasons we write and read literature: to excite, to escape, to feel truly human and to revel in the glory of being so. If you have dismissed these books early on, do yourself a favor and try again. The trip is well worth the fare. And to Dorothy Dunnett let me say Thank You for showing me what a masterpiece consists of and for giving those of us who feel that perhaps we might have been born a couple of centuries too late the chance to see what might have been.