Book Review - The Game of Kings

The Game of Kings (The Lymond Chronicles, #1)The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was our book club selection based on something the hostess heard on NPR. Apparently, they made it sound more like a bodice ripper than it actually was.

It turned out to be a nice historical fiction story placed in Scotland in 1547. Mary, Queen of Scots, is only four years old when the story starts. There's a lot of intrigue, spying, violence and a few love stories. But, no sex scenes. :-(

Most of our group didn't actually finish the book. It took me about 100 pages before I could get into it because it started out with a lot of Scottish dialect, French, Spanish and Latin and introduced a new character every page. The latter point is only a slight exaggeration. However, once I decided to just keep reading, I finished the next 400 pages over two days.

I'm glad I finished it because I found the ultimate story very satisfactory. This is the first in a series so I may go on to read more.



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