@bokemonpie.bsky.socialimho part of Lymond's appeal as a character is that he is unusually perceptive, for people who feel like they weren't paid enough attention to, that type of quality of noticing and being thrown off from your old expectations is intoxicating
@bokemonpie.bsky.socialI think it's funny when the spying and intercepting of letters plots in Lymond get complicated and I can't quite follow but it is ok because I just go "the impression is that Lymond is very smart, ok" and then I laugh and call it a day.
@bokemonpie.bsky.socialEvery time Dunnett describes Lymond raising his eyebrows I just imagine the most cold and bitchy look on his face, it's great. She doesn't tell you this, you just fit in the gaps on your own, which all the more endears your own imaginary Lymond to yourself.
@bokemonpie.bsky.socialThe other thing I like about Dunnett's writing, aside from the characters, is how the books will suddenly unfold into a careful historical lesson about a very politically intricate moment in time for Scottish/English 16th history with the quality of a very intellectual essay.
@bokemonpie.bsky.socialI believe Lymond is stress testing Austin when they talk outside the inn in Berwick. I do not believe Austin passes Lymond's stress test but I do not have evidence to confidently assert this at 100%.
@bokemonpie.bsky.socialDanny Hislop is a riot and I enjoy him very much so far.
@bokemonpie.bsky.social'The feelings of the Queen’s ladies, who had not seen him before, were something again.' - Ringed Castle
a ladies' man through and through
@bokemonpie.bsky.social"We hope to have the four children legitimized."
Oh Lymond you little troll. And indeed, it was Dunnett's touch of author authority that Guzel and Lymond never produced kids together.
@bokemonpie.bsky.socialI had a bloody awful time figuring it out on first read of GoK but now thinking back, Lymond flirts w Mariotta to goad Richard into going after him.
Lymond's own way of protecting his family from him and his reputation.
@bokemonpie.bsky.socialOne of my friends is on bed rest and do you know how much effort it is for me to not visit and just pull up a chair with a book and go:
"The Game of Kings. By Dorothy Dunnett. Opening Gambit. Lymond is back."
@bokemonpie.bsky.socialIn PiF you get used to idea that there is a traitor among Lymond's inner circle and you carry that learning into RC, but by the time you're there, you care about the bigger program: how does he get back to Philippa?
@bokemonpie.bsky.socialWhat I like about the book series thus far is how each woman who comes into contact w Lymond is some different aspect of the feminine archetype, who comes to love Lymond in their own unique way.
@bokemonpie.bsky.social'That night was his last with Güzel, and he gave it to her, minute by minute as his parting present, with all the sureness, the elegance, the strange and delicate reticences she had come to know and respect. And her gift to him was no less.'
Dunnett is skillful w break-up sex. #LymondChronicles
@bokemonpie.bsky.socialSlata Baba and Lymond's relationship is so profound and beautiful and tragic and I applaud Dunnett's creative decisions to show who Lymond is through their interactions.
@bokemonpie.bsky.socialI think if we got Lymond's interiority we'd find him quite cute, brooding, and uptight and we'd still walk away liking him a lot but the effect of him being glamorous and a desirable romantic hero would be erased, that is the tradeoff.
@bokemonpie.bsky.socialwhen Lymond apologized to Guzel for the smell of fish, I was like "what if Guzel also went 'me too'" bc we all know 'lips changed' + 'unceasing engagement' means: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMDt...
our boy went to town
@bokemonpie.bsky.socialOk in a way it was decent of Guzel to not put the moves on Lymond until after he told her he wrote up the divorce papers.
@joannanovinswrites.bsky.socialI might have been influenced by #LymondChronicles. Review of my latest book: "world building at its finest" "portrays the well insanity of the time" "makes you feel as if you were there""does feel more like a historical fiction with romantic elements more so than a straight historical romance"
@bokemonpie.bsky.socialam I neurodivergent? says the woman who at 10pm on a wednesday is looking up facts on the novgorod trading region and what types of goods and services were exchanged between england and russia in the 16th century which destroyed guild monopolies of england
@bokemonpie.bsky.socialYou know where I think in part Lymond gets his hypervigilance in part from?
Gavin Crawford being an emotionally and physically abusive parent figure.