Notes from halfway through Checkmate

[oyceter]

I think everyone in RL who knows me now thinks I am entirely insane because most of me is still living in Dunnett's world. Plus, there's the fact that I grin crazily every so often thinking about the books and what's going to happen next.

So, to get this out of my system, below are many incoherent thoughts and many strange noises, mostly incoherent (I was scribbling these down at work because as I said, I am insane and entirely obsessed):

(the incoherency can mostly be summed up as: OH THE ANGST!!!)

- no Lymond, why Russia?? Silly boy, Philippa is perfect for you
- Jerott is so messed up!
- eep, Lymond sounding unsteady when Philippa says she's not infatuated with him
- EEP, Lymond admits he's bound to someone for life to Philippa and she thinks it's Kate! Waaah! *wibbles*
- I think I'm half in love with Lymond now. Oh dear, Philippa, you've fallen too
- I love the Philippa and Lymond chase scene
- OMG Lymond tried to kill himself after that?!
- Waaaaah, the angst of Lymond and Philippa!
- Oh no, Marthe has found Philippa's in love and it can only be bad (poor Philippa, standing there crying) <-- for some reason this scene reminds me of the last scene in Perilous gard
- OMG the angst because they're in love with each other except Lymond keeps pushing everyone away and Philippa thinks he's in love with someone else!
- Marthe! What are you doing? Don't tell Lymond Philippa loves him! Oh Lymond, when do you ever not strike out at everyone in the worst possible way?
- No! Sybilla and Richard can't be dead! It's the middle of the book!
- Oh thank god Sybilla is still alive. Oh no, is Richard really dead?? Waah!!
- Hey, Lymond, be nice to your mother!
- PHEW. Richard is still alive and the messed up Crawfords are back together.
- Still think Lymond is Sybilla's son somehow and not Gavin's, but will probably be embarrassingly off target
- How can Lymond be so intoxicating when he's having fun and so utterly insane all the other times?
- Oh, Philippa suffering nobly and not knowing about Lymond! And poor Austin! And eep, her speech to Austin on falling in love utterly with the right man at the wrong time and wrong everything and not knowing!
- WTF? Who fathered Lymond?!

Comments

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

Clearly he fathered himself. It's the only plausible explanation.

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

He's a self-made man.

[oyceter]

Lymond, suddenly splitting in two every so often, like cells.

Hee.

[queenofthorns.livejournal.com]

Perilous gard

OMG, I ::heart:: you even more now ;) One of my favorite books EVER!!! And come to think of it, he *is* very Lymondy, isn't he? ;)

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

Do tell? If it's Lymondish, it's probably right up my alley.

[queenofthorns.livejournal.com]

It's a wonderful YA fantasy by Elizabeth Marie Pope - a retelling of "Tam Lin" set in Mary Tudor's time ... The hero is blond and broody and noble, though suspected by everyone of having done away with his young half-sister. And the heroine is stubborn, opinionated and extremely brave ;)

The other one that Pope wrote ("The Sherwood Ring") is also fabulous, although it's more about ghosts. In upstate New York. And it features a snarky blond British guy. Sigh, I'm so predictable!

[oyceter]

Peaceable Sherwood!! *wibbles*

I didn't like Pat so much, but mmm, Peaceable.

Though I still like Perilous Gard better.

[queenofthorns.livejournal.com]

Yup! Peaceable was my man! And with the abusive father/blondness/cleverness/jokemaking - I read that in, um, high school, I think? Clearly a Lymond fan in the making.

And I also agree that Perilous Gard is even better - I think it's the combination of the legend (which I LOVE because it's the girl who saves the day!); the setting (I believe Pope was a scholar of Elizabethan history so she's really comfortable); and the darker and angstier story.

[oyceter]

I adore the whole jokemaking/cleverness-masking-real-emotion type. Diarmuid in the Fionavar Tapestry. Mmmmm.

Oh I love the legend and that Kate saves the day and I love the Fair Folk and the Lady.

And that last scene, with Kate outside and the snow dappling her dress.

[cofax7]

GGK was on Dunnetwork back in the mid-90s, and as much as admitted Lymond was Diarmuid's model.

Heee.

See also: Wimsey, Peter Death Bredon; Vorkosigan, Miles Naismith.

[oyceter]

Ooooo, that explains very much indeed.

Mmm. Now I'm going to have to read the Sayers books sometime.

Sayers

[oracne.livejournal.com]

You MUST. And then read truepenny's posts on them.

Re: Sayers

[oyceter]

Ooo, ok. Is this the Gaudy Night book everyone seems to be talking about?

Do they go in any order?

Re: Sayers

[oracne.livejournal.com]

http://www.spies.com/~rawdon/books/mystery/sayers.html

This site gives a chronology of the books and the short stories.

GAUDY NIGHT is towards the end of the series.

At the beginning of the series, Peter Wimsey has less depth than he does later. It's when he meets Harriet Vane in STRONG POISON that the series really takes off. Though, of the earlier books, I really like CLOUDS OF WITNESS and THE UNPLEASANTNESS AT THE BELLONA CLUB.

The books with Harriet are the only ones that, I think, really need to be read in order.

Re: Sayers

[oyceter]

Thanks!

Oh, good, female character!

(heroine addiction)

Re: Sayers

[oracne.livejournal.com]

(heroine addiction)

Hee!

[queenofthorns.livejournal.com]

Diarmuid in the Fionavar Tapestry.

Loved *him* (and Kay's a big Dunnett fan). HATED what Kay did with him. HATED! Like, I did not want to finish the books after that (frickin' frackin' King Arthur!! I want my Diarmuid back.) And he really fell down with the Sharra disappearing from the rest of the novel too, IMO.

Hee! I'm so bitter about this that I can't rant at the drop of the proverbial hat ;)

[oyceter]

I know!! I was so traumatized, especially because he and Sharra were already in Fionavar and they don't get to be reborn there or something like everyone else in all his other books!!

But, oh, I loved that he picked that way to go out, if he had to go out, out of the blue and for the Black Boar ;).

And Sharra's "Let it be done with love" kills me every single time.

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

I am so suggestible. I just went to amazon to dip my toes in the anime waters because of melymbrosia's rec of Read Or Die, and I ordered Perilous Gard while I was there. Yay fandom!

[oyceter]

Whoo!

(I just got RoD from Netflix... I think the not as recommended OVA though, sigh)

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

You'll love The Perilous Gard! oyceter is right, it's marvelous.

[oyceter]

It's one of my favorite YA books!! Tam Lin, with an immensely practical and common sensical heroine called Kate (I keep wanting to type Somerville), and a great interpretation of Faerie.

And the relationship between Christopher (blond broody hero guy) and Kate is wonderfully snarky.

[oyceter]

Yes!! Someone else has read it!!

I love love love love that book.

You know, Kate really is rather like Philippa.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

One of my favorite books ever. And with Richard Cuffari illustrations!

[oyceter]

Yes! Ooo, have you seen the new cover? I've been waiting for the reprint to come to the bookstore because my old copy has the cover scotch-taped on.

[rilina.livejournal.com]

I sympathise with the insanity. At one point I started forgetting to eat dinner because I just wanted to read more Dunnett.

The angst really does get ridiculous, but it's So Damn Good. Hee. Can't wait to hear what you think when you finish.

[oyceter]

OMG, I am practically incoherent now... have reached Lymond's confession to Philippa, which I have already reread three times.

And I absolutely adore Danny Hislop:

"And the prospect of watching the Crawford family at grips with itself was something that, blissfully, he wanted very much for his birthday."

Hee!

[oracne.livejournal.com]

I would totally do Danny Hislop.

[oyceter]

Me too.

I love that entire scene.

I'd also do Adam Blacklock.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, maybe both! At the same time! [fans self] [smacks self into sanity]

[oracne.livejournal.com]

(the incoherency can mostly be summed up as: OH THE ANGST!!!)

That is, indeed, the correct answer.