Dunnett, Dorothy - Pawn in Frankincense

[oyceter]

Waaaah!!! Lymond killed Khaireddin in that horrible, cruel game of chess =(.

Unfortunately, that was the part I hit at about three in the morning, and instead of putting the book down like I was going to, I sort of blazed on till the end.

Ouch ouch.

And I was having such fun at the beginning as well, with the Lymond-Philippa talk. My favorite bit:

"The coast's a jungle of Moors, Turks, Jews, renegades from all over Europe, sitting in palaces built from the sale of Christian slaves. There are twenty thousand men, women and children in the bagnios of Algiers alone. I am not going to make it twenty thousand and one because your mother didn't allow you to keep rabbits, or whatever is at the root of your unshakable fixation."

"I had weasels instead," said Philippa shortly.

"Good God," said Lymond, looking at her. "That explains a lot."

I really love Philippa ^_^. I loved how she kept trying to compose funny letters to Kate in the harem, how she's fundamentally good and decent (a nice contrast to the other pretty insane characters). I was kind of sad when she got all prettified at the harem though, because I liked how in the midst of all these other beauties, she was there, mousy-haired and flat-chested and common sensical.

I was incredibly amused by Marthe's first reaction to Jerott's infatuation or love or whatever it is with her -- he's just doing it because she's Lymond in female form! Oh the slash. I'm still not quite sure if I like Marthe or not, sort of how I'm not quite sure if I like Lymond. I find Lymond immensely fascinating and angsty and painful and wonderful to read about and I hurt for him immensely, but, well, he's also pretty up there on the not quite stable scale. It's sort of like my thing for Wes. And speaking of Marthe (which I was... really), I also love how Jerott's attempted pawing at her turns out (gender role reversal, oh joy!). Marthe and Lymond being siblings wasn't really that much of a surprise... I am going to guess that they have the same father in common and that Lymond is not a real Crawford, given that whole Dame de Doubtance prophecy thing.

But, oh, the last half of the book hurts so much. It was very hard to breathe properly during the entire game of chess, and then there was the end, when I realized Lymond had been planning it all along, that he had always had that exigency in his head, and oh, it hurt. And of course it had to be the child Lymond had known better.

It was just everything coming together, the two children, Lymond's opium addiction, knowing what had happened to Oonagh O'Dwyer before.

Speaking of Oonagh O'Dwyer, I read the scene when Jerott comes across her in the garden and thought, oh god, Gabriel has blinded her. Then, oh god, he's killed her and blinded her. Then several pages later, Marthe explained, and I felt nauseous.

And then Philippa and Lymond get married, ouch. My poor girl. And then the scene in the bedroom, after I was still reeling fromn the horrible chess game, and all Philippa can do is hold Lymond to his word. And then, finally, he wears himself out with Marthe right there.

I really desperately want to reread many parts, except I also have to find out what happens next, so it must wait until I am all the way done with the series.

But oh, owwww.

Links:
- rachelmanija's review and another (spoilers in second for Buffy S5 and the book)
- tenemet's review (no spoilers)

Comments

[oyceter]

Oh I know... I was sorely disappointed when he didn't show up in Ringed Castle =(.