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I have placed this book at my bedside, to read before sleeping. Last night I remembered why I've never been able to get far into it. There are some wonderfully gripping and witty passages, but they are inevitably followed by the introduction of bunches of characters who I can't figure out or keep straight who they are, political analysis which I can't figure out or keep straight, or some clearly significant remark from Lymond which I can't make heads or tails of. Still, I mean to persevere in the hope that eventually I will either figure out who everyone is, or get sufficiently engrossed that I won't care that I have no clue overall as to what's happening and can just enjoy the prose, individual scenes, and characterization-- which is how I read much of John M. Ford. I'm hoping to get far enough into the series that I will either have fewer books of it to take with me and be thoroughly engrossed by then, or else have given up for all eternity and know not to take any.
So far, the disgraced presumed traitor Lymond has snuck into Edinburgh and is running around doing all sorts of dramatic things with his band of merry men, but I can't figure out why he's doing anything, or even why other people think he's doing anything. What was the purpose of the escapade with the pig? Was he stealing the smuggled wine? Why did he need to barge into the room where everyone was conferring and then run away?
The scene with his mother and brother's wife was pretty good, although again I have no idea what he was up to. Supposedly he's siding with the English in the hope of taking his brother's place-- why he needs to steal his family's jewelry and set fire to the ancestral castle is unclear.
Then I got to the bit where some kid who's part of the nobility shows up at his camp in Sherwood or wherever, and then all this stuff happened with an entirely new set of characters and I was totally lost, but should probably re-read that part tomorrow as it's getting late.
I'm assuming Lymond is not really a traitor and is playing some deep game, and I have to say that he seems to be having altogether too much fun playing it. Does he ever get less perfect, or make a mistake?
So far, the disgraced presumed traitor Lymond has snuck into Edinburgh and is running around doing all sorts of dramatic things with his band of merry men, but I can't figure out why he's doing anything, or even why other people think he's doing anything. What was the purpose of the escapade with the pig? Was he stealing the smuggled wine? Why did he need to barge into the room where everyone was conferring and then run away?
The scene with his mother and brother's wife was pretty good, although again I have no idea what he was up to. Supposedly he's siding with the English in the hope of taking his brother's place-- why he needs to steal his family's jewelry and set fire to the ancestral castle is unclear.
Then I got to the bit where some kid who's part of the nobility shows up at his camp in Sherwood or wherever, and then all this stuff happened with an entirely new set of characters and I was totally lost, but should probably re-read that part tomorrow as it's getting late.
I'm assuming Lymond is not really a traitor and is playing some deep game, and I have to say that he seems to be having altogether too much fun playing it. Does he ever get less perfect, or make a mistake?
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