Reviews

The Disorderly Knights by Dorothy Dunnett

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jujudepamplemousse's review against another edition

5.0

I enjoyed the plot of The Disorderly Knights a little less than the first two books in the series. That said, Dorothy Dunnett's work remains incredible and I can't wait to start the next book.

shebephoebe's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Took over two months to read the first half and less than a week to read the second half. Wild and twisting and terrifying as ever.
I don’t know if I’m brave enough for Pawn in Frankincense.

Content Warnings

artismarti's review

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adventurous dark informative mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

While a slow start, The Disorderly Knights still manages to capture and expand upon the formula set by the previous books to further explore Lymond’s character and his impact on those around him. The second half of the book in particular was a treat to read, as Lymond and his band are front and center. Much much love for this series, I look forward to picking up the fourth book soon! (But after a short break of course haha)

wybohoukes's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

nigellicus's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense

5.0

Lymond travels to Malta where the Knights of St John are bracing themselves for an attack by the fleet of Sulemein The Magnificent. There he finds a rival, and behaves disgracefully towards him. He also finds, briefy, and fatefully, Oonagh O'Malley. After much hullaballoo and general disorderliness, the action moves back to Scotland, where Lymond's rival and his sister set about winning him over, and he continues to behave disgracefully. Murder and betrayal and sabotage and incitement keep things interesting until the final monumental confrontation and revelation. Interesting that though she plays similar games in the Niccolo series, those books aren't heavily structured like mysteries or adventures or romances, as the Lymond books are - though if I remember correctly, the last three don't lean heavily on that kind of structuring either - as she comes to rely less on that kind of scaffolding to support her stories. Anyway, my point is that the finale has an inescapable 'gather the witnesses' staginess to it despite the skilfulness of the plotting, though it only seems so in retrospect, at the actual time of reading it was bloody riveting.

timinbc's review against another edition

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5.0

This book is not without flaws, but Dunnett's writing means we're scoring out of six. This is a master class in free-flowing beautiful writing.

The book includes perhaps the greatest single descriptive paragraph I have ever read, and I don't expect ever to read a better one. Yeah, THAT one, the description of Birgu. Maybe I'm biased, because I've been to Valletta and Gozo, but wow.

And the zingers, sometimes just a couple of words tossed in effortlessly. The SNARK.

OK, Dunnett heavily telegraphed the Importance of Being Blyth, and kept teasing us with it; but in the end it was well played.

Someday I must find a historian and ask whether Scots casually slaughtered each other the way they do here. I suspect the answer will be yes. Things were a tad different in 155x.

Joleta is a heckuva character.

And then there are the plot twists. This one makes Agatha Christie read like Dick and Jane!

After plowing through the first two of these, I had decided that #3 would be make or break.
It's a make. I am going to look for #4 ASAP.

And I'm going to hope the series doesn't fall into the trap that so many good TV shows and movies have -- letting the bad guy slip away time after time.

trin's review against another edition

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5.0

Aww yeah. This is where the series really gets cracking. Suddenly we have:

--An ongoing plot!
--More recurring characters!
--Philippa (Philippa Philippa Philippa!) getting to do stuff!
--Another goddamn badass sword fight!
--LYMOND'S NEMESIS!

We also have:

--Lymond DECIDING ONCE AGAIN NOT TO SIMPLY TRUST PEOPLE LIKE HIS OWN MOTHER AND BROTHER AND TELL THEM WHAT THE FLIP IS GOING ON AND ASK FOR HELP UNTIL LIKE PAGE 400 JFC FRANCIS...but that is more of a feature than a bug. (Oh, Lymond.)

It's a wild freaking ride -- it really does fly by in comparison to Queens' Play. And you can see Dunnett enjoying herself, and sneaking in all kinds of clever hints and jokes just for herself -- or those who have the foreknowledge that, with these twisty-turny books in particular, can only come from rereading. How delightful.

Now if only I hadn't left the next volume at work, so I could ill-advisedly begin reading it right now, at 11:47 p.m. on a Sunday!