Queen's Play
Dorothy Dunnett
603 pages
published in 1964

The second novel in the Lymond sequence, Queen's Play takes mostly place at the French royal court. The Scottish queen mother, who moved to France in A Game of Kings has reason to suspect that the life of her daughter, Mary Queen of Scots, is in danger. Since it's politically unwise to ask the French king for more protection, Mary of Guise instead comes to an understanding with Francis Lymond.

Lymond travels to France in disguise, to infiltrate the court and unravel the plot against the Queen. However, somebody knew he was coming, as attempts are made on his life, beginning with the sinking of the ship he was travelling on, though the enemy does seem confused on exactly what his disguise is...

Like its prequel, A Game of Kings the plot is less then clear here until quite a long time into the story. Dorothy Dunnett seems to have the habit of concealing things from her readers, which can be annoying at times. The way I deal with this is to take things on faith until they are explained later on. There also seems to be a streak of pretentiousness running through her novels, but I don't mind that much.

Queen's Play is slow to start, but after a hundred pages or so starts moving along pretty quickly and I got a real kick out of it. Especially during the night race over the rooftops of Blois sequence you cannot turn the page fast enough.