Before Outlander & Jamie Fraser, there was Francis Crawford, the Master of Culter,,,

The Game of Kings

By Dorothy Dunnett

Hello 1000 Bookies!!!  The next stop on the tour of the 1000 Books to Read Before You Die takes us to 1550s Scotland in a historical fiction novel.  The Game of Kings, written by Dorothy Dunnett, is the first novel in an eventual 6 novel series, the Lymond Chronicles.  This was Ms. Dunnett’s first novel and she decided to write it with the encouragement of her husband when she said she ran out of literature she liked.  The novel came out in 1961 and a reader can tell that.  Today the popularity of the Outlander book Series and television show owes much to The Game of Kings.  Before there was Jamie Fraser, there was Francis Crawford, the Master of Cutler.  

The novel takes place in Stuart Scotland in the 1550s.  When King Henry VIII died, England and Scotland were not one nation as they are today. Henry was succeeded by his son, Edward VI. Henry wanted a son and broke the Catholic Church to secure the succession.  Edward, who was only 9 years old when he succeeded to the throne.  Scotland was ruled by the young queen, 5-year-old, Mary.  Mary would go on to become the Queen of France and Scotland and a rival to her cousin Elizabeth for the throne of England.  The Scottish were allied with the French and wanted no parts of the English marriage.  To secure the marriage, the British invaded Scotland to kidnap Queen Mary and return her to London. 

The Game of Kings revolves around the machinations of the Crawford Family, a prominent family in the country with close connections in court.  Our hero or anti-hero is Frances Crawford who is an amiable rogue.  The book begins with Francis returning to Scotland from his exile in France.  Francis returns to his family’s castle and proceeds to rob his mother and her friends with his band of ragtag misfits.  Francis is blamed for every bad event that goes against the Scots. Francis has been charged with treason and collaboration with the British army.  However, nothing is what it seems.  His own brother doesn’t particularly care for him. 

The story has great characters—Francis Crawford, the handsome rogue.  Will Scott, Francis’s sometimes young sidekick who always second guesses Francis.  Richard Crawford, Francis’s older brother, the Lord of Culter and his brother’s nemesis, who spends the story attempting to capture Francis.   We have the doomed Christian Stewart, a beautiful blind woman who stops at nothing to help Francis.  Those are just a few of a great assortment of great characters.  The first 1/3 of the story is pretty slow but the book picks up speed.  Parts of the story are a little dated reflecting the time that the novel was written but some aspects of the novel were ahead of their time.  For example, there are no love scenes nor carnal lust in The Game of Kings.  Outlander was much lustier.  However, the women of the story are much more progressive and important at the story for the times.  The woman characters are very shrewd especially Sibylla.  Sibylla figures out who is trying to destroy her family. The book is full of intrigue.

There was an interesting part of the story I wanted to share.  At one point the Sibylla Crawford employs a gypsy to help the family obtain the Philosopher’s Stone.  Sibylla is behind this attempt so she can employ them to undermine her enemies knowing there is no such thing as the Philosopher’s Stone.  According to myth, obtaining the Philosophers Stone will prolong life and turn lead into gold, this myth will inspire another Scottish author, J.K. Rowling who utilized the stone in her first novel.  This literary devise will find its way in many novels. 

The Game of Kings is a good novel, I would attest it is a great read for the beach.  However, I would advise not picking up and read for a few pages and then put it down.  The story is not conducive for short reads.  The Game of Kings is a fairly long story, running in at approximately 600 pages.  In the second novel, Francis will end up in France to protect the Queen as she is betrothed to the future King.  I love historical fiction and I am going to continue the journey of Francis.  Hope you join me. 

Keep Reading My Friends!!!!