The Disorderly Knights

Book Three in the Legendary Lymond Chronicles

De: Dorothy Dunnett

Narrado por: David Monteath

This third volume in The Lymond Chronicles, the highly renowned series of historical novels, takes place in 1551, when Francis Crawford of Lymond is dispatched to embattled Malta, to assist the Knights of Hospitallers in defending the island against the Turks. But shortly the swordsman and scholar discovers that the greatest threat to the knights lies within their own ranks, where various factions vie secretly for master.

©2010 Dorothy Dunnett (P)2019 Random House Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Dunnett is a master of suspense and misdirection.” (The New York Times)

“[Lymond] is arguably the perfect romantic hero.” (The Guardian)

“Dorothy Dunnett is one of the greatest talespinners since Dumas.... Breathlessly exciting.” (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

The masterful storytelling

The author is in a league of her own. The intricacies of the plot are staggering.

Lymond the Mercenary, OR Lymond Meets His Match?

1548, Scotland. A flock of sheep sporting shiny helmets help twenty Scotsmen rout five-hundred British soldiers. Another British force is decimated when Scottish patriots disguised as pulchritudinous prostitutes lure it before five canons. All the work of the Renaissance man of action Francis Crawford of Lymond, AKA le Comte de Sevigny, back home from France to fight the invading British. It’s a jaunty start to The Disorderly Knights (1966), the third novel in Dorothy Dunnett’s historical series about Lymond and Scotland and the international powers (England, France, the Holy Roman Empire esp. Spain, and the Ottoman Empire of Suleiman the Magnificent) pulling the wee country this way and that.

As the novel shifts to 1551, however, it takes on a more somber tone, as Lymond is recruited to travel to Malta to help the Knights Hospitallers of the Order of St. John to withstand a vast Ottoman armada. “Dear me,” Lymond puts it in his sardonic way, “I am being taken to an unfortified island, where half the defenders and most of the defence fleet are missing, to lay down my life in defence of an Order incompetently if not culpably led, wholly divided among itself, given over to fighting for secular princes and entirely denuded of money with which to pay me for my services.”

Why would he go to Malta, apart from curiosity and challenge? Well, England and Scotland are at peace now, and he may receive a lot of money from the French (who, interestingly, are allied with the Ottomans). Furthermore, he expresses interest in meeting the saintly celebrity Bailiff of the Order, Sir Graham Reid Mallett (call him Gabriel), and not only because he is said to have a ravishingly beautiful, convent-raised little sister called Joleta. Perhaps Lymond really wants to help the beautiful, brutalized ex-mistress of the Irish rebel leader Cormac O’Connor, Oonagh O’Dwyer, who has found, she mistakenly believes, a safe haven as mistress to the Governor of Gozo, one of the Maltese islands. (In the second book of the series, Queens’ Play, Lymond and Oonagh share some memorable moments, as he tries to free her from Cormac’s influence).

The next third or so of the novel occurs in exotic Malta, Gozo, and Tripoli and features unpredictable and suspenseful action, as Lymond’s rather heroic efforts to save the Order’s bacon are not entirely successful or appreciated.

The last and longest part of the book occurs back home again in Scotland, where Lymond is funding, recruiting, and training his own personal mercenary company with, eventually some thirty officers and six hundred men, all to become a finely honed tool (like an axe!) with which to police and stabilize Scotland (ever riven by interncine family feuding and religious division) and then ideally to go international to help Europe become more peaceful and unified.

Lymond being charismatic, brilliant, hard working, well-organized, experienced, and cocky, his efforts are superbly successful on the one hand, but strangely mixed on the other, as if some malevolent force were sabotaging his efforts, exacerbating bad blood between the Kerrs and the Scotts, causing some strange deaths, and threatening the life of the daughter of Lymond’s British friend Kate Sommerville. Who would want to harm the plain, “painfully flat-chested,” thirteen-year-old Philippa Sommerville, who loathes Lymond with a hate so big one could almost call it love? Although we may suspect the mastermind early on, the novel takes a long time to reveal the villain, who just may be Lymond’s match (like Moriarty for Holmes).

Then there is Gabriel’s little sister Joleta. She’s breathtakingly gorgeous (“her face, in its jewel-like purity, shocked the senses like music with cymbals”), but is she is as innocent as she seems? She is feisty, with a malicious smile, and her idea of a joke is to get the infant son of Lymond’s big brother Richard, drunk. The first time Lymond and Joleta are alone in a room, they brawl bloodily, reducing all to shards and splinters.

As in the other Lymond novels, here there are many great lines, like, “I would give you my soul like a blackberry pie and a knife to cut it with,” and “Mothered? I would rather mother a vampire.”

And great descriptions, like, “In the demonicac light, Lymond’s face was lividly blithe,” and “At Marseilles, imperial blue upon blue under cobalt blue skies, the Mediterranean lay fresco-still. The Docks steamed with the smells and brown flesh of seamen and slaves; the rigging of brigantines, galley and galleass meshed the merciless sun.”

And great set piece action scenes, like Lymond et al’s desperate attempts to extinguish a fuse behind a locked iron gate; Lymond swimming Oonagh at night to a brigantine; a siege or two; the disposition of prisoners of war on a beach; a fiery battle at a keep; an attempted murder in a forest; and a brutal fight in a cathedral.

Interestingly, Dunnett rarely narrates from Lymond’s point of view but from the points of view of other characters as they observe, contemplate, and usually misjudge him. One main point of view person here is Lymond’s “smoldering handsome” black-haired boyhood friend, Jerott Blythe, a knight of the Order who worships Gabriel as a perfect saint and scorns Lymond as a heartless schemer but can’t help watching him intently. When Lymond appears to do some atrocious things (like having bruising sex with a teenage virgin) and is condemned for his behavior (even by his brother, who should know better), we maintain faith in our man, recalling how bad he looked in the first two books while turning out to have been playing a role (devious outlaw in the first novel, debauched rake in the second) for admirable strategic goals. Thus, much suspense and sympathy derive from wondering what Lymond is up to and whether the people observing him will finally discover that he’s risking life and reputation for a greater good.

I like Dunnett’s depiction of the Ottomans. As Lymond says, they’re at least as organized, disciplined, and religious as Christians, and both sides do atrocities to each other. The French ambassador to the Ottomans thinks that Suleiman the Magnificent is more humane than most Christian princes. The wily Corsair Dragut is cool.

The audiobook reader, David Monteath, by the way, is splendid.

Lovers of historical fiction with complex political backgrounds and surprising plots and suspenseful action and witty dialogue and vivid description should like this series. My main reservations about the first two books were finding Lymond too accomplished in too many areas, but here Dunnett restrains herself in that regard. I found the ending of this one disappointing, the big climactic showdown unconvincingly tampered with so Dunnett could retain her admittedly impressive villain (a kind of anti-Lymond) for future novels, but I’m looking forward to the fourth one.

Brilliant, beautiful page-turner!

Dorothy Dunnett is the greatest historical novelist, and this is one of her best. You should read/listen to the first two in the series first, but THIS book is the one where an antagonist's campaign against Francis Crawford's protagonist reaches new heights, and depths of depravity, driving the story to a riveting, devastating climax. David Monteath's narration brings new levels of understanding to the beautiful words, new shadings of characterization to the rich personalities on the page. Don't hesitate to listen to this one!

Superb. Riveting. Complex.

I read these books 30 years ago. Listening to them now with this narrator: fantastic! He can do a distinctive range of voices.. male, female, Scottish, English, French, Spanish, Turkish… a riveting performance.

Storytelling and character development superb tour de force

Author has captured the history of 16th century in thrilling romp that carries plot to perfection

Historical suspense thriller!

Brilliantly combines historical intrigue and conflicts of the 16th century with some of the most fascinating fictional characters ever created. Narrator David Monteath’s dramatic skills enhance Dunnett’s gorgeous writing. I’ve read this book several times, but couldn’t stop listening to this new audio version.

Superbly narrated

David Monteith creates a perfect rendition. Ideally paced, dramatic but not overdrawn, light where needed.