picture in my mind

A warning just appeared on my screen. It says my computer might have 'spyware' and suggests screening. Is this a normal thing? Do you have pop ups regarding spyware?

I realise that I haven't reviewed Checkmate yet. And it was (how long...) a month ago that I finished it. So I shall. And I shall ignore that part of me that worries about what my reader thinks.

Checkmate is the best of the six volumes, though Pawn in Frankincense (frankincense is a mediterranean thing that you burn for its scent, I think) and Game of Kings come close. First of all, Francis is tortured more than ever here. To digress a bit, Francis is Lymond's first name. Lymond is the name of his property. And the fact that I know he's hiding a secret so important to him makes everything so... exciting. Every scene I read, I look out for clues and 'watch' his behaviour to see if he might reveal himself in anyway, unawares to the other characters. That's the thing about the chronicles! You become so involved with it because the reader himself does not know Francis well. This is because hardly anything is written in Francis' point of view. You want to know what he thinks, you have to work as hard as anyone else in the story in figuring out this enigmatic person. It's frustrating yet so satisfying when you find out finally, the truth of his actions or his intentions when he finally speaks of it. It's just very... interactive. I can't seem to find words that are adequate enough in describing my experience reading it. I can only recall two scenes where Dunnett writes what Francis thinks. When he falls in love and the time before he was on the journey to Flaw Valleys, England. And those short segments of writing are so rare and precious, they stick in my mind. Like the quote I once pasted here...

And deep within him, missing its accustomed tread, his heart paused; and gave one final strok as if on an anvil.

That was when he realised he had deeper feelings than he thought he did fora cetain someone. And the visual imagery just dramatizes everything. I just love the way she writes! It's poetic, sometimes. Sometimes it's direct. It's like she mixed a modern way of talking and the beauty of old English together... so that it's not so hard to read yet the, the, beauty of English is there, you know. It's not as hard as Shakespeare. But you know how in the end you understand what Shakesperare means and appreciates how he conveys his meaning? Ah, that's what I mean with Dunnett. Though not at Shakespeare's level. So if you think hard enough, you can understand.

Sometimes it's like instead of reading a scene, I'm watching one and I'm trying to figure out what the character feels and means. Sometimes you don't know what to think, then you may get frustrated and confused. For instance, Philippa, who's busy helping Queen Mary of Scots at court, gets a distressing letter. Instead of writing that 'Philippa was distraught. She felt as though she couldn't go on anymore' and easily let her reader know the impact of that letter, Dunnet goes on to show that Philippa put the letter aside, left to attend to the queen and describes how Philippa spent the remaining of that day. At this point I'll go, "Hah! Hah! What's going on! Did she not care about the letter?"

And finally Dunnett shows how Philippa laid in bed at night, too tired to fall asleep and when she finally did at dawn, she was woken to the sound of cries. After a while, she realised her maidservant was hugging her. And that it it was her own cries which woke her.

Ahah! Here is where I start to choke up. The impact is a million times more than if Dunnett were to simply write what Philippa felt and thought directly. And this technique is used qutie often, I think.

Anyway, about Checkmate... I love it. I found out who Francis Crawford really is. Philippa has become an amzing woman. She's grown from a 10 year old tomboy who hated Lymond's guts to an intelligent, respectable lady 11 years later. There's the romance which is heart rending, because of its numerous complications. Then there's all the pain of reading about Francis in pain. The blindness. The headaches. The hurt of having killed his own son. The constant fear of his death. It's as though he's become so fragile. In Game of Kings, it wasn't as frightening because when he was fighting or running or battling, you know he has the will to live and he's strong and skilled. In Checkmate, though he is just as strong and skilled, experienced now, it's scarier because his will to live has dimmed. I was clutching my cheeks at some parts. Hello, he tried to kill himself. Sometimes I wish I could take him by his shoulders and shake him. Make him see that he should not blame himself for all the deaths he thinks he's responsible for. For all the people who have died because of him or for him, he saved many more.

Game of Kings' theme is mostly about loyalty and one's roots and honour. Queen's Play about leadership. The biggest theme in Checkmate is undoubtedly, love. I have never known a love story more amazing and touching. Or one that spans as long a period. Each thinks at first, that the love is not reciprocated. Then when they do find out that the contrary is true, new things become an obstacle. It really is much too complicated to say them here. And the most interesting thing is that they love each other so much but they display no physical affection (because of a certain complication). But their love is still so evident in how Dunnett writes... How they understand each other by using eyes and without any need of words, how each affects the other in the littlest things, how much each is willing to sacrifice for the other... They don't kiss till the very end. Because they have suffered so much, you want them to be happy so much too. I really became so emotionally involved with the whole world of Lymond. As much as I have with HP, I think.

Hehe. The rally speech is finally over. SO LONG. Isn't he thirsty?

I think I've written enough about Lymond too.