Book Review: Dangerous Games
Mar. 11th, 2025 10:27 amJoan Aiken’s Dangerous Games (Limbo Lodge everywhere but the US, but American publishers like titles that are shared by at least 500 other books) is next chronologically in the Dido Twite sequence, but later in terms of when it was actually written, which perhaps explains why it is not quite as strong as the other books we’ve read so far.
Although possibly ANY follow-up to The Stolen Lake would have suffered by contrast of not being completely bonkers Arthuriana.
It does, however, have absolutely peak Dangerous Animal action. In this book, Dido and co. land on the island of Aratu, which is inhabited by pearl snakes (poisonous), sting monkeys (poisonous), AND crocodiles (not poisonous, but you don’t need to be poisonous when you have teeth like that). Also the gloomy colonial Angrians and the native Forest People, all of whom are vaguely ruled over by John King, who has lived in solitude in Limbo Lodge ever since his wife died twenty odd years ago.
Dido is here because her ship has been sent to search for Lord Herodsfoot, who is hunting round the world for games to bring back to cheer up the gloomy King James III, who presumably feels a bit down in the mouth on account of all those Hanoverians who keep trying to assassinate him. For convoluted plot reasons, Dido eventually tracks him down on her own, and discovers a classic upper-class English twit (mostly affectionate) with a monomania for games of all sorts.
Also there is magic and it turns out that Dido herself might have a gift for magic and in fact turns someone into a hyena, and I’m VERY curious if this is something that shows up in the chronologically-later-but-actually-written-earlier books in the sequence. “Maybe I should explain how Dido learned to summon up rain at will,” Joan thought. Although overall Joan is not a big one for explaining things.
Also Joan kills (SPOILER) and I am very sad and begin to understand why people feel the later books in the sequence get too dark, although![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
littlerhyme and I are going to soldier on for now. After a couple of weeks hiatus while I move into the Hummingbird Cottage! But then we’ll start in on The Cuckoo Tree.
Although possibly ANY follow-up to The Stolen Lake would have suffered by contrast of not being completely bonkers Arthuriana.
It does, however, have absolutely peak Dangerous Animal action. In this book, Dido and co. land on the island of Aratu, which is inhabited by pearl snakes (poisonous), sting monkeys (poisonous), AND crocodiles (not poisonous, but you don’t need to be poisonous when you have teeth like that). Also the gloomy colonial Angrians and the native Forest People, all of whom are vaguely ruled over by John King, who has lived in solitude in Limbo Lodge ever since his wife died twenty odd years ago.
Dido is here because her ship has been sent to search for Lord Herodsfoot, who is hunting round the world for games to bring back to cheer up the gloomy King James III, who presumably feels a bit down in the mouth on account of all those Hanoverians who keep trying to assassinate him. For convoluted plot reasons, Dido eventually tracks him down on her own, and discovers a classic upper-class English twit (mostly affectionate) with a monomania for games of all sorts.
Also there is magic and it turns out that Dido herself might have a gift for magic and in fact turns someone into a hyena, and I’m VERY curious if this is something that shows up in the chronologically-later-but-actually-written-earlier books in the sequence. “Maybe I should explain how Dido learned to summon up rain at will,” Joan thought. Although overall Joan is not a big one for explaining things.
Also Joan kills (SPOILER) and I am very sad and begin to understand why people feel the later books in the sequence get too dark, although
littlerhyme and I are going to soldier on for now. After a couple of weeks hiatus while I move into the Hummingbird Cottage! But then we’ll start in on The Cuckoo Tree.
