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4.13 AVERAGE
4.13 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Another great installment of the Gentleman Bastards!!!
What makes this book great? It's basically Oceans 13 set in the 1600s with a little bit of magic thrown in. Filled with deception, misdirection, and manipulation, the only disappointment with this book is the lack of another book in the series. "Coming soon" but no hard date.
What makes this book great? It's basically Oceans 13 set in the 1600s with a little bit of magic thrown in. Filled with deception, misdirection, and manipulation, the only disappointment with this book is the lack of another book in the series. "Coming soon" but no hard date.
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Ok, I'm bummed. Where is the guy who wrote Lies?! After reading Lies I was on a high for days, weeks, months! Which is why guess I gave Red Seas just two stars. On it's own, it's not a bad book, but I was expecting greatness. So now with the third book I was cautiously optimistic…well dang! I found myself struggling to finish it within the 15 day library loan, and skipping pages! So again, not a bad book on it's own, but I don't think it can hold a candle to Lies. The missing piece in book two, and more so in Republic is action!! Lies had action in spades, and not only action, but shear hilarity! I think that in Red Seas Linch got bogged down with the details of ship sailing, just like George R R Martin in Fevre Dream - ok ok, your characters are on a boat, I get it already! Now in Republic, I feel he gets to involved in the details of the play they're putting on, those were some of my aforementioned skipped pages. The majority of the book focuses on Locke's romance, and I mean almost all 650 pages. While it is interesting to know the backstory and current history of Locke's girl, I just started to get board - where is the action? I think Red Seas had more excitement. So yah, sadly I may be done with this series, double dang!
I will be really upset if the 4th book doesn’t drop in 2021 ❤️
adventurous
funny
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
From the start, the Lies of Locke Lamora series is a gem. (Especially on audiobook; this narrator is magical.) Precocious Locke is as great a coming-of-age hero as I've ever read: wide-eyed but street smart, though slow to realize he's better at this than all the other kids. In the first book, Locke and his fellow Gentlemen Bastards get impossibly entwined with Camorr's criminal underworld. Schemes stack up like a house of cards and every double-cross crosses back on itself. The are cons and heists and magic and good, old-fashioned tricks on every page. The end is surprisingly heavy - I had so much fun reading it, I didn't realize how invested I was. Red Seas Under Red Skies takes a wacky turn - pirates! Now twenty-something Locke & Co. become embroiled in espionage and kingmaking against a backdrop of truly wild people and places. Finally, the Republic of Thieves delivers not one but two grand finales: present day, and an interwoven backstory of the Gentlemen Bastard's formative years that colors in every last inch of this series to complete a glorious picture.
Scott Lynch's writing is magnificent. It doesn't trip itself up being fancy. It's literary enough to flow quickly and powerfully, but never quite churns itself on the wild path of his incredibly complicated story. The story hints and foreshadows (I was picking up Easter eggs by book two), then comes to clear resolutions, neither over- nor under-explaining the ruse. You can be smart enough to get a little ahead, but no one is left behind. It's immensely satisfying.
These books are also very funny. The intricacies of Lynch's world building are used to great effect as these boys grow up getting into every conceivable type of trouble.
Most notably, The Lies of Locke Lamora is very direct. It reads very male. While there is much more warmth than The Wheel of Time, and magnificently better character development, there's little (okay, no) romance. And it's not missed. The story simply has no time between its medieval times-meets-Mission Impossible schemes, politicking, carousing, fart jokes, and life lessons delivered by delinquent parental figures to cram in another plot line. When the romance does arrive, it's well worth the wait.
The Gentlemen Bastards series was a joy to read. So why not 5 stars? I was happy at the end of this series. I want to revisit it, not to see it continue. More would be past the Gentlemen Bastards' prime, and Locke Lamora would know when to pass that torch.
Scott Lynch's writing is magnificent. It doesn't trip itself up being fancy. It's literary enough to flow quickly and powerfully, but never quite churns itself on the wild path of his incredibly complicated story. The story hints and foreshadows (I was picking up Easter eggs by book two), then comes to clear resolutions, neither over- nor under-explaining the ruse. You can be smart enough to get a little ahead, but no one is left behind. It's immensely satisfying.
These books are also very funny. The intricacies of Lynch's world building are used to great effect as these boys grow up getting into every conceivable type of trouble.
Most notably, The Lies of Locke Lamora is very direct. It reads very male. While there is much more warmth than The Wheel of Time, and magnificently better character development, there's little (okay, no) romance. And it's not missed. The story simply has no time between its medieval times-meets-Mission Impossible schemes, politicking, carousing, fart jokes, and life lessons delivered by delinquent parental figures to cram in another plot line. When the romance does arrive, it's well worth the wait.
The Gentlemen Bastards series was a joy to read. So why not 5 stars? I was happy at the end of this series. I want to revisit it, not to see it continue. More would be past the Gentlemen Bastards' prime, and Locke Lamora would know when to pass that torch.