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4.13 AVERAGE
4.13 AVERAGE
A lot of potential, but again the author’s unbelievably terrible pacing left a lot of loose ends. A meandering tale of friendship, fickle love, and heists. Then another rushed ending to two separate stories that take place in the book.
Very little time is spent with the most interesting characters in the book who provide the most excitement. A lot of time is spent trying to make an incredibly unappealing character seem like a good or at least interesting love interest to our “hero,” Lock Lamora.
This third installment was the weakest of the three novels in this series, but still a decent read.
Very little time is spent with the most interesting characters in the book who provide the most excitement. A lot of time is spent trying to make an incredibly unappealing character seem like a good or at least interesting love interest to our “hero,” Lock Lamora.
This third installment was the weakest of the three novels in this series, but still a decent read.
i really love these books. this one admittedly was not as good as the prior two in terms of the long con that makes up the main plot, but was entertaining nonetheless. also included a major twist i did not see coming at all, which i love. plus more insight into locke's origin story. can't wait for the next one.
As I was flipping past the chapter summary of this I noticed that rather than a full sequel this is half "interludes" that take place before the events of the first book (mainly during the time when the Gentleman Bastards are all teenagers) and the other half is the events immediately following Red Seas Under Red Skies. The chapters alternate every other, and while the modern day events start off a lot more gripping and interesting the past events still manage to keep my attention without feeling like a huge distraction. This did set up for a lot of cliffhanger chapter endings, but going in realizing the pattern it was a lot easier to deal with.
After two books of the characters hinting at Sabetha but never speaking much about her I was happy to finally get to meet her. She's an interesting character and definitely not the most personable but I did enjoy her for how complicated she was. I'd been expecting a relationship out of the normal between her and Locke with the few bits of information teased out here and there and it certainly isn't the typical romance.
Learning more about the Bondmagi and the Karthain politics and culture was a lot of fun! I'm so glad I didn't have to wait the 6 year gap between this and the previous book in the series, although now I'm in the boat with everyone else that's a fan and waiting for the next book to come out.
After two books of the characters hinting at Sabetha but never speaking much about her I was happy to finally get to meet her. She's an interesting character and definitely not the most personable but I did enjoy her for how complicated she was. I'd been expecting a relationship out of the normal between her and Locke with the few bits of information teased out here and there and it certainly isn't the typical romance.
Spoiler
Romance, really, feels like the wrong word. I was really happy to see things not just get tied up neatly now that they were reunited like would be the expected. While in some ways her departure felt abrupt it did also feel like the story was leading up to it and I appreciated Lynch sticking with his guns on that.Learning more about the Bondmagi and the Karthain politics and culture was a lot of fun! I'm so glad I didn't have to wait the 6 year gap between this and the previous book in the series, although now I'm in the boat with everyone else that's a fan and waiting for the next book to come out.
Not a bad book, though not the best in the series. You finally get to meet the mythic lady. She is a bit disappointing, though. This will probably be the last one I read in the series.
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Fun read! I was very glad to have the backstory of Sabetha. I'll admit I still don't quite understand from her perspective why she loves Locke. Granted we don't get much written from her perspective, but still it's hard to imagine an ambitious girl like her falling in love with a younger boy she grew up with in the same house for most of her teen years. Though maybe that's part of what she's still sorting out, too.
Some good schemes and capers in this book which I adore. Calo and Galdo, being back from the dead via parallel storyline from the past, didn't get as much attention as I would have liked. I was a little bitter after the first book at all these lovable characters that got killed off. Now they're back, but not much attention was paid to them again- just filling space as before. They were working something out about their twin individuality, it seemed, but never resolved it. A shame.
I definitely want to read the next one!
Some good schemes and capers in this book which I adore. Calo and Galdo, being back from the dead via parallel storyline from the past, didn't get as much attention as I would have liked. I was a little bitter after the first book at all these lovable characters that got killed off. Now they're back, but not much attention was paid to them again- just filling space as before. They were working something out about their twin individuality, it seemed, but never resolved it. A shame.
I definitely want to read the next one!
EDIT// I... think I liked this book more the second time around, but rereading my review from 2013, maybe I just didn't remember how much I actually did like it the first time. I stand by pretty much everything I said before, but I want to emphasize that I really really liked Locke & Sabetha being Adults in an Adult Relationship(TM) - I'm not talking about Explicit adultness here, but rather, the Adultness that comes from Learning How To Be In A Functional Relationship(TM). Also the being-an-actor-troupe flashback plot. Still so good.
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...
...
FINALLY.
I have been waiting for this book for five or six years now, so I spent a lot of time hugging it/being giddy over it before actually being able to open it. And here it is. At last. (This review does contain minor spoilers, but I try very hard to avoid most of them.)
And yes, though the announcement starts off about half the other reviews for this book, I will make it again: Sabetha.
We've been waiting for Sabetha from the beginning, catching glimpses of her, hearing mentions, seeing what she does to Locke, and never getting one single scene. And here she is! I fully expected to be in love with her by page 50 of this book. Unfortunately, I didn't actually fall in love with her until page 447, but I'll come back to that.
This book launched into something of a slow start. Though the opening was of course suspenseful (how would Locke escape the poison? when would Sabetha show up?), it then dwindled into:
a) Political explanations that have absolutely no interest for me. I am rarely attached to political plots; I don't care enough to really try and follow them. I was somewhat disappointed, too, that Locke and Jean were once again being forced into a scheme, rather than building one up for which they actually had some enthusiasm.
b) Flashbacks that lacked the charm that the Gentlemen Bastards' flashbacks usually have, since they mostly focused on a six-year-old falling in love at first sight, which... well, again, I'll come back to that.
It wasn't until about 250 pages in that I really started to get attached to what was happening - about page 300 is when I was suddenly, irrevocably excited. The politics took backseat to Locke/Sabetha in the present, and the flashbacks progressed to a suspenseful plot that actually tested the characters mingled with a gorgeous play-within-a-novel (that, incidentally, I would totally go see). After that, I could hardly put the book down (except for one incident of dramatic irony that was just too stressful for about ten minutes ;D). PLUS CALO AND GALDO. I'm sorry but I love them. I love you, Sanzas.
Sabetha, though. From Sabetha, I was expecting... the female version of Locke, someone with wit and flair and charm, charisma that could drown a fish (shut up that analogy makes sense), talent for thievery and scheming that matched Locke Lamora himself. It's possible that Sabetha had all those things, but pretty much all we got see was her being extremely grumpy about extremely stupid things. I mean, she didn't even steal anything in her first appearance, even though she and the other three had been sent on a mission in order to steal things. She just got kind of mad that Locke did his job and stole things? But I guess I can excuse that, she was eight years old or something, she couldn't have been expected to have wit and charm in full flower just yet. Except that continued to be the case in all the flashbacks, even as we passed eight years old. We just watched Locke follow her around like a puppy, and her kicking that puppy with fluctuating levels of force.
And Locke following her around like a puppy? I could have lived with that. I could have enjoyed that. Except for the part where he fell in love with her the absolute moment he first laid eyes on her when he was no more than seven years old. I am already entirely fed up with love at first sight; to then put it in the eyes of a five-to-seven-year-old is... not something that impresses me.
Now, Lynch did appear to throw us a bone there, bringing up Locke's backstory and... possible reasons for this thunderclap of love. The thing is... I don't buy it. I just don't. I would have much rather seen his love develop gradually, because I'm sorry but being in love with one redhead does not automatically make you in love with a completely different redhead. That whole potential backstory did not ring the slightest bit true for me anyway - perhaps if there had been more clues, more things you could look back at and use to say, Why yes, I can't believe I didn't see it before, that makes total sense. But there's pretty much nothing.
And yet somehow it still drives Sabetha to make that completely nonsensical decision at the end, after Locke has spent so much time apologizing for things he didn't actually do wrong, because I dunno, Lynch thought writing a female main character was too stressful, so he snatched her away from us just as we finally loved her? (And by "we" I mean "me." From the moment she rappelled out of the floating restaurant in her beautiful dress, yes, that is the instant in which she became awesome.)
Okay, that's a little unfair, but so is taking Sabetha away again.
Actually, that entire ending felt... extremely neglected. I mean... what?
Okay, I have now spent more than 800 words complaining about this book, which is ridiculous because I actually really liked it. Yeah, okay, so Sabetha and her relationship with Locke didn't really live up to my expectations. When you've waited for a book for five plus years, rereading its predecessors time and time again, it's pretty hard for that book to live up to all your expectations. It disappointed me, but it didn't ruin the whole thing for me. Like I said, after the first half, I was incredibly thrilled for most of it. Both plots (present and flashback) wove through intriguing misadventures, usually ending on cliffhangers that started to become extremely frustrating as they switched back to the opposite time frame. Locke remained hilarious, Jean remained beautifully loyal, Sabetha started to show off some of her complementary wit, and I didn't know how either one was going to end. The world developed more and more with every chapter - and Lynch dropped some hints that maybe, just maybe, the Eldren are going to at least play a part in a plot (if not actually appear), rather than just being mysterious, beautiful background noise - and honestly, every time Lynch did something fantastic with his world, he made me more and more excited about immediately dropping what I was doing to write my own world. (Wow, that sentence was long.) The descriptions were as gorgeous as usual - I want every single one of Sabetha's outfits please - the dialogue was not at all lacking, and Lynch's ability to write Locke and Jean into impossible corners and then write them out again with some measure of finesse and flair continues to be absolutely astounding.
And once again, I wrote another unnecessarily long review for a Locke Lamora book. This is why I didn't review Red Seas Under Red Skies after I read it.
Ughhhhhh The Thorn of Emberlain is going to be centuries in coming, isn't it?
---
...
...
...
FINALLY.
I have been waiting for this book for five or six years now, so I spent a lot of time hugging it/being giddy over it before actually being able to open it. And here it is. At last. (This review does contain minor spoilers, but I try very hard to avoid most of them.)
And yes, though the announcement starts off about half the other reviews for this book, I will make it again: Sabetha.
We've been waiting for Sabetha from the beginning, catching glimpses of her, hearing mentions, seeing what she does to Locke, and never getting one single scene. And here she is! I fully expected to be in love with her by page 50 of this book. Unfortunately, I didn't actually fall in love with her until page 447, but I'll come back to that.
This book launched into something of a slow start. Though the opening was of course suspenseful (how would Locke escape the poison? when would Sabetha show up?), it then dwindled into:
a) Political explanations that have absolutely no interest for me. I am rarely attached to political plots; I don't care enough to really try and follow them. I was somewhat disappointed, too, that Locke and Jean were once again being forced into a scheme, rather than building one up for which they actually had some enthusiasm.
b) Flashbacks that lacked the charm that the Gentlemen Bastards' flashbacks usually have, since they mostly focused on a six-year-old falling in love at first sight, which... well, again, I'll come back to that.
It wasn't until about 250 pages in that I really started to get attached to what was happening - about page 300 is when I was suddenly, irrevocably excited. The politics took backseat to Locke/Sabetha in the present, and the flashbacks progressed to a suspenseful plot that actually tested the characters mingled with a gorgeous play-within-a-novel (that, incidentally, I would totally go see). After that, I could hardly put the book down (except for one incident of dramatic irony that was just too stressful for about ten minutes ;D). PLUS CALO AND GALDO. I'm sorry but I love them. I love you, Sanzas.
Sabetha, though. From Sabetha, I was expecting... the female version of Locke, someone with wit and flair and charm, charisma that could drown a fish (shut up that analogy makes sense), talent for thievery and scheming that matched Locke Lamora himself. It's possible that Sabetha had all those things, but pretty much all we got see was her being extremely grumpy about extremely stupid things. I mean, she didn't even steal anything in her first appearance, even though she and the other three had been sent on a mission in order to steal things. She just got kind of mad that Locke did his job and stole things? But I guess I can excuse that, she was eight years old or something, she couldn't have been expected to have wit and charm in full flower just yet. Except that continued to be the case in all the flashbacks, even as we passed eight years old. We just watched Locke follow her around like a puppy, and her kicking that puppy with fluctuating levels of force.
And Locke following her around like a puppy? I could have lived with that. I could have enjoyed that. Except for the part where he fell in love with her the absolute moment he first laid eyes on her when he was no more than seven years old. I am already entirely fed up with love at first sight; to then put it in the eyes of a five-to-seven-year-old is... not something that impresses me.
Now, Lynch did appear to throw us a bone there, bringing up Locke's backstory and... possible reasons for this thunderclap of love. The thing is... I don't buy it. I just don't. I would have much rather seen his love develop gradually, because I'm sorry but being in love with one redhead does not automatically make you in love with a completely different redhead. That whole potential backstory did not ring the slightest bit true for me anyway - perhaps if there had been more clues, more things you could look back at and use to say, Why yes, I can't believe I didn't see it before, that makes total sense. But there's pretty much nothing.
And yet somehow it still drives Sabetha to make that completely nonsensical decision at the end, after Locke has spent so much time apologizing for things he didn't actually do wrong, because I dunno, Lynch thought writing a female main character was too stressful, so he snatched her away from us just as we finally loved her? (And by "we" I mean "me." From the moment she rappelled out of the floating restaurant in her beautiful dress, yes, that is the instant in which she became awesome.)
Okay, that's a little unfair, but so is taking Sabetha away again.
Actually, that entire ending felt... extremely neglected. I mean... what?
Okay, I have now spent more than 800 words complaining about this book, which is ridiculous because I actually really liked it. Yeah, okay, so Sabetha and her relationship with Locke didn't really live up to my expectations. When you've waited for a book for five plus years, rereading its predecessors time and time again, it's pretty hard for that book to live up to all your expectations. It disappointed me, but it didn't ruin the whole thing for me. Like I said, after the first half, I was incredibly thrilled for most of it. Both plots (present and flashback) wove through intriguing misadventures, usually ending on cliffhangers that started to become extremely frustrating as they switched back to the opposite time frame. Locke remained hilarious, Jean remained beautifully loyal, Sabetha started to show off some of her complementary wit, and I didn't know how either one was going to end. The world developed more and more with every chapter - and Lynch dropped some hints that maybe, just maybe, the Eldren are going to at least play a part in a plot (if not actually appear), rather than just being mysterious, beautiful background noise - and honestly, every time Lynch did something fantastic with his world, he made me more and more excited about immediately dropping what I was doing to write my own world. (Wow, that sentence was long.) The descriptions were as gorgeous as usual - I want every single one of Sabetha's outfits please - the dialogue was not at all lacking, and Lynch's ability to write Locke and Jean into impossible corners and then write them out again with some measure of finesse and flair continues to be absolutely astounding.
And once again, I wrote another unnecessarily long review for a Locke Lamora book. This is why I didn't review Red Seas Under Red Skies after I read it.
Ughhhhhh The Thorn of Emberlain is going to be centuries in coming, isn't it?
funny
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
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
adventurous
emotional
funny
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I have now joined the ranks of the Gentleman Bastards fans anxiously waiting for more books!
The plot of The Republic of Thieves was somewhat more straightforward than the previous book, but it took a while for it to really get into the thick of things. I was about 2/3 through the book before the true action with the election really began! Even so, I don’t feel like it took me that long to get into the book. I do wish Stragos’s poison had had more of an impact — obviously Locke was nearly dead in the beginning, but once they dealt with the poison that was it. It was humorous how it made him starving for the rest of the book, but I kind of wish there had been more of a lasting impact than that, I guess? Regardless, Patience and Coldmarrow transferring the poison out of him was a really incredible scene to introduce us to Bondsmagi other than the Falconer. Patience in general was a great character who I wish we’d seen more of, and I’m a little sad about her ending… but boy am I excited to see more of her son.
Also, regarding the Falconer — I do love a conniving character dead set on revenge, although the epilogue seemed to imply there’s something else he’s going after. Going after the other (now former) Bondsmagi rather than dealing with Locke and Jean, perhaps?
The Interlude plotline was very fun. It reminded me of Moulin Rouge, if they’d killed the Duke and had to dispose of his body. Teenaged Gentleman Bastards, trying to put on an actual stage production without any thievery! There wasn’t much of Father Chains in this one, but it was nice to see Calo and Galdo again, as well as Sabetha. I loved getting to finally meet her after two books of her looming reputation. I wish we’d spent more time with her in the present, and I would’ve loved to have seen more of her and Jean (it was mostly just her and Locke’s relationship), but I liked what we got to see. It was very fun to see Locke and Jean meet their match with another Gentleman Bastard, and I’m intrigued to know what seemed to be hanging over her head, why she needed to take the job as their opposition. It was kind of adorable how absolutely down bad Locke is for her, and I like how he really learned to actually listen to her. There were various moments where he seemed to trample over her (like on the inn rooftop, she mentioned being scared, he replied something like “you’re never scared” — I think she knows her own emotions, kid), but he clearly seemed to grow past that and really respect her.
As for Locke’s character arc, and where it seems to be headed… I normally don’t really like when a character’s arc basically goes “oh by the way, you’re actually some really important unique person and you just forgot.” It often feels cheap, unearned, a boring attempt at making a character interesting. But at least so far, I don’t think I mind how it’s being implemented with Locke. There’s still more to see, of course, nothing has really happened yet beyond him learning who/what he is (or was), but I’m hopeful it’ll play out well. I’m also interested to see if he really is a mage’s soul in an utterly normal body, or if there will be something more there.
Fantastic Locke and Jean moments as always. The scene where Jean yells at him about how he doesn’t stand still, endliktgelaben… heartbreaking! I’m always a sucker for scenes when characters get mad at each other because of how much they love each other.
All these wishes/expectations for the future of the series hinging on The Thorn of Emberlain being released, of course! I believe in you Scott Lynch, I’m on my way to read the new short story now so I know the series isn’t dead <3
The plot of The Republic of Thieves was somewhat more straightforward than the previous book, but it took a while for it to really get into the thick of things. I was about 2/3 through the book before the true action with the election really began! Even so, I don’t feel like it took me that long to get into the book. I do wish Stragos’s poison had had more of an impact — obviously Locke was nearly dead in the beginning, but once they dealt with the poison that was it. It was humorous how it made him starving for the rest of the book, but I kind of wish there had been more of a lasting impact than that, I guess? Regardless, Patience and Coldmarrow transferring the poison out of him was a really incredible scene to introduce us to Bondsmagi other than the Falconer. Patience in general was a great character who I wish we’d seen more of, and I’m a little sad about her ending… but boy am I excited to see more of her son.
Also, regarding the Falconer — I do love a conniving character dead set on revenge, although the epilogue seemed to imply there’s something else he’s going after. Going after the other (now former) Bondsmagi rather than dealing with Locke and Jean, perhaps?
The Interlude plotline was very fun. It reminded me of Moulin Rouge, if they’d killed the Duke and had to dispose of his body. Teenaged Gentleman Bastards, trying to put on an actual stage production without any thievery! There wasn’t much of Father Chains in this one, but it was nice to see Calo and Galdo again, as well as Sabetha. I loved getting to finally meet her after two books of her looming reputation. I wish we’d spent more time with her in the present, and I would’ve loved to have seen more of her and Jean (it was mostly just her and Locke’s relationship), but I liked what we got to see. It was very fun to see Locke and Jean meet their match with another Gentleman Bastard, and I’m intrigued to know what seemed to be hanging over her head, why she needed to take the job as their opposition. It was kind of adorable how absolutely down bad Locke is for her, and I like how he really learned to actually listen to her. There were various moments where he seemed to trample over her (like on the inn rooftop, she mentioned being scared, he replied something like “you’re never scared” — I think she knows her own emotions, kid), but he clearly seemed to grow past that and really respect her.
As for Locke’s character arc, and where it seems to be headed… I normally don’t really like when a character’s arc basically goes “oh by the way, you’re actually some really important unique person and you just forgot.” It often feels cheap, unearned, a boring attempt at making a character interesting. But at least so far, I don’t think I mind how it’s being implemented with Locke. There’s still more to see, of course, nothing has really happened yet beyond him learning who/what he is (or was), but I’m hopeful it’ll play out well. I’m also interested to see if he really is a mage’s soul in an utterly normal body, or if there will be something more there.
Fantastic Locke and Jean moments as always. The scene where Jean yells at him about how he doesn’t stand still, endliktgelaben… heartbreaking! I’m always a sucker for scenes when characters get mad at each other because of how much they love each other.
All these wishes/expectations for the future of the series hinging on The Thorn of Emberlain being released, of course! I believe in you Scott Lynch, I’m on my way to read the new short story now so I know the series isn’t dead <3
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Rape, Terminal illness
Minor: Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury