tjh14850 's review for:

Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch

5.0

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The second book in the Gentleman Bastard series is a worthy follow up to the Lies of Locke Lamora. Overall the writing is better - better organization, better unveiling of the plot and less choppy when jumping between parts of the timeline when covering a flashback. The first book did the heavy lifting of introducing the main characters and most of their backstory. This one just flashed back to the time immediately after the first one ended. It is a gradual start (the reader should not get impatient - the storyline accelerates and gets more complicated as the story progresses. The reader may not agree with the way the story ends but I thought it was a satisfying conclusion which also leads to a third volume which could be more flexible. I would not be surprised if we see some of the characters from this volume (as well as others from the first volume) return in later installments. I would not recommend that anyone read this without having read the first volume.