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dawnrunner 's review for:
Red Seas Under Red Skies
by Scott Lynch
Apparently I'm no longer able to read books without dwelling on their negative aspects (thank you George R.R. Martin). For the first two-thirds of this book, all I could think about were the things I didn't like. The dialogue was "too much" in the way that Dumb and Dumber was "too much." The plot felt like he knew he had to fill 400 pages and he didn't have a way to fill the pages other than to come up with a random sequence of events and stick them in without regard to whether they formed the basis for a good story. More specifically, it never felt like the book was driven by the characters' actions. It felt like the all-powerful narrator was thwarting them at every turn and forcing them into new, unpleasant situations.
In the book's defense, Lynch is a pretty good writer and the book is a fun read (if you don't dwell on the negatives). The last third of the book was definitely better than the rest. It felt more like a coherent, character-driven story than the first two-thirds. I also appreciated the ending, which (without giving anything away) was bittersweet.
In the book's defense, Lynch is a pretty good writer and the book is a fun read (if you don't dwell on the negatives). The last third of the book was definitely better than the rest. It felt more like a coherent, character-driven story than the first two-thirds. I also appreciated the ending, which (without giving anything away) was bittersweet.