You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by missflyer
The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch
3.0
I'm actually reading this omnibus, but I'm going to track my reading on this edition instead.
Buddy read with Anna and Megan!
I laughed out loud a lot more in this book than in previous books, that’s for sure! It is highly entertaining, with Locke and Sabetha given free rein to do as they will in this Five-Year-Game as opponents for different factions of the Bondsmagi. (Oh, sorry, you thought we were done with the Bondsmagi? Well they certainly weren’t done with Locke – not by a long shot!!) Which means we also get a chance to learn a bit more about Karthain, the city protected by and home to the Bondsmagi for three hundred years – a place of quiet magic, and “modified” people, with only an election every five years to stir things up. And there is quite a bit of stirring to be done, especially with Locke and Sabetha helming opposite sides!
While we learn quite a bit about Karthain and its people, we learn more about the Bondsmagi, and finally, finally we meet the much-hinted-at and alluded-to Sabetha – the one and only woman Locke has ever loved, the one that without whom he’d rather be utterly miserable than try to find anyone else. There is no room for another romantic love in his heart, but for her. And they way they interact is a treat! They know each other so well, having grown up together under Chains’ tutelage; they know each other’s style and quirks, having run many games together despite the five-year separation (hm, just noticed the five-year theme in this book… interesting). The games they play with and on each other are hilarious, effective until they’re not, and fun. Just what you’d expect when you put two master manipulator confidence game artists head-to-head. But what’s more, is that between all of these games and dances they do, there is something very solid, very real, between them. They are not afraid to cut right to the quick of things, to be honest with each other, even when it might backfire later in one way or another. Or when an outsider throws curve balls into their reconciliations – seriously painful curveballs, at that.
Plus, there were the revelations of Locke’s past, of who he is, of why he has no memories of the time before he walked out of the fire, and what it hints at for him and those he cares about. That was rich, and worth the wait – and makes me wonder just how this is going to affect things going forward, especially Patience’s final warning to him. The hourglass has been set, time to watch the grains flow without being able to see just how much is in the top part.
However.
However, this is also probably my least favorite book of the series so far. Why, you ask, if I had so much fun reading it? A few reasons. One, this Five-Year-Game felt hollow to me – it was merely a vehicle to put Locke and Sabetha head-to-head, to put them together for us. (Okay, there was a real purpose to the Game too, I mean how could there not be with the Magi behind it all, but that was mostly an end-game twist.) I never felt as much a part of the Karthain society or even the troupe as a part of the society on the Poison Orchid, or in the Sinspire, or running around Camorr. Plus, the stakes felt incredibly low as compared to previous books, and the cons Locke and Sabetha ran felt more like childish pranks than anything that could be actually effective. I think this is most likely because the voting populace stayed a part from what we saw, and we only got reports of how that was changing, instead of being able to see it with our own eyes (even if that is part of the nature of politics/elections).
Two: the Interludes. Normally I love these looks into the past, or into some aspect of history, and they actively add something to the story. Here, the interlude of Locke’s childhood with Sabetha and the other Gentleman Bastards during their training with Chains and especially the much-alluded to time they spent on stage was more of an optional side-story – while it did provide additional information that enriches their back story and offered some moments that are alternately fun and teaching, for the length it was, they add very little to the contemporary story, or even to serve as necessary foundations to understand current actions. In the first book, pretty much every single interlude clearly though indirectly served to illuminate an aspect of the main story, like the story of a Camorri never forgetting or forgiving a grudge. Here, it was a diversion – and each time one of the story lines just started to have things hit the fan, we were abruptly switched into the other timeline, which made it really hard to stay emotionally connected to the events in any given time period.
The final kick was in the endgame and epilogue
I’ll give this a 2.5 stars, rounded up mostly for the humor and the quality conversations. I look forward to reading the next book, but I’m also not quite on the edge-of-my-seat, foaming-at-the-mouth eager for it, either. I hope it doesn’t take too much longer to come out, because I’d rather jump right into it instead of there being a sufficient time lapse to necessitate re-reading the whole trilogy before jumping into it. The first book, yes, the second yeah okay, the third, not so much.
Favorite quotes and some commentary:
“[…] What is government but theft by consent? You’ll be moving in a society of kindred spirits.” – Chapter 2: The Business, page 10/28
“You don’t stand still, Locke. I played along in Tal Verrar when we talked about retiring on our money, but that was bullshit and we both knew it. You don’t retire. You don’t even take holidays. You move from scheme to scheme, jumping around like a spider on a hot skillet. And when you’re forced to stand still, when you don’t have a thousand things going on to keep you distracted from your own thoughts, you actually want to die.” – Chapter 2: The Business, page 20-21/28
“Surely you realize,” said Patience, “that cats are no great respecters of human opinion.” – Chapter 3: Blood and Breath and Water, page 7/34
“What I’m saying is, we have a duty to accept on faith, but also a duty to weigh and judge. Once you insist that some mundane thing was actually the miraculous hand of the gods, why not treat everything that way? When you start finding messages from the heavens in your breakfast sausages, you’ve thrown aside your responsibility to use your head. If the gods wanted credulous idiots for priests, why wouldn’t they make you that way when you were chosen?” – Chapter 4: Across the Amathel, page 15/87
“Ahhh,” he said, feeling the earth grow solid beneath his feet again. “I’ve never … never been so pleased at such a comparison before.”
“It’s a champion among metaphors,” she said with the faintest smile. “So very apt.” – Interlude: Bastards Abroad, page 9/38
Interlude Aurin and Amadine: I rather miss when Lynch would use the fake-names in situations, and not just in speech. I never found it confusing, and rather liked it – it’s more confusing when he doesn’t, because then it’s harder to remember who’s playing who.
“It was loyalty [that Chains bred into us]. And loyalty’s a hell of a weapon.” [Locke said.] – Chapter 8: The Five-Year Game: Infinite Variation, page 80/115
“Quit being so hard on yourself. We are what we are; we love what we love. We don’t need to justify it to anyone … not even to ourselves.” – Chapter 8: The Five-Year Game: Infinite Variation, page 87/115 – Also, LOVED the snake bit, it had me laughing out loud!
“[…] I’ve told you that our arts have limitless capacity to cause harm, and scarcely any power to undo it. We can transmute; we can cleanse. Your poisoning was an alien condition that we could separate from your body. But against shattered bones and spilled blood, we’re helpless. We are ordinary. Ordinary as you.” – Chapter 9: The Five-Year Game: Reasonable Doubt, page 7/19
“He was drunk,” said Sabetha. “He tried to rape Jenora, and she defended herself.”
“You defended yourself?” Moncraine peered slack-jawed at Jenora, as though she’d just then appeared out of thin air. “You witless cunt, you’ve done for us all. You should have enjoyed it as best you could and let him stumble on his way!”
Sabetha glared, Chantal blinked as though she’d been slapped, and Jenora took an angry step forward. Curiously enough, the fist that slammed into Moncraine’s jaw half a second later belonged to Sylvanus.
[…] “So it’s our death lying here before us,” he said. “So what? There’s few advantages to being a friend of Sylvanus Olivios Andrassus, but at least there’s this. If you say you had to do it, Jenora, I believe you. If you killed the miserable shit to keep your honor, I’m proud of you for it.” – Interlude: An Inconvenient Patron, page 23-24/30
Was she [Sabetha] being selfish in holding [Locke] at a distance, or was she being sensible, shielding herself against the worst that might be coming, and soon? – Chapter 10: The Five-Year Game: Final Approaches, page 72/84 – Sabetha, a master at concealing all her feelings to protect herself, something most if not all women can relate to.
Five pages into the Epilogue (out of 26), I was already calling it that the Falconer was going to end up being the big baddie for the GB in what follows.
Typos:
“Locke,” said Jean, very loudly. “—attitude toward… yeah?” – Chapter 2: The Business, page 7/28 – missing paragraph break after ‘loudly.’
“ ’That’s awfully damn cold!” – Chapter 3: Blood and Breath and Water, page 21/34 – Remove extra space after opening quotation mark, and remove that single quotation mark before That’s
“Diplomacy and curiosity don’t always mix,” he said. “We’re not strangers, Jean.” – Chapter 10: The Five-Year Game: Final Approaches, page 57/85 – need a paragraph break between the two spoken bits.
Buddy read with Anna and Megan!
I laughed out loud a lot more in this book than in previous books, that’s for sure! It is highly entertaining, with Locke and Sabetha given free rein to do as they will in this Five-Year-Game as opponents for different factions of the Bondsmagi. (Oh, sorry, you thought we were done with the Bondsmagi? Well they certainly weren’t done with Locke – not by a long shot!!) Which means we also get a chance to learn a bit more about Karthain, the city protected by and home to the Bondsmagi for three hundred years – a place of quiet magic, and “modified” people, with only an election every five years to stir things up. And there is quite a bit of stirring to be done, especially with Locke and Sabetha helming opposite sides!
While we learn quite a bit about Karthain and its people, we learn more about the Bondsmagi, and finally, finally we meet the much-hinted-at and alluded-to Sabetha – the one and only woman Locke has ever loved, the one that without whom he’d rather be utterly miserable than try to find anyone else. There is no room for another romantic love in his heart, but for her. And they way they interact is a treat! They know each other so well, having grown up together under Chains’ tutelage; they know each other’s style and quirks, having run many games together despite the five-year separation (hm, just noticed the five-year theme in this book… interesting). The games they play with and on each other are hilarious, effective until they’re not, and fun. Just what you’d expect when you put two master manipulator confidence game artists head-to-head. But what’s more, is that between all of these games and dances they do, there is something very solid, very real, between them. They are not afraid to cut right to the quick of things, to be honest with each other, even when it might backfire later in one way or another. Or when an outsider throws curve balls into their reconciliations – seriously painful curveballs, at that.
Plus, there were the revelations of Locke’s past, of who he is, of why he has no memories of the time before he walked out of the fire, and what it hints at for him and those he cares about. That was rich, and worth the wait – and makes me wonder just how this is going to affect things going forward, especially Patience’s final warning to him. The hourglass has been set, time to watch the grains flow without being able to see just how much is in the top part.
However.
However, this is also probably my least favorite book of the series so far. Why, you ask, if I had so much fun reading it? A few reasons. One, this Five-Year-Game felt hollow to me – it was merely a vehicle to put Locke and Sabetha head-to-head, to put them together for us. (Okay, there was a real purpose to the Game too, I mean how could there not be with the Magi behind it all, but that was mostly an end-game twist.) I never felt as much a part of the Karthain society or even the troupe as a part of the society on the Poison Orchid, or in the Sinspire, or running around Camorr. Plus, the stakes felt incredibly low as compared to previous books, and the cons Locke and Sabetha ran felt more like childish pranks than anything that could be actually effective. I think this is most likely because the voting populace stayed a part from what we saw, and we only got reports of how that was changing, instead of being able to see it with our own eyes (even if that is part of the nature of politics/elections).
Two: the Interludes. Normally I love these looks into the past, or into some aspect of history, and they actively add something to the story. Here, the interlude of Locke’s childhood with Sabetha and the other Gentleman Bastards during their training with Chains and especially the much-alluded to time they spent on stage was more of an optional side-story – while it did provide additional information that enriches their back story and offered some moments that are alternately fun and teaching, for the length it was, they add very little to the contemporary story, or even to serve as necessary foundations to understand current actions. In the first book, pretty much every single interlude clearly though indirectly served to illuminate an aspect of the main story, like the story of a Camorri never forgetting or forgiving a grudge. Here, it was a diversion – and each time one of the story lines just started to have things hit the fan, we were abruptly switched into the other timeline, which made it really hard to stay emotionally connected to the events in any given time period.
The final kick was in the endgame and epilogue
Spoiler
Locke was brilliant, the way he finagled a third, independent party into the Karthanian two-party system – I LOVED that move! That’s the brilliance I expect of him :) But then, to have the Magi just up and leave like that, it felt like the rug was pulled out from under my feet, like it negated everything Locke had accomplished with the Karthain political system. The icing on the cake was not Sabetha leaving Locke after that reveal (I can’t exactly blame her, just as Locke can’t either, even though it is really unfortunate), but that the Falconer is back. I don’t find it unbelievable, and while I wouldn’t call it predictable either, it falls somewhere between the two. By a couple pages into the epilogue, I was already seeing that it was going to result in the Falconer coming back, but I was still hoping that it would not come to pass – I was quite happy to have the Falconer remain vegetative and defeated by Locke and Jean’s hands. He was a formidable opponent, but when the cards were down, Locke and Jean were better. And they deserved for him to stay beaten, with all they’ve been through.I’ll give this a 2.5 stars, rounded up mostly for the humor and the quality conversations. I look forward to reading the next book, but I’m also not quite on the edge-of-my-seat, foaming-at-the-mouth eager for it, either. I hope it doesn’t take too much longer to come out, because I’d rather jump right into it instead of there being a sufficient time lapse to necessitate re-reading the whole trilogy before jumping into it. The first book, yes, the second yeah okay, the third, not so much.
Favorite quotes and some commentary:
“[…] What is government but theft by consent? You’ll be moving in a society of kindred spirits.” – Chapter 2: The Business, page 10/28
“You don’t stand still, Locke. I played along in Tal Verrar when we talked about retiring on our money, but that was bullshit and we both knew it. You don’t retire. You don’t even take holidays. You move from scheme to scheme, jumping around like a spider on a hot skillet. And when you’re forced to stand still, when you don’t have a thousand things going on to keep you distracted from your own thoughts, you actually want to die.” – Chapter 2: The Business, page 20-21/28
“Surely you realize,” said Patience, “that cats are no great respecters of human opinion.” – Chapter 3: Blood and Breath and Water, page 7/34
“What I’m saying is, we have a duty to accept on faith, but also a duty to weigh and judge. Once you insist that some mundane thing was actually the miraculous hand of the gods, why not treat everything that way? When you start finding messages from the heavens in your breakfast sausages, you’ve thrown aside your responsibility to use your head. If the gods wanted credulous idiots for priests, why wouldn’t they make you that way when you were chosen?” – Chapter 4: Across the Amathel, page 15/87
Spoiler
“Fancy oysters or snails? What a damned awkward thing to be unsure of, for someone in your position. Oh … oh, for Perelandro’s sake, you look like you’re about to be executed.” She bent over and whispered in his right ear. “I happen to like snails very well, thank you.”“Ahhh,” he said, feeling the earth grow solid beneath his feet again. “I’ve never … never been so pleased at such a comparison before.”
“It’s a champion among metaphors,” she said with the faintest smile. “So very apt.” – Interlude: Bastards Abroad, page 9/38
Interlude Aurin and Amadine: I rather miss when Lynch would use the fake-names in situations, and not just in speech. I never found it confusing, and rather liked it – it’s more confusing when he doesn’t, because then it’s harder to remember who’s playing who.
“It was loyalty [that Chains bred into us]. And loyalty’s a hell of a weapon.” [Locke said.] – Chapter 8: The Five-Year Game: Infinite Variation, page 80/115
“Quit being so hard on yourself. We are what we are; we love what we love. We don’t need to justify it to anyone … not even to ourselves.” – Chapter 8: The Five-Year Game: Infinite Variation, page 87/115 – Also, LOVED the snake bit, it had me laughing out loud!
“[…] I’ve told you that our arts have limitless capacity to cause harm, and scarcely any power to undo it. We can transmute; we can cleanse. Your poisoning was an alien condition that we could separate from your body. But against shattered bones and spilled blood, we’re helpless. We are ordinary. Ordinary as you.” – Chapter 9: The Five-Year Game: Reasonable Doubt, page 7/19
“He was drunk,” said Sabetha. “He tried to rape Jenora, and she defended herself.”
“You defended yourself?” Moncraine peered slack-jawed at Jenora, as though she’d just then appeared out of thin air. “You witless cunt, you’ve done for us all. You should have enjoyed it as best you could and let him stumble on his way!”
Sabetha glared, Chantal blinked as though she’d been slapped, and Jenora took an angry step forward. Curiously enough, the fist that slammed into Moncraine’s jaw half a second later belonged to Sylvanus.
[…] “So it’s our death lying here before us,” he said. “So what? There’s few advantages to being a friend of Sylvanus Olivios Andrassus, but at least there’s this. If you say you had to do it, Jenora, I believe you. If you killed the miserable shit to keep your honor, I’m proud of you for it.” – Interlude: An Inconvenient Patron, page 23-24/30
Was she [Sabetha] being selfish in holding [Locke] at a distance, or was she being sensible, shielding herself against the worst that might be coming, and soon? – Chapter 10: The Five-Year Game: Final Approaches, page 72/84 – Sabetha, a master at concealing all her feelings to protect herself, something most if not all women can relate to.
Five pages into the Epilogue (out of 26), I was already calling it that the Falconer was going to end up being the big baddie for the GB in what follows.
Typos:
“Locke,” said Jean, very loudly. “—attitude toward… yeah?” – Chapter 2: The Business, page 7/28 – missing paragraph break after ‘loudly.’
“ ’That’s awfully damn cold!” – Chapter 3: Blood and Breath and Water, page 21/34 – Remove extra space after opening quotation mark, and remove that single quotation mark before That’s
“Diplomacy and curiosity don’t always mix,” he said. “We’re not strangers, Jean.” – Chapter 10: The Five-Year Game: Final Approaches, page 57/85 – need a paragraph break between the two spoken bits.