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sarahetc 's review for:
The Republic of Thieves
by Scott Lynch
Oh dear. Oh Crooked Warden. I did not love the stuffing out of this book. In fact, I spent the last hundred pages alternately wishing it were better and wishing it were over. I'm so sad and disappointed in myself. That's how I know I'm in a cult. But how I know even more is that if you handed me The Thorn of Emberlain, I would sit there, holding it against me, torn over what expectations to have and how big I should allow them to become. So having given this four stars because it was only merely excellent instead of mind-bogglingly stupendous, can I talk about it? Thanks. Spoilers? Probs.
First of all, I have to go read every other review ever written to find out about what other people think of Sabetha. Because the pre-release press was all HELL YEAH SABETHA. And I read it and thought, Hell yeah! And then I read the actual book and thought, "Hell no. Wait. What?" Because Sabetha is annoying as shit. Sabetha is like some cardboard caricature from Jezebel. Sabetha spends two books getting built up as the love of Locke's life and the lynchpin of the Gentlemen Bastard's operation and then shows up, whines, bitches, whines some more and plays a lot of stupid teenage headgames with Locke. Which, props for extensive realism, I suppose. Yet all grown up Sabetha is just as annoying and, if possible, even more self-centered. In fact, having read additional press wherein Lynch talks about the difficulty of writing some things because they are so self-revelatory, I feel very, very sorry for his experiences with relationships. When you really, deeply, truly love someone, harsh truths about their past are not a license to walk and think about your own fate. You double-down on that commitment or get out.
But I see now that, in doing the Meeting Half Way dance of authors and readers, I met Lynch and realize I absolutely hate this location.
The rest of the book reads as plagued by tension, but not the good narrative kind. It's the bad narrative kind where the two major stories of the book compete with one another. Yet instead of either of them striving for a good showing, they both seem to just plod along, knowing they'll reach the finish line and not caring overly much when or how that happens. There was nothing in the majority of the book that I found remarkable. In fact, all but about 50 pages seems like so much background and set up for what comes next. And I can appreciate that. For every seven book series, you're going to have to have some kind of turning point. There will always be a Goblet of Fire or a Feast for Crows. Hopefully this is it and we get back to the good stuff in 2015 or whenever the next book comes out.
Is the book worth it? Sure. Could you just skip to the last 35 pages? I don't know, since it's three of seven. But if it weren't, yeah, you probably could.
All that said, they are still the Gentleman Bastards. They are still Locke and Jean. And I still love them deeply. I'm disappointed in myself, really. I know better than this. Or I should. But that's the thing about this series. It makes you forget how you loved and lost, because again you love so hard.
First of all, I have to go read every other review ever written to find out about what other people think of Sabetha. Because the pre-release press was all HELL YEAH SABETHA. And I read it and thought, Hell yeah! And then I read the actual book and thought, "Hell no. Wait. What?" Because Sabetha is annoying as shit. Sabetha is like some cardboard caricature from Jezebel. Sabetha spends two books getting built up as the love of Locke's life and the lynchpin of the Gentlemen Bastard's operation and then shows up, whines, bitches, whines some more and plays a lot of stupid teenage headgames with Locke. Which, props for extensive realism, I suppose. Yet all grown up Sabetha is just as annoying and, if possible, even more self-centered. In fact, having read additional press wherein Lynch talks about the difficulty of writing some things because they are so self-revelatory, I feel very, very sorry for his experiences with relationships. When you really, deeply, truly love someone, harsh truths about their past are not a license to walk and think about your own fate. You double-down on that commitment or get out.
But I see now that, in doing the Meeting Half Way dance of authors and readers, I met Lynch and realize I absolutely hate this location.
The rest of the book reads as plagued by tension, but not the good narrative kind. It's the bad narrative kind where the two major stories of the book compete with one another. Yet instead of either of them striving for a good showing, they both seem to just plod along, knowing they'll reach the finish line and not caring overly much when or how that happens. There was nothing in the majority of the book that I found remarkable. In fact, all but about 50 pages seems like so much background and set up for what comes next. And I can appreciate that. For every seven book series, you're going to have to have some kind of turning point. There will always be a Goblet of Fire or a Feast for Crows. Hopefully this is it and we get back to the good stuff in 2015 or whenever the next book comes out.
Is the book worth it? Sure. Could you just skip to the last 35 pages? I don't know, since it's three of seven. But if it weren't, yeah, you probably could.
All that said, they are still the Gentleman Bastards. They are still Locke and Jean. And I still love them deeply. I'm disappointed in myself, really. I know better than this. Or I should. But that's the thing about this series. It makes you forget how you loved and lost, because again you love so hard.