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A review by rentheunclean
The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch
3.0
I liked Republic of Thieves, but it doesn't quite come together as well as the previous two books. The character development and world building are still great, but the through line of both plots in the book don't quite come together for me.
Like the previous two books, Republic of Thieves has two parallel stories, each of which informs the characterizations of the other.
The present story is Jean and Locke working to rig an election in a competition against their estranged friend Sabetha. The 'thieves as political operators' is a cool take, but it suffers for the focus on Sabetha and Locke's relationship and Lynch handwaves a lot of the events towards the end in an unsatisfying way.
The past story is about the Gentlemen Bastards working to save a theater troupe and become players themselves and has some development of characters who haven't been as present, like Calo, Galdo, and Sabetha. I liked this story a bit more than the present timeline, though similarly, it struggles for being so focused on Sabetha and Locke.
Lynch uses the fact that the relationship between Locke and Jean has been well established and strengthened in previous books to let this story be more about Locke and Sabetha. Unfortunately, this pairing isn't as strong. Locke is earnest (if clumsy) in this arena and Sabetha is standoffish and cold, which makes it hard to find much to like about her. The plot focuses so hard on exploring this relationship that both of the capers in the book get short shrift and are less satisfying because of it.
This book is still a fun read and advances the story in some very interesting ways, it just isn't as incredible as the first two. I am definitely looking forward to the next books in the series when they eventually come out and I hope Lynch can find his way back to the heart of these stories.
Like the previous two books, Republic of Thieves has two parallel stories, each of which informs the characterizations of the other.
The present story is Jean and Locke working to rig an election in a competition against their estranged friend Sabetha. The 'thieves as political operators' is a cool take, but it suffers for the focus on Sabetha and Locke's relationship and Lynch handwaves a lot of the events towards the end in an unsatisfying way.
The past story is about the Gentlemen Bastards working to save a theater troupe and become players themselves and has some development of characters who haven't been as present, like Calo, Galdo, and Sabetha. I liked this story a bit more than the present timeline, though similarly, it struggles for being so focused on Sabetha and Locke.
Lynch uses the fact that the relationship between Locke and Jean has been well established and strengthened in previous books to let this story be more about Locke and Sabetha. Unfortunately, this pairing isn't as strong. Locke is earnest (if clumsy) in this arena and Sabetha is standoffish and cold, which makes it hard to find much to like about her. The plot focuses so hard on exploring this relationship that both of the capers in the book get short shrift and are less satisfying because of it.
This book is still a fun read and advances the story in some very interesting ways, it just isn't as incredible as the first two. I am definitely looking forward to the next books in the series when they eventually come out and I hope Lynch can find his way back to the heart of these stories.