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therealadambeck 's review for:
Red Seas Under Red Skies
by Scott Lynch
While I started out thoroughly enjoying the 2nd interation in this series ... I'm afraid it may be the last for me.
The Lies of Locke Lamora is one of the best fantasy stories I've read in a long time. It featured a fantastic setting, interesting characters, an engaging plot, and managed to do it all without trudging too thickly into fantasy tropes. IE: it didn't feel full of itself or too focussed on world building. World building is fantastic, but it's also very easy to get too caught up in it ... falling into over-explanation and infatuation over details, while allowing your leads to slip into the background. Lynch did a great job of creating compelling characters and dropping them in to a world that felt both fleshed out and real.
The latter 2 thirds of Red Seas, unfortunately, felt mired in the minutiae that the first book skirted. I found myself eventually skimming entire chapters, pulling out the 2-3 tidbits I needed to follow the story forward. I can't knock the man's talent, as he can clearly turn a phrase, paint a scene, and sculpt characters with the best of them ... but the novel simply felt like it became too concerned with being clever, rather than consctructing a compelling course of action.
That said, if you enjoyed the first book, have a bent for high seas adventure and the finer details of seamanship, than definitely give this novel a go. Lynch is fantastic, and I'm sure this series will continue appealing to many avid fantasy readers ... it just lost me somewhere along the way.
The Lies of Locke Lamora is one of the best fantasy stories I've read in a long time. It featured a fantastic setting, interesting characters, an engaging plot, and managed to do it all without trudging too thickly into fantasy tropes. IE: it didn't feel full of itself or too focussed on world building. World building is fantastic, but it's also very easy to get too caught up in it ... falling into over-explanation and infatuation over details, while allowing your leads to slip into the background. Lynch did a great job of creating compelling characters and dropping them in to a world that felt both fleshed out and real.
The latter 2 thirds of Red Seas, unfortunately, felt mired in the minutiae that the first book skirted. I found myself eventually skimming entire chapters, pulling out the 2-3 tidbits I needed to follow the story forward. I can't knock the man's talent, as he can clearly turn a phrase, paint a scene, and sculpt characters with the best of them ... but the novel simply felt like it became too concerned with being clever, rather than consctructing a compelling course of action.
That said, if you enjoyed the first book, have a bent for high seas adventure and the finer details of seamanship, than definitely give this novel a go. Lynch is fantastic, and I'm sure this series will continue appealing to many avid fantasy readers ... it just lost me somewhere along the way.