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marimoose 's review for:
The Republic of Thieves
by Scott Lynch
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'm of two minds over this book. On the one hand, of the three books in this series so far, The Republic of Thieves had the most character development, especially where the gentleman bastards crew are concerned. On the other hand, I found that the plot sometimes just did its own thing separate of the characters. Most of the time, I just wanted the Bondsmagi to go away and let Locke cook, to be honest. He always is at his best when he's the most manic.
But what I did not expect to see on my bingo card was the romantic plotline taking place between Sabetha and Locke. Sabetha was a character who was mentioned in The Lies of Locke Lamora as sort of "the one who got away," and through the first two books, it's clear that Locke still holds a flame for her. That culmination kind of comes to a head in book 3, where the story unfolds between two major plotlines: the present time in Karthain where Locke and Jean are trying to rig an election; and the interludes, where we get glimpses of Locke and the rest of the Gentlemen Bastards (including Sabetha) as they navigate a major job outside of Camorr. And make no mistake, despite this being an epic fantasy written by a man, to me, the romance was one of the stronger things that held this book together. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it.
But some of my favorite bits were definitely how well written the main characters are. I kind of missed the camaraderie in book 1, and by going back and forth between Locke's past and present, we saw the best of the GBs in both worlds. While the romance was adorable, it was always Jean and Locke's relationship that will have me wanting to come back to this world over and over. The first third of the book was absolutely fantastic on an emotional level because of how Jean constantly carries a conversation with Locke.
That all said, I did feel like this book lacked much direction with the plot. As enjoyable as the interludes were, the only thing that seemed to connect it to the present was the relationship Locke cultivated with Sabetha. Major portions of the interlude plotline could have been cut off because, really, I was not interested in reading an entire play within a play within a flashback. The most interesting part of the interlude chapters didn't even occur until more than halfway into them, and they often cut through some major chapter revelation. Despite the long chapters the back and forth were a bit irritating because WHAT DO YOU MEAN, "this and this" HAPPENED I NEED TO KNOW WHAT'S NEX--NOT ANOTHER INTERLUDE.
I don't even know what to say about the whole trying to rig the election nonsense, because I just felt like that was neither here nor there. On the whole of it all, it was pretty much just Locke and Jean trying to one-up Sabetha, who is fairly competent and I love her brand of unhinged too.
So yeah, while I loved the characters, I will say I wished some things got resolved in this third book, because I feel right now it's just leading up to much bigger things, and who knows at this rate when we'll get the next book. ðŸ«
But what I did not expect to see on my bingo card was the romantic plotline taking place between Sabetha and Locke. Sabetha was a character who was mentioned in The Lies of Locke Lamora as sort of "the one who got away," and through the first two books, it's clear that Locke still holds a flame for her. That culmination kind of comes to a head in book 3, where the story unfolds between two major plotlines: the present time in Karthain where Locke and Jean are trying to rig an election; and the interludes, where we get glimpses of Locke and the rest of the Gentlemen Bastards (including Sabetha) as they navigate a major job outside of Camorr. And make no mistake, despite this being an epic fantasy written by a man, to me, the romance was one of the stronger things that held this book together. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it.
But some of my favorite bits were definitely how well written the main characters are. I kind of missed the camaraderie in book 1, and by going back and forth between Locke's past and present, we saw the best of the GBs in both worlds. While the romance was adorable, it was always Jean and Locke's relationship that will have me wanting to come back to this world over and over. The first third of the book was absolutely fantastic on an emotional level because of how Jean constantly carries a conversation with Locke.
That all said, I did feel like this book lacked much direction with the plot. As enjoyable as the interludes were, the only thing that seemed to connect it to the present was the relationship Locke cultivated with Sabetha. Major portions of the interlude plotline could have been cut off because, really, I was not interested in reading an entire play within a play within a flashback. The most interesting part of the interlude chapters didn't even occur until more than halfway into them, and they often cut through some major chapter revelation. Despite the long chapters the back and forth were a bit irritating because WHAT DO YOU MEAN, "this and this" HAPPENED I NEED TO KNOW WHAT'S NEX--NOT ANOTHER INTERLUDE.
I don't even know what to say about the whole trying to rig the election nonsense, because I just felt like that was neither here nor there. On the whole of it all, it was pretty much just Locke and Jean trying to one-up Sabetha, who is fairly competent and I love her brand of unhinged too.
So yeah, while I loved the characters, I will say I wished some things got resolved in this third book, because I feel right now it's just leading up to much bigger things, and who knows at this rate when we'll get the next book. ðŸ«