Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch
Dec. 8th, 2015 10:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Thief and con-man extraordinaire, Locke Lamora, and the ever lethal Jean Tannen have fled their home city and the wreckage of their lives. But they can’t run forever and when they stop they decide to head for the richest, and most difficult, target on the horizon. The city state of Tal Verarr. And the Sinspire.
The Sinspire is the ultimate gambling house. No-one has stolen so much as a single coin from it and lived. It’s the sort of challenge Locke simply can’t resist …
… but Lock’s perfect crime is going to have to wait.
Someone else in Tal Verarr wants the Gentleman Bastards’ expertise and is quite prepared to kill them to get it. Before long, Locke and Jean find themselves engaged in piracy. Fine work for thieves who don’t know one end of galley from another.
It’s over 2 years since THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA. Locke and Jean have left Camorra for Tel Verarr where they are working a long con on Requin, the rich and ruthless owner of the Sinspire (a gambling palace that caters to every taste) who has a vault that is supposed to be unbreakable. But their plans are disrupted by the Bondsmagi, who haven’t forgiven them for torturing one of their own and who tip off Tal Verarr’s Archon (a military commander who has a difficult relationship with Tal Verarr’s ruling council, the Priori) that they’re operating in his city. The Archon proves more ruthless than even Locke and Jean are prepared for and soon they find themselves forced into finding a way to help him secure his position in the city. Unfortunately for them, that means having to learn all about ships as they seek to engage in piracy for political ends …
The second in Scott Lynch’s GENTLEMAN BASTARDS SERIES is a clever novel that sadly lacks the fizz and vim that made THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA such an entertaining read. My biggest issue with the novel was the use of time jumps in the first third of the book as Lynch bounces from the present to the past, both to set up exactly what happened to Lock and Jean’s relationship following the events in Camorr and to set up the con that they’re now pulling. For me, there were simply too many of them, which made it difficult for me to get any sense of momentum and it’s compounded once the Archon storyline gets started as Lynch spends a lot of time teaching Locke and Jean how to sail, which I didn’t find particularly interesting. I was also disappointed that the opening chapter (which sees Jean turn on Locke) has such a lame pay off and ultimately, there just wasn’t enough excitement within the story to keep me hooked. On the positive side, the descriptions are great – vivid and evocative – and the relationship between Jean and Locke remains fascinating and believable (especially the way they get so frustrated with each other) and it was interesting to see how that relationship is affected when Jean gets a love interest. For all the faults though, the cliff hanger ending will see me checking out the next book just to see what happens to the rogues next.
The Verdict:
The second in Scott Lynch’s GENTLEMAN BASTARDS SERIES is a clever novel that sadly lacks the fizz and vim that made THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA such an entertaining read. My biggest issue with the novel was the use of time jumps in the first third of the book as Lynch bounces from the present to the past, both to set up exactly what happened to Lock and Jean’s relationship following the events in Camorr and to set up the con that they’re now pulling. For me, there were simply too many of them, which made it difficult for me to get any sense of momentum and it’s compounded once the Archon storyline gets started as Lynch spends a lot of time teaching Locke and Jean how to sail, which I didn’t find particularly interesting. I was also disappointed that the opening chapter (which sees Jean turn on Locke) has such a lame pay off and ultimately, there just wasn’t enough excitement within the story to keep me hooked. On the positive side, the descriptions are great – vivid and evocative – and the relationship between Jean and Locke remains fascinating and believable (especially the way they get so frustrated with each other) and it was interesting to see how that relationship is affected when Jean gets a love interest. For all the faults though, the cliff hanger ending will see me checking out the next book just to see what happens to the rogues next.
Thief and con-man extraordinaire, Locke Lamora, and the ever lethal Jean Tannen have fled their home city and the wreckage of their lives. But they can’t run forever and when they stop they decide to head for the richest, and most difficult, target on the horizon. The city state of Tal Verarr. And the Sinspire.
The Sinspire is the ultimate gambling house. No-one has stolen so much as a single coin from it and lived. It’s the sort of challenge Locke simply can’t resist …
… but Lock’s perfect crime is going to have to wait.
Someone else in Tal Verarr wants the Gentleman Bastards’ expertise and is quite prepared to kill them to get it. Before long, Locke and Jean find themselves engaged in piracy. Fine work for thieves who don’t know one end of galley from another.
It’s over 2 years since THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA. Locke and Jean have left Camorra for Tel Verarr where they are working a long con on Requin, the rich and ruthless owner of the Sinspire (a gambling palace that caters to every taste) who has a vault that is supposed to be unbreakable. But their plans are disrupted by the Bondsmagi, who haven’t forgiven them for torturing one of their own and who tip off Tal Verarr’s Archon (a military commander who has a difficult relationship with Tal Verarr’s ruling council, the Priori) that they’re operating in his city. The Archon proves more ruthless than even Locke and Jean are prepared for and soon they find themselves forced into finding a way to help him secure his position in the city. Unfortunately for them, that means having to learn all about ships as they seek to engage in piracy for political ends …
The second in Scott Lynch’s GENTLEMAN BASTARDS SERIES is a clever novel that sadly lacks the fizz and vim that made THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA such an entertaining read. My biggest issue with the novel was the use of time jumps in the first third of the book as Lynch bounces from the present to the past, both to set up exactly what happened to Lock and Jean’s relationship following the events in Camorr and to set up the con that they’re now pulling. For me, there were simply too many of them, which made it difficult for me to get any sense of momentum and it’s compounded once the Archon storyline gets started as Lynch spends a lot of time teaching Locke and Jean how to sail, which I didn’t find particularly interesting. I was also disappointed that the opening chapter (which sees Jean turn on Locke) has such a lame pay off and ultimately, there just wasn’t enough excitement within the story to keep me hooked. On the positive side, the descriptions are great – vivid and evocative – and the relationship between Jean and Locke remains fascinating and believable (especially the way they get so frustrated with each other) and it was interesting to see how that relationship is affected when Jean gets a love interest. For all the faults though, the cliff hanger ending will see me checking out the next book just to see what happens to the rogues next.
The Verdict:
The second in Scott Lynch’s GENTLEMAN BASTARDS SERIES is a clever novel that sadly lacks the fizz and vim that made THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA such an entertaining read. My biggest issue with the novel was the use of time jumps in the first third of the book as Lynch bounces from the present to the past, both to set up exactly what happened to Lock and Jean’s relationship following the events in Camorr and to set up the con that they’re now pulling. For me, there were simply too many of them, which made it difficult for me to get any sense of momentum and it’s compounded once the Archon storyline gets started as Lynch spends a lot of time teaching Locke and Jean how to sail, which I didn’t find particularly interesting. I was also disappointed that the opening chapter (which sees Jean turn on Locke) has such a lame pay off and ultimately, there just wasn’t enough excitement within the story to keep me hooked. On the positive side, the descriptions are great – vivid and evocative – and the relationship between Jean and Locke remains fascinating and believable (especially the way they get so frustrated with each other) and it was interesting to see how that relationship is affected when Jean gets a love interest. For all the faults though, the cliff hanger ending will see me checking out the next book just to see what happens to the rogues next.
