Do you love the giddy ridiculousness of a good heist story or a long con that finally comes to fruition and leaves the sneering, callous rich bewildered, humbled, and a little poorer? The “Gentleman Bastard sequence,” as author Scott Lynch has called it, has….some of that. If you dig through a whole bunch of other stuff. Currently three books long with more allegedly to come, the series centers around Locke Lamora, a street orphan who ended up as an apprentice of sorts in a secret […]
“We lie for a living, we shouldn’t lie to ourselves.”
At its core, “Republic of Thieves” is really a character study of Locke, which after being with him for two books is poignantly beautiful. He emerges out of the white-collar criminal into Locke the Human. While we’ve seen snippets and snapshots of his humanity throughout the first 2 novels, Locke’s deepening relationship with Jean, and Sabetha’s return to his life brings out a push-pull to his character that we haven’t seen before. As in his previous books, Lynch weaves the Bastards’ childhood stories in with their […]
A Gentleman Bastard Is Still A Bastard
In a nutshell this is a fantastic, fun ride. It has all the elements of a great modern fantasy: excellent characters, awesome world-building, and a fast-paced, well timed plot that keeps you interested. A lot of Amazon reviewers are comparing Scott Lynch to Mark Lawrence and Patrick Rothfuss, and as a reader of all 3 authors, I feel that Lynch’s Locke and Company are NOTHING like Jorg or Kvothe. While Jorg is a downright bastard (see Kaykay’s Cannonball 6 review) and Kvothe is cocky (see […]
Locke, move over; Sabetha’s in town
Warning: This review for the third book in the series contains possible spoilers for The Lies of Locke Lamora and Red Seas Under Red Skies. You know, just in case that wasn’t obvious from the fact that it’s a sequel. Locke Lamora is poisoned, and there’s no antidote. He and Jean Tannen must agree to deal with their erstwhile enemies, the bondsmagi, in order to save Locke’s life and give them a new game to play. But in this game, they face their most dangerous adversary yet… Sabetha, […]