Red Seas Under Red Skies

After a my unfortunate run of unimpressive reads, this finally felt like coming home. I've put off reading this book for a while because I loved the first book so much I didn't want to ruin my memories of it, but those worries were proven to be unfounded. The second instalment to the Gentleman Bastards series is just as fantastic as the first.

A heist story in a fantasy setting done RIGHT.

How Scott Lynch balances intrigue, suspense, drama, and humour so masterfully is beyond me.

The structure, the writing, is all meticulous and effective, but somehow also never fails to be exciting and entertaining (EVERY. SINGLE. LINE.).

Not a second of it was boring. It knew when to be light, when to be heavy, and when to be both.

The dialogue is truly the star of the show, the way these characters swear should be considered an art-form. It's almost poetry.

Word of warning: this man has a way of making you fall in love with characters just to murder them in the most brutal ways. I learned that in the first book and this one just served as an unfriendly reminder.

The story picks up two years after the events in Lies of Locke Lamora, nearing the final stage of a long-running scheme the Gentleman Bastards have been planning. There are a series of flashbacks that fill in some of the gaps between the end of book one and the start of this book.

While the first book is often compared to Ocean's Eleven, this book picks up with Jean and Locke conning people in a high-stakes casino. Sure, the Sin Spire might have harsher penalties for cheating than Vegas (unless Vegas chops off your hands and throws you out of windows, it's been a while since I visited), but the atmosphere is pretty similar.

The stakes quickly rise, with the Bastards being played by not one, not two, but three separate enemies. Their schemes are also less transparent than in book one, and we as readers sort of figure things out as we go.

About a third of the way into the book, the seafaring part kicks in. What's not to love about Jean and Locke becoming pirates? For me, at least, this was an interesting change of pace from city heists.

Overall, the plot was solid. The flashbacks played a slightly smaller role than in Lies of Locke Lamora, but the present-day plot was more complex. I enjoyed it quite a bit, though there has been some controversy surrounding this book.

Locke and Jean have one of the best bromances I've read. They always have each other's backs and their banter is great. Without a doubt, they are the stars of this book.

Locke is his usual outlandishly devious self, but he has to struggle to return to that point after the conclusion of the previous book. He spends some of the flashbacks deeply depressed. By the time the present rolls around, though, he's the Locke everyone knows and loves.

Jean gets fleshed out more this book. You get to see him at odds with Locke on occasion, how he deals with the possibility of romance, and more. I've always liked that Jean is both a scholar and a fighter, and this book explores both.

The new side characters introduced are colorful and fun to read. From lady pirates to military dictators to engineers with a penchant for throwing people out of tall towers, this book has it all. There's even a James Bond type villain with an artificial knife hand.

You might have heard that a lot of people consider this book weaker than Lies of Locke Lamora. I'm not completely sure why, but I can guess that one of the main reasons is the seafaring. It feels very different from the standard “richer and cleverer than everyone else” Gentleman Bastard plot, and I think a lot of people didn't like that. It's also difficult to make hundreds of pages at sea compelling for all readers.

I didn't mind the sailing bits, but they were definitely slower-paced than the rest of the book. This is probably the aspect that will make or break the book for you. Your nautical mileage may vary.

Say what you want about Lynch, he always delivers a damn entertaining book. His over-the-top dialogue is probably one of my favorite parts of The Gentleman Bastards series.

The worldbuilding continues to be a fun addition without getting too bogged down in the details. There's a city of rich folk who play chess with peasants as the pieces, more alchemical shenanigans, and giant killer wasps.

Also, this is still a book about thieves being thieves, which is just plain fun.