The Republic of Thieves

This book picks up a few weeks after the end of the last book. Locke and Jean are approached by a Bondsmagi who wants them to help rig an election in Karthain. They later find out that Sabetha is helping rig the election for the opposing side. I won't get too much further into the plot to avoid spoilers of the previous books.

I really enjoyed this book. There were definitely some drawbacks for me, but this series is still up there in my favorites because the characters in these stories are just so captivating. First, the plot was a little slower than the previous 2 books. There were a lot of political intrigue, which didn't hold many stakes, and then there was the flashbacks that were all of the Gentleman Bastards as teens doing an assignment for Chains. The flashbacks were lovely. I was always excited to get into them. It's the first time the reader gets to see Sabetha interacting with the rest of the crew, and it was very interesting to put their childhood into that context. As for the political stuff, I felt like it was a little lackluster. There weren't many stakes, and we didn't focus too much on this political race. It felt like extraneous information. The present time scenes were mostly focused on the romance of Sabetha and Locke. While I did enjoy their relationship and getting to see the character growth in Locke, Sabetha was not as cool of a character as I thought she would be. Another thing I wish this book had more of was more of Locke and Jean's relationship. That is what made the last book so incredible. Their relationship is one of my favorites in all of fiction. In the beginning of this book, when Jean is feverishly trying to find a cure for Locke, I was constantly just gushing about how genuine and incredible this relationship is.

All in all, this book was still incredible. I love this series and these characters, regardless of the few qualms I had with it. If you're looking for a charming, dark, fast paced fantasy series, this is it. Although, word of caution, the 4th book is a mystery as to when it will be published. Scott Lynch is one of the authors infamous for taking a while between books.

TW: body horror (including eye-harm), genital mutilation, loss of loved one, rape, torture