Red Seas Under Red Skies
by Scott Lynch
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Book Reviews of Red Seas Under Red Skies
Book Review: "Red Seas" Under "The Lies"
Summary: 4 Stars
The only problem with a masterpiece like "The Lies of Locke Lamora" is that you can never tell whether the sequel is going to be a worthy successor or not. In this case, the answer is 'sort of'. "Lies" succeeded because it worked on two levels. On the one hand, it was a daring caper flick (on paper) about a gang of thieves who manage to sucker-punch the idle rich against all odds. On the other hand, it was a literary exploration of young people crash against the harsh reality of their own world.
"Red Seas under Red Skies" has no ambitions for such two-tiered success. It only aspires to entertainment, and on that score it succeeds quite well. Those looking for a repeat of the original's depth will be disappointed, but those looking for an afteroon of high adventure will find it to be money well-spent.
Months after they fled from the burning remnant of their former lives, Locke and Jean have arrived at a new city and found a new target: the Sinspire, a six-story tower that houses the world's most prestigious casino. They begin working their way through the pockets of the wealthy clientele through elaborate cheating schemes. Unfortunately for them, someone in their past has locked onto their new location. Soon they get caught up in a massive conflict involving the Bondsmages, master criminals, and politicians.
What makes the novel so much fun is the expert plot devices and the manner of their delivery. Lynch knows exactly how to drop a bomb on the readers, with sentences that come out of nowhere to knock your socks off. Though "Red Seas" is even longer than "The Lies of Locke Lamora", the suspense never lags at any point in the 600 pages.
The other specialty is the details. Lynch seems to be an expert on anything, and he is not shy about pouring his heart into every scene. Various scenes in the novel explore everything from proper furniture-making technique to the identification of art forgeries. Do you think Lynch had to look any of that stuff up? I don't. "Red Seas Under Red Skies" is simply a pleasure, and I'm eagerly awaiting the next installment.
Book Review: Complex Confidence Schemes and Witty Banter Abound
Summary: 4 Stars
This is the second book in the Gentlemen Bastards series by Scott Lynch. Overall this was a great book. The pacing was a bit slow in the middle, but the story telling is intricate and clever. You wouldn't have to read the first book to enjoy this book, but knowing the background of the first book would enable you to get more out of this story.
Locke and Jean are nearing the end of a two year scheme to rob the Sinspire. Unfortunately the Archon of the region learns their true identities and wants to use their skills for his own purposes. They are forced to temporarily abandon their Sinspire scheme and are sent on a mission for the Archon. They are supposed to pose as pirates which ends up dragging them into a whole new set of problems.
This book is just as clever as the first book. The plot is complicated and deftly weaves between a number of confidence schemes. True to the Gentleman Bastards of the last book, Jean and Locke take on a number of different guises throughout the book. While Locke remains somewhat ambivalent toward the opposite sex because of his loss in the first book, Jean finds romance on the high seas in the form of feisty pirate named Ezra.
Overall this was a great read. Locke and Jean are great characters; the villains are pretty good villains. This book still deals a lot of witty banter between the characters; although I thought the humor was a bit lighter than in the first book. The pace of the plot is good in the beginning and the end. Unfortunately, in the middle Lynch suddenly spends a ton of time going into the basics of sailing. It was kind of interesting but I don't think it was necessary to the story, and it made the middle of the book stall.
This was a good read though. The end leaves us with a cliffhanger that will have everyone wonder what happens next. And since the next book isn't coming out until sometime in 2010; that's quite the wait for those who want to know what happens. Fans of the series should be happy with this book, as long as they know they need to push through the middle.
Book Review: For Locke fans, this won't disappoint...
Summary: 4 Stars
Was Red Seas as good as Lies? No...but that only makes it about the second-best book I've read this year.
Red Seas finds Locke and Jean licking their wounds after their battle with the Grey King. They have sailed to Tal Varrar, the Monte Carlo/Las Vegas of Lynch's created world, to escape the mess they left behind in Camorr. After a few months of regrouping (and Jean pulling Locke out of a major funk) the two are back to their old games--this time with their sights set on The Sinspire, a grand tower casino ruled by a ruthless Mafioso-type who kills anyone who he finds cheating in his establishment.
As you would expect, Jean and Locke soon find their neat little plan to cheat the Sinspire goes awry--so awry, in fact, that they find themselves forced to learn how to sail and lead a pirate war.
A large chunk of the book takes place at sea, and the nautical terminology is plentiful. Coming from someone who has absolutely no knowledge of sailing, I found the generous use of terminology to be a little head-clogging, but in all honesty, you could skim over the technicalities and still understand what was happening. I do have to question the benefit of this--after I'm skimming through three or four pages of "Turn that line to the larboard over to the oar mast, and make sure the front sail isn't upsideover from the side-sail..." etc., but it does lend an air of authenticity, so I'll give it that (of course, not knowing anything about sailing, I'm not one to ay how authentic any of it really is!)
The things I loved about Lies were still in this book for me--the masterful, witty dialogue, the many plot twists and turns that were blessedly impossible for me to predict. It doesn't tie up as neatly as Lies; the ending is a definite cliffhanger on multiple fronts. Of course, all that means is I'm chomping at the bit for February!
Book Review: Good. Truly. And yet...
Summary: 3 Stars
When you set out to write seven books, it turns out you have to find a way to fill seven books. And that's the basic problem with Red Seas Under Red Skies, the second book in Scott Lynch's...septology?
Lynch left himself with a lot to work with from the first book, The Lies of Locke Lamora. What is all that Elderglass? How will the bondsmagi try to take their revenge on Locke and Jean? How the heck does that magi stuff work in this world anyway? What has happened to Camorr after their caper's semi-success? Who's going to run the underworld now that the Grey King and Capa Barsavi are both gone? When will we get to find out more about that gal that Locke's pining after?
Rather than answer any of those questions, Lynch gives us two books in one: a pirate-romance novella sandwiched inside Locke and Jean's main caper, an elaborate attempt on the Sinspire, the most opulent den of iniquity in the city-state of Tal Verrar. Characters march on and off stage as if by rote, ideas are dropped almost before they're begun, and multiple machinas are elevated to deus status at various points to keep the plot creaking along.
Fortunately for the reader, Lynch's sarcasm and propulsive prose eventually overbalance what turns out to be basically an 800-page diversion, and the book, despite itself, is pretty enjoyable at that level. So long as you don't expect the larger arc of the Gentleman Bastards to move very far down the track, Red Seas Under Red Skies can be the kind of readable romp that makes for good vacation or airplane material.
Book Review: A near miss
Summary: 3 Stars
_The Lies of Locke Lamora_ read like an enjoyable cross between Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar and early Steven Brust--a Baroque fantasy noir crime caper. The sequel starts out in the same territory, but midway through it takes a sudden left turn into Pirates of Not Exactly the Caribbean. The pirate scenes are entertaining, but they often seem to have sailed in from a different book.
The intent may be to obfuscate the fact that, otherwise, the main characters' original plot could have been carried out around page 200, and the book would have ended rather early. There are other signs of slipshod construction: scenes that have neither antecedents nor consequences, odd point-of-view shifts, and flashbacks that serve little purpose. (To take but one example, the scene in which the pirate ship sails through the spooky mist--while well enough written--does not follow from anything or lead to anything, and should have been cut.) There's one major assassination subplot that ends in an anticlimax, as an accidental side effect of the main climax.
Speaking of which, Locke's ultimate solution to his problem bears more than a little resemblance to the resolution of the original. See my comment below for a spoiler on what I mean.
Which isn't to say it's all bad. The dialog is snappy. The pacing is fast. There's a very good visual sense and lots of local color. Readers who liked _The Lies of Locke Lamora_ will probably like this one as well--I did, despite the above critique--but it's neither as tight nor as imaginative.