Hardcover, 576 pages
English language
Published July 31, 2007 by Spectra.
In his highly acclaimed debut, The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch took us on an adrenaline-fueled adventure with a band of daring thieves led by con artist extraordinaire Locke Lamora. Now Lynch brings back his outrageous hero for a caper so death-defying, nothing short of a miracle will pull it off.After a brutal battle with the underworld that nearly destroyed him, Locke and his trusted sidekick, Jean, fled the island city of their birth and landed on the exotic shores of Tal Verrar to nurse their wounds. But even at this westernmost edge of civilization, they can't rest for long--and are soon back to what they do best: stealing from the undeserving rich and pocketing the proceeds for themselves. This time, however, they have targeted the grandest prize of all: the Sinspire, the most exclusive and heavily guarded gambling house in the world. Its nine floors attract the wealthiest …
In his highly acclaimed debut, The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch took us on an adrenaline-fueled adventure with a band of daring thieves led by con artist extraordinaire Locke Lamora. Now Lynch brings back his outrageous hero for a caper so death-defying, nothing short of a miracle will pull it off.After a brutal battle with the underworld that nearly destroyed him, Locke and his trusted sidekick, Jean, fled the island city of their birth and landed on the exotic shores of Tal Verrar to nurse their wounds. But even at this westernmost edge of civilization, they can't rest for long--and are soon back to what they do best: stealing from the undeserving rich and pocketing the proceeds for themselves. This time, however, they have targeted the grandest prize of all: the Sinspire, the most exclusive and heavily guarded gambling house in the world. Its nine floors attract the wealthiest clientele--and to rise to the top, one must impress with good credit, amusing behavior...and excruciatingly impeccable play. For there is one cardinal rule, enforced by Requin, the house's cold-blooded master: it is death to cheat at any game at the Sinspire. Brazenly undeterred, Locke and Jean have orchestrated an elaborate plan to lie, trick, and swindle their way up the nine floors...straight to Requin's teeming vault. Under the cloak of false identities, they meticulously make their climb--until they are closer to the spoils than ever. But someone in Tal Verrar has uncovered the duo's secret. Someone from their past who has every intention of making the impudent criminals pay for their sins. Now it will take every ounce of cunning to save their mercenary souls. And even that may not be enough....From the Hardcover edition.
Not bad for a second book. Likable new characters, another exciting heist that leaves the reader in the dark until the very end, and many adventures that make me want to play a D&D campaign in this world. This book made me want to play the old Pirates! game from Sid Meier again, and I didn't regret that either.
I think a good, short review may be: "Well. I didn't see that coming."
Lynch delivers. Two protagonists from the first Locke Lamora book return for a new score, only they wind up with much, much, MUCH more than they bargained for.
I swear, Je...Jerome, the next person who tells me something like, 'Squiggle-fuck this rightwise cock-swatter with a starboard jib' is going to get a knife in the throat. Even if it's Caldris. No more nautical terms tonight."
"You seem to be three sheets to the wind."
"Oh, that's your death warrant signed then, four-eyes."
Jean and Locke return with great banter, wonderful action and a series of cons to pull on victims. The remaining Gentleman Bastards have the events of Lies of Locke Lamora hanging heavily over their heads, and all plans. The world of Gentleman Bastards has been set up and I was ready for a con-within-a-con, especially if the Bondsmagi were the ones pulling the strings. Then, rather abruptly, everything was thrown out with the bath water and we were conducting piracy on the seas.
The pirate locale worked but it almost became too much to hold together. …
I swear, Je...Jerome, the next person who tells me something like, 'Squiggle-fuck this rightwise cock-swatter with a starboard jib' is going to get a knife in the throat. Even if it's Caldris. No more nautical terms tonight."
"You seem to be three sheets to the wind."
"Oh, that's your death warrant signed then, four-eyes."
Jean and Locke return with great banter, wonderful action and a series of cons to pull on victims. The remaining Gentleman Bastards have the events of Lies of Locke Lamora hanging heavily over their heads, and all plans. The world of Gentleman Bastards has been set up and I was ready for a con-within-a-con, especially if the Bondsmagi were the ones pulling the strings. Then, rather abruptly, everything was thrown out with the bath water and we were conducting piracy on the seas.
The pirate locale worked but it almost became too much to hold together. You had the Captain Council and their schemes, the events happening on the boat with Jean and Locke, and then the cons set up on shore. It was messy but the more complicated it got the more eager I was to see how it would all unravel or piece together.
The below quote is from Locke near the end of the story, and I couldn't help but think Lynch was pleading with the readers as a Deus ex machina was putting a bow on the plot.
"We've left a few parts of our story untold, Zamira. Forgive us. Sometimes these schemes get a bit heavy to haul around."
I really like what Lynch has done with this story, building fantastic characters, slowly adding complexity and consequences to actions on top of a problematic situation, and because of that I'll continue reading this series. I wanted to enjoy this book as much as the first but I had to dock it points because it almost became too much in the story.
The third book is longer than the previous two, so if Lynch is set on filling the pages with as much twists and turns as possible I'll see if that is the benefit, or hinderance, of these Bastards.
I enjoyed [b:The Lies of Locke Lamora|127455|The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard, #1)|Scott Lynch|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386924569s/127455.jpg|2116675] straight through, beginning to end. There were a lot of things I liked about this book too. Characters I've grown to love got fleshed out even more, we get introduced to some memorable new locations, and there are new/different/interesting schemes to be played on new/different/interesting people. There's a lot to enjoy. One thematic choice kept rubbing against the grain of my personal taste though, and it kept me from enjoying the book as much as I did the first. Details below since it's hard to discuss without spoilers.
I'm very excited to read [b:The Republic of Thieves|2890090|The Republic of Thieves (Gentleman Bastard, #3)|Scott Lynch|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1406961069s/2890090.jpg|2916344]!
The one element of this book that continually hampered my enjoyment was nautical detail. Oh boy. I stress that this is a personal preference issue rather than something I perceive as …
I enjoyed [b:The Lies of Locke Lamora|127455|The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard, #1)|Scott Lynch|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386924569s/127455.jpg|2116675] straight through, beginning to end. There were a lot of things I liked about this book too. Characters I've grown to love got fleshed out even more, we get introduced to some memorable new locations, and there are new/different/interesting schemes to be played on new/different/interesting people. There's a lot to enjoy. One thematic choice kept rubbing against the grain of my personal taste though, and it kept me from enjoying the book as much as I did the first. Details below since it's hard to discuss without spoilers.
I'm very excited to read [b:The Republic of Thieves|2890090|The Republic of Thieves (Gentleman Bastard, #3)|Scott Lynch|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1406961069s/2890090.jpg|2916344]!
The one element of this book that continually hampered my enjoyment was nautical detail. Oh boy. I stress that this is a personal preference issue rather than something I perceive as a shortcoming of the book, because I'm sure other people read it and thought "Nice! Nautical terms!" My own impression went more like this:
"Locke and Jean are going to get a taste of piracy. This sounds fun, let's see where it goes."
"Mr. Lynch is not glossing over any details of seafaring here, he wants to make us feel like we're on the sea with the characters. Good on him!"
"Ok, I think I'm good now. I've had enough with the nautical detail."
"Please. No more. Start glossing over details any time now."
I liked the rest of the book so much that this relatively minor gripe stands out in sharp relief.
A bit slow to start, and the ocean's eleven style heists were a bit too convoluted; some of the funniest lines and curses I have read though.
With this book, the series devolves into plain airport reading. There is nothing to be gained from reading this book, just some mental distraction for a few hours. (In fact, I read the majority of the book on a flight).
I'll read the next book when it comes out, but I won't revisit this series again and again, like I do with Lord of the Rings, Foundation, or the Kingkiller Chronicles.
Good, but not as good as the first book. Also, the opening scene which really drew some friends of mine into the book annoyed me. It doubly annoyed me later in the book when we finally got the explanation of how that scene came about. On the bright side, Jean gets a lot more page time in this book.
Not as good as the first one. It took about half the novel to really pick up. But whenever it moved away from the pirates it started to drag a bit.
The first one-third of the book was practically a clone of the first book. Double-crossing two powerful figures -- one of which, the main characters are very involuntarily allied with -- while trying to pull a big heist.
Then, suddenly, it's a book about pirates. Not necessarily a BAD change. Just different. Unfortunately, most of the decent parts tended to get lost in all of the uninteresting nautical jargon.
Good book overall; just not as good as the first book.
An entertaining con game story, but not as compelling as the first book in the series ("The Lies of Locke Lamora"). A lot of plot layers to keep track of, and while the pirate angles are entertaining, it doesn't quite live up to the original. Still, a fun read.
