Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch: A Review

I'm riven by a monumental indecision (yes I have a knack for excess and exaggeration)! Our biggest book store has always been more on the provincial side than not, but lately I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw Lies of Locke Lamora and some ten days latter The Blade Itself lying on the shelves of that same book store - I bought them both ofcourse :p. But then again those books are not "the latest bestsellers" they were released more than a year ago, but let's say that my elation was as high as a starved mans when holding a fresh-baked loaf in his bony arms. But the dillema I mentioned above is - which to read first...I wanna start both so bad that I really cannot choose one so I'm walking on a brink of madness :).
 
Are you in the US? The Blade Itself isn't even officially available over there yet!
 
Well I finally posted my review of "Red Seas Under Red Skies". Here's the short version: Loved the first third or so of the book...thought the story waned a bit when it shifted to the open seas...picked up again toward the end, and finished quite nicely. Definitely a better written and more ambitious novel compared to "The Lies of Locke Lamora", but I think I liked the debut a tiny bit more, especially the latter half of the book, which I thought was much more intense. I also thought the villains were better in the debut. All in all, a very strong follow-up and I'll definitely be checking out future Gentleman Bastard installments...

HERE's the long version if anyone is interested... Thanks and much love & respect.

Robert
 
Reading Red Seas Under Red Skies at the moment (although I did stop for Harry Potter).

I think the reason I enjoy the tales of Locke and Jean is because it's not really what I expect with fantasy... The fantasy I normally read has a quest or a war and whilst I know that the Gentlemen Bastards books are leading to something big, it's a nice change from the norm.

The loved the card game they play at the start - with the shot forefit and I thought the cheat Locke and Jean used to win was very clever. Lynch has a great imagination.

Still, not really sure if I like Locke Lamora himself...
 
Finished this book about a week ago, and I did love it. Its just such a fun, entertaining read- Locke Lamora is such a clever, witty character and I really just get lost in the world- I also do appreciate the darker edge of the series.
 
This was finally released on my side of the Atlantic, so I've eagerly dove in and am enjoying it immensely already. I'm reminded why The Lies of Locke Lamora was my favourite novel of last year!

I'm excited to see how the relationship between Locke and Jean develops throughout the novel. Jean was always one my favourite parts of the first novel.
 
Locke is a pretty cool character, but I have to admit that at times he really grates on my nerves. Jean is definitely great as well, and I wish the book would spend more time from his point-of-view...
 
I have to admit that at times he really grates on my nerves.
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Isn't that the point, though? Sometimes these know-it-all can-do-everything types are too good for their own wellbeing... makes us lesser mortals look on and admire, whilst feeling inadequate. :)

Hobbit
 
Hobbit said:
Isn't that the point, though? Sometimes these know-it-all can-do-everything types are too good for their own wellbeing... makes us lesser mortals look on and admire, whilst feeling inadequate. :)

Hobbit
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LOL, yeah good point...
 
Hmmmm. Guess I'll be the dissenting voice here and say I thought the first book was far superior to this one. While the quality of the writing was better, I found the storyline too diffuse - they're planning a heist, then they get mixed up in some political intrigue, then they head off to sea, then they're waylaid by pirates - despite the attempt to tie everything up nice and neat by book's end. Things kicked off with a promising start (loved the card game at the unique gaming house), but the novel lost steam for me as the story came to rely more on cliched elements (the DOA angle, the lovable pirates)and the introduction of colorfully outrageous side characters than the heroes themselves. Lies had a lot of heart while Red Seas was sorely lacking.
 
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Hi guys!

If you fancy collector's items, I have an ARC (Advance Reading Copy) of the Subterranean Press limited edition of Scott Lynch's Red Seas under Red Skies up for grabs! ;)

Check the blog for all the details!

Patrick
 
LordBalthazar said:
Hmmmm. Guess I'll be the dissenting voice here
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I think I'll join you. I liked "Red Skies" but felt the first book was quite a bit better. Perhaps strangely, I felt something similar with regard to Abercrombie's "Before They Are Hanged". In both cases I felt there was more inspiration behind the first introductory books than there was behind the sequels, and in both cases I also felt that the first books were more convincing overal.

To be fair though, both sequels are good reads. "Hanged" more so than "Red Skies", in my opinion.
 
I thought book was a rehash of book one. same scam same rushed ending.

We had about 200 pages of the heist 100 pages of plot and 3 pages of a rushed ending
 
I really enjoyed it and I'm rather interested to see what come next. Over on Lynch's homepage there are 'teasers' for the rest of the series and it sounds like it gets a little bit epic.

This book, much more then the first gave us hints at something bigger going on and that Locke and Jean are going to somehow end up in the middle of it!

Whilst I like the flash backs in the first book, I started to find them a little annoying after a while, so thankfully they've been cut back here and are really only used to developed characterisation a bit further and add some more emotion to the proceedings.

The introduction the the pirates and the high seas adventure was great fun. The events with Jean were very sad and the ending was rather funny.

I thought book was a rehash of book one. same scam same rushed ending.

We had about 200 pages of the heist 100 pages of plot and 3 pages of a rushed ending
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I disagree... the scam was totally different in this book, the tricks they used to cheat their way up the levels of the Sinspire was well thoughtout as was the final heist. The scam wasn't important and didn't make up that much of the book with well over half of it being at sea and unrelated to the original plan. The ending was a little rushed, but is only an ends to a means. This is only book two out of seven (I think) and the ending wrapped up the events of this book and, much like the first book, left us unknowing of how book three will start.
 
Wulfa_Jones said:
This book, much more then the first gave us hints at something bigger going on and that Locke and Jean are going to somehow end up in the middle of it!
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Ah, a sign of the times.

After two reasonably hefty volumes - some 1100 pages - we are exuberant that there are "hints" at "something bigger" going on.

By that time, Frodo was bobbing away from the Grey Havens, Sheherazade must have gone through thousands of nights, and even Odysseus would be frettin' away on Ithaca, paring his nails and wondering what to do next...
 
Ah, a sign of the times.

After two reasonably hefty volumes - some 1100 pages - we are exuberant that there are "hints" at "something bigger" going on.

By that time, Frodo was bobbing away from the Grey Havens, Sheherazade must have gone through thousands of nights, and even Odysseus would be frettin' away on Ithaca, paring his nails and wondering what to do next...
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I can see what you mean, but I'm taking the books as being stand alone stories that are part of a bigger story arc. This may well change with the later books in the series, but at present at least you can read them without feeling the looming threat of epicness that many other books do.
 
Wulfa_Jones said:
I can see what you mean, but I'm taking the books as being stand alone stories that are part of a bigger story arc. This may well change with the later books in the series, but at present at least you can read them without feeling the looming threat of epicness that many other books do.
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Fair enough :) I agree with all of that.
 
Just finished the book and really enjoyed it. My primary quibble would be one over resolution; I kind of felt this way about "Lies" - when the nature (for want of a better word) of the Grey King was revealed, I was somewhat underwhelmed. Here, the ending is wrapped up a little neatly for my tastes and the resolution of the opening cliffhanger is pretty lame. That said I really enjoyed the novel. There was also the feel of the world being fleshed out and the overall arc of the series emerging. I think we need to see a fair bit more of that in the next book, to prevent "elaborate con fatigue" from developing.

Does anyone know if the next book is still scheduled for June 2008?
 
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