Do you love the giddy ridiculousness of a good heist story or a long con that finally comes to fruition and leaves the sneering, callous rich bewildered, humbled, and a little poorer? The “Gentleman Bastard sequence,” as author Scott Lynch has called it, has….some of that. If you dig through a whole bunch of other stuff. Currently three books long with more allegedly to come, the series centers around Locke Lamora, a street orphan who ended up as an apprentice of sorts in a secret […]
Wait, why did I think this was a trilogy?
Spoiler alert: it’s not. There are more and they’re not out yet. I think I have finally figured out one of the things that really bothers me about this series. I mean, I figured it out last book, but forgot to include it in my review, so I’m telling you now. It’s the swearing. It just doesn’t work. George R. R. Martin can drop a few f-bombs and the see you next Tuesday and it flows with the rhythm of his dialogue. Scott Lynch lacks that […]
Go for it, if you liked the first one
I guess my super niche sweet spot is genre heist novels because even after my disappointment with the first in the Gentlemen Bastards series, I’m still working through them. I got a lot of feedback on that review, and y’all did warn me that the quality of the books was going to dip, so I was prepared. And lowering my expectations definitely helped! Plus, you know what? This book has cats. The book also introduces two female characters of substance, which was nice to see. There […]
Good, but not as good as the author thinks it is
If you’re looking for heist drama, Ocean’s 11-style genre fiction, I’d recommend The Rogues of the Republic over this first entry in The Gentlemen Bastards series. The Lies of Locke Lamora was an enjoyable read, but not the masterpiece the author clearly thinks he wrote. Mostly it just made me want to reread the aforementioned Rogues. One thing I am a sucker for is worlds that toss you in and don’t immediately (or ever) answer all your questions. Camorr is one such world with the ghosts of a previous […]