I am a HUGE fan of Scott Lynch "The Lies of Locke Lamora". Anyone else a Gentleman Bastard?
I am a HUGE fan of Scott Lynch "The Lies of Locke Lamora". Anyone else a Gentleman Bastard?
It's a very strong, very enjoyable novel. I thought RED SEAS UNDER RED SKIES was a bit of a let-down. The start was way too similar to the first book and the ending was too reliant on characters we've never seen or met before. A lot of the middle was excellent, though. I think the book suffered as the city stuff (which is a basic retreat of LoLL) kept slowing down the pirate stuff, which was cool.
Word is (via Scott's Twitter) that THE REPUBLIC OF THIEVES is shaping up nicely and should be out next year, after many delays.
Lynch does a great job of making un-heroic heroes. His back drop world is also vivid and exciting. I know he is/ was a gamer so perhaps that is how he envisions his rpgs.
Just reprinting this exciting news from elsewhere:
Scott Lynch made quite a splash with his debut novel, THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA, when it was published in 2006. The sequel, RED SEAS UNDER RED SKIES, was also well-received when it was released the following year.
Various personal issues have much-delayed the third book in the planned seven-volume series, THE REPUBLIC OF THIEVES, but those problems seem to have been resolved. Lynch has now updated his website with a new, annotated sample from RED SEAS but, more importantly, the complete prologue for REPUBLIC as well.
REPUBLIC doesn't have a firm release date, but is currently expected in mid-2010 from Gollancz in the UK and Bantam in the USA.
Anyone else a Gentleman Bastard?
A true gentleman bastard would never admit to such a thing. But since you ask, "no".
*ahem*
Was completely absorbed by "Lies" - added to my top book list.
Was completely disappointed by "Red Seas" - just didn't grab me like the first book. Felt forced and not genuine. Had some good parts, but I left off reading it for Rothfuss' "The Name of the Wind."
Lynch has delivered THE REPUBLIC OF THIEVES to his publishers. It's currently being edited and revised, and will be simultaneously released in both the UK and USA in Spring 2011, based on current plans.
I finally got a copy of "Red Seas" and have put it on my pile. Looking forward to it.
A big fan of The Lies of Locke Lamora, haven't gotten around to reading Red Seas yet. IMO, along with The Name of the Wind and Martin's stuff, are the best fantasy books out there.
Last year I did some web wandering and stumbled upon a list of authors who were termed "dark fantasy writers influenced by GRRM". Wish I had saved the link. The three authors I took note of and tracked down were all very good.
Scott Lynch
Joe Abercrombie
R. Scott Bakker
Bakker was the toughest slog of the three but still worth it.
Last year I did some web wandering and stumbled upon a list of authors who were termed "dark fantasy writers influenced by GRRM". Wish I had saved the link. The three authors I took note of and tracked down were all very good.
Scott Lynch
Joe Abercrombie
R. Scott BakkerBakker was the toughest slog of the three but still worth it.
I would add Daniel Abraham to that list as well. His LONG PRICE QUARTET - starting with A SHADOW IN SUMMER and A BETRAYAL IN WINTER (published as one volume, SHADOW & BETRAYAL, in the UK) is superb. He's not quite as widescreen-epic as those three, but in terms of actual writing quality he may be the best.
I haven't read him, but apparently David Anthony Durham's ACACIA series is also heavily influenced by Martin.
Among newer authors who are sort-of influeneced by Martin are Patrick Rothfuss and Brandon Sanderson, but I'd say both of those were somewhat more traditional and slightly more optimistic fantasy than GRRM. The former's THE NAME OF THE WIND and the latter's MISTBORN TRILOGY are both pretty good.
New cover art for the UK edition of THE REPUBLIC OF THIEVES, due out in Spring 2011.
Behold, after a few (cough) delays, the final release date:
8 October 2013.
4 days earlier and it'd been my bestest birthday present in years. ;)
I'll buy it if it's not about about pirates again
I am a HUGE fan of Scott Lynch "The Lies of Locke Lamora". Anyone else a Gentleman Bastard?
HELLS YEAH!!
Oy. 7 more months to go.....
Last year I did some web wandering and stumbled upon a list of authors who were termed "dark fantasy writers influenced by GRRM". Wish I had saved the link. The three authors I took note of and tracked down were all very good.
Scott Lynch
Joe Abercrombie
R. Scott BakkerBakker was the toughest slog of the three but still worth it.
I would add Richard K. Morgan and Gregory Keyes to that list.
Greg Keyes isn't really in the same league. He's good, but also a bit more lightweight. THE KINGDOMS OF THORN AND BONE could be perhaps described as ASoIaF-lite, but it also suffers because the third book is weak and the fourth book downright unreadably terrible.
I actually prefer Keyes's earler, non-fantasy works like his BABYLON 5 and STAR WARS stuff, and the AGE OF UNREASON series. I've also heard good things about his fantasy duology, but haven't read it yet.
TKoTaB is like the methadone version of ASoIaF. Also, it has a beginning, a middle, and an end.
TKoTaB is like the methadone version of ASoIaF. Also, it has a beginning, a middle, and an end.
True. But the end sucks. At least with ASoIaF, we can live in hope, probably for many, many years to come :P
I've given up on ASoIaF. At least temporarily. I'm going to wait until I retire, then re-read the entire series in order.
If it's done by then.
Locke Lamora started off as a rogue player-character in a STAR WARS RPG campaign (the old West End rules one, I believe) Lynch was playing in in the 1990s. He was named after a character in FINAL FANTASY VI.
The nerd-fu is very strong with Lynch :-)
|
I should pick up a copy; have been impressed by Scott Lynch's writing since I found his synopsis of a Sesame Street special, of all things, on his Livejournal here.
I do hope the new Lamora book is up to the standard of the first. I really enjoyed The Lies of Locke Lamora, but Red Seas Under Red Skies felt a bit flat. I'll buy it regardless :)
Early reviews are suggesting it's inbetween the first two in quality. Better and more polished (as you'd hope after 6 and a half years) than RED SEAS but not quite as great as LIES.
Nothing is quite like the Lies of Locke Lamora.
Nothing.
It's one of my favorite books, hands down and one of the few that had me laughing out loud and genuinely caring about the characters.
Locke Lamora started off as a rogue player-character in a STAR WARS RPG campaign (the old West End rules one, I believe) Lynch was playing in in the 1990s. He was named after a character in FINAL FANTASY VI.
The nerd-fu is very strong with Lynch :-)
He definitely used to game. I didn't game with him, but friends and friends of friends did, back in the previous century.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
And his girlfriend, Elizabeth Bear (who in my opinion is an even better writer), certainly sends off the occasional #pathfinder labeled tweet.
The Gentleman Bastard #3: The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch
Locke Lamora is dying, poisoned by an enemy during his previous con. However, he receives an offer from the least likely source imaginable: the Bondsmagi of Karthain, his sworn enemies. In return for saving his life, they want him and his stalwart companion Jean to help their allies win an election in their home city. The only problem is that the rival faction has the same idea, and has hired the one person in the world who can match Locke in a battle of wits: his former lover, Sabetha.
The Republic of Thieves has finally arrived, six and a half years after the publication of the previous book in the series, Red Seas Under Red Skies. The medical and personal problems which have afflicted Scott Lynch's writing have been well-documented elsewhere and seem to be resolved, with the next book in the series, The Thorn of Emberlain, reportedly already nearing completion and hoped for publication in late 2014. Hopefully this is the case, because The Republic of Thieves marks the end of the 'stand-alone adventure' phase of the series and the arrival of what appears to be a somewhat more serialised mode of storytelling.
Like its two predecessors, Republic is divided into two storylines. We have a present-day storyline set in Karthain and featuring Locke and Jean trying to win an election in which they are opposed by someone who knows them better than they know themselves. We also have a lengthy flashback to when the gang were teenagers and sent to work in the city of Espara, where they find themselves trying to stage a play (the Republic of Thieves of the title) despite their director being in prison. The book alternates between the two storylines as it progresses.
Both storylines are entertaining, though the flashback one is arguably the stronger of the two. The secondary characters in the theatre company and city of Espara are more strongly-defined and the escalating catastrophes of things going wrong and then getting worse is quite compelling (overcoming the weakness that we know the 'regular cast' survives because, hey, flashbacks). The current-day storyline, set in Karthain, is hampered by the fact that no-one (not the Bondsmagi, Locke or Sabetha) seems to really care who wins the election. There's some interesting (if more broadly-defined) characters featured in this section and the various vote-winning ploys are amusing, but the lack of stakes makes this storyline flag a little. The alternating structure is also not entirely successful: the chapters are quite long and involved, so you're just being absorbed into one storyline when the other resumes, and then the same problem recurs. Reading the flashback chapters as one self-contained novel and then the present-day storyline as one chunk does improve this issue and restores some pace to both narratives, which otherwise tend to bog-down mid-book. There is a large focus on the Locke/Sabetha relationship in both timelines, which tends to get a little repetitive and isn't helped by the 16-year-old Locke and Sabetha discussing relationship issues with impressive and not entirely convincing maturity, which in thankfully isolated moments threaten to the turn the novel into a fantasy version of Dawson's Creek, though Lynch manages to avoid it becoming too annoying. These discussions also later provide important groundwork for the development of their relationship in the present day storyline.
On the plus side, Lynch delves into Locke's psyche a lot more than in previous books and we get closer to finding out what makes him tick. He also lifts the veil on the Bondsmagi, and we learn more about their history, culture, beliefs and organisation. The story about how the Bondsmagi will save Locke in return for helping them out in a minor issue seems rather thin, and it's rather a relief to find that there is more going on than meets the eye. In particular, the closing chapters of the book (and the twist ending) do explain a series of oddities in three volumes to date. There are some complaints that, as a heavily-trailed character, Sabetha is disappointing but if anything this appears to be deliberate. Whilst intelligent and highly capable, Sabetha isn't the paragon Locke lionises her as, and discovering there is a plot reason why Locke is so unhealthily fixated on her is a relief. In fact, there is an argument for readers to read the last few chapters to discover the spoiler and then read the novel knowing about it, as it makes a whole bunch of decisions earlier on more comprehensible than if read cold. Fans of Jean will appreciate that he gets some very good development in the flashback chapters, but will be less impressed that he seems to be sidelined in the present-day story.
Both the twist and another subplot in the book (reports coming in of a brewing civil war in the Kingdom of the Seven Marrows) seem to mark an end to the stand-alone nature of each novel. It looks like that, from now on, the plot of each book will lead into the next (as Republic's apparently does into The Thorn of Emberlain). Those who were expecting and even hoping for this series to consist of isolated, repeated heists and capers may be disappointed by this, whilst those who have dismissed the series for being a bit lightweight for the same reason may be moved to a reappraisal. Whilst some may mourn the loss of the 'Fantasy Ocean's 11' approach to the series, I think it's interesting and healthy for an author to evolve his story and characters from book to book and not be trapped into doing the exact same thing for ten books running, and The Republic of Thieves certainly does that.
With The Republic of Thieves (****) Lynch has delivered a book packed with his trademark sharp dialogue, wit and cunning plotting, and with big improvements in worldbuilding and the portrayal of characters' emotions. It's a transformative book in the series, raising the stakes and making it more clear what the series (and the potential sequel-series Lynch has mooted) will actually be about. There are pacing issues and reading the two narratives as separate novels rather than one big intertwined one may be a better idea, whilst the stakes of the story are somewhat murky and only revealed at the end. However, this is a step-up in quality from Red Seas Under Red Skies, even if it doesn't match the enjoyability of The Lies of Locke Lamora. The novel is available now in the UK and USA.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
And his girlfriend, Elizabeth Bear (who in my opinion is an even better writer), certainly sends off the occasional #pathfinder labeled tweet.
I liked her Blood and Iron and Water and Whiskey.
I seem to be the odd one, but I loved Red Seas just as much as Lies. The part in Tal Verrar was fun, a good reminder of the first book and proceeded to shape further the characters (the "Locke" personality felt somewhat flat in the first book). The pirate stuff was just great, different but still feeling like Gentlemen Bastards. I agree that the ending is the worst part, depending on marginal characters rather than our protagonists, but I was so satisfied with the middle part to forgive it.
Also, Red Seas has one of the funniest stand-alone chapters in any straight-up fantasy novel: the interlude where Jean and locke are mountain climbing and the brigand tries to rob them.
I just started Republic and so far is even flashback-heavier than the previous two (which I don't like nor dislike), and definitely Bondsmage-heavier (which I pretty strongly dislike).
LOCKE LAMORA TV show in the works.
It's also looking like THORN OF EMBERLAIN is going to be delayed (not the biggest surprise in the world), but right now only to March or so.
Just getting to the ending of Red Seas now. I'm really liking this series.
Just finished all 3 (so far) of the Gentlemen Bastards books and am eagerly awaiting the next. Count me among the fans!
The Hugo controversy got me looking back to when Mr. Lynch published his first volume. He was nominated but never won, not even as best newcomer. Unbelievable!
During an interview I read a while back, either he or his girlfriend joked that she gets the awards and he gets the big sales.
It is odd I was just at the bookstore the other day and I was thinking of picking up the first book on a whim. Maybe next time I will.
I missed the interview. Did anyone hear it? Any good dirt on upcoming work or fun trivia shared?
Clicking the link leads to the video of the interview. Unfortunately the audio cut out a bit into it, but the Gollancz people promised to put it up as a podcast later.
In short: Bear may still be in character as Rita Big-Bad.
There was some showing off of the anniversary edition of Lies of Locke Lamora, and Lynch got in a nice burn on Shy Knives writer Sam Sykes.
They're a very cute couple.
Scott Lynch is not out to cause emotional damage to reader, but if people worry about the characters he writes, that's good.
Bear spoke wise words about the need to strike a balance between dark and light in stories.
The book that made Bear want to be a writer was Peter S. Beagle's The Last Unicorn.
Lynch began his writing around age 7, trying to write choose-your-own-adventure novels, and was later influenced by William Gibson and Raymond Feist.
The last books that impressed Bear by doing something unexpected was Charlie Jane Anders's All the Birds in the Sky, despite being a boy-meets-girl kind of book.
...and then the audio cuts out. There's some miming for a bit until they have to give up.
Scott Lynch has completed THE THORN OF EMBERLAIN.
That's completed and delivered, so publication will now likely be early 2020.