Red Seas Under Red Skies (Gollancz S.F.)
by Scott Lynch
|
|
Sign in to Goodreads to see your friends' reviews of this book.
discuss this book
friend reviews (0)
To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
lists with this book
Where's the love? Add this book to your favorite list.
other reviews (showing 1-20 of 322)
Read in September, 2007
This is an enjoyable follow-up to The Lies of Locke Lamora. It is a little worrisome in its similarity though.
The last one was a fun caper involving high-stakes thieving scams intertwined with personal vendettas and manipulating kingpins. This one is essentially the same thing in a new city with different names. It's still enjoyable, but if the next one in the series does the same thing, it'll be quitting time. Luckily, the publisher says that's not the case. The first two were self-contain...more
The last one was a fun caper involving high-stakes thieving scams intertwined with personal vendettas and manipulating kingpins. This one is essentially the same thing in a new city with different names. It's still enjoyable, but if the next one in the series does the same thing, it'll be quitting time. Luckily, the publisher says that's not the case. The first two were self-contain...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in March, 2008
This is a surprisinly worthy followup, albeit a tad frustrating, at least at first. After reading all of the negative or mediaocre reviews, I was expecting to find a lesser book than Lies. I didn't find that at all. The quality of writing, the sympathetic characters, the sharp and funny dialogue, the action: it's all here. I think the reason people are turned off by it is because it's a very different book than the first one.
Red Seas wastes no time as it starts off. We begin with Locke and ...more
Red Seas wastes no time as it starts off. We begin with Locke and ...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in January, 2008
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in August, 2008
For the average Fantasy reader, the genre can become quite boring. The formula used in far too many novels consists of Foozle is committing great evil, good nobodies gather, collect the weakness of Foozle (or gain power to match Foozle), march towards final battle, defeat Foozle, end.
Not in Scott Lynch's Locke Lamora books. His heroes aren't heroes. They're what we would call con men. This brings a fairly new and unique view to a genre that consists of reproductions of the Lord of the Ri...more
Not in Scott Lynch's Locke Lamora books. His heroes aren't heroes. They're what we would call con men. This brings a fairly new and unique view to a genre that consists of reproductions of the Lord of the Ri...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in October, 2007
I give it two stars instead of one because despite the issues I have with the story, or the world, the author is still a really talented writer.
But after getting 1/3rd through the book and realizing that I was being taken from one outrageous scene of "people" with money getting off on / being amused by / spending a lot of money to watch one inhumane cruelty after another, I realized that this book wasn't for me. I realize with hindsight that the first in the series, Lies of Locke ...more
But after getting 1/3rd through the book and realizing that I was being taken from one outrageous scene of "people" with money getting off on / being amused by / spending a lot of money to watch one inhumane cruelty after another, I realized that this book wasn't for me. I realize with hindsight that the first in the series, Lies of Locke ...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in July, 2008
Red Seas Under Red Skies has several flaws, some of them quite noticeable. The pacing wobbles, the two main plotlines don't quite integrate, and there are clichés in the plotting which are all the more wince-inducing when set against the inventiveness of Lynch's world-building. (Let's just say that one character's arc is obvious from the beginning and made me sigh).
That said, I still gave this five stars becaus...more
That said, I still gave this five stars becaus...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
Thieves, scoundrels and con artists
It's a good thing I read "The Lies of Locke Lamora" when I did because I didn't have to wait long for the second book to come out. Does "Red Seas Under Red Skies" live up to its predecessor? In my opinion, almost.
It's a very good, very fun, fast paced book. This time our conniving hero moves to a place called Tal Verrar since he is now persona non grata in Camorr. I like the elements of the plot very much: a casino heist, gambling, high seas piracy and double-crosses ...more
It's a very good, very fun, fast paced book. This time our conniving hero moves to a place called Tal Verrar since he is now persona non grata in Camorr. I like the elements of the plot very much: a casino heist, gambling, high seas piracy and double-crosses ...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
I think this book suffered from plot fatigue. I was ok with the casino job, and when they get handed over to the Archon I figured they'd still be able to work it out. But when they turned pirate, I assumed that previous plot lines would be dropped. Surely, they'd be too busy being pirates to continue with the anything else. 500 pages in and it looked like this would be continued in a sequel. Only 50 pages to go, and nothing's even close to being wrapped up; surely there's a sequel. And then, wha...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
anyone who liked the first one
For all its brilliance, this was rather formulaic. Doesn't mean I didn't love it despite its flaws, of course- Scott Lynch writes beautifully, and I love Locke and Jean, the principal characters. But really, I can see that this series will eventually pale for me. The dialogue is contrived, if really hilarious, and sadly some of that hilariousity will diminish every time you hear one of the characters say something cool. The end...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
Locke and Robin Hood fans.
Read 9/1-9/2/07
Red Seas Under Red Skies is the next book in Lynch's The Gentleman Bastards sequence, following the marvelous The Lies of Locke Lamora. In this volume,Locke and Jean Tannen have landed in Tal Verrar and are plotting a typically
grandiose casino heist. But as is the normal course of Locke's life, not all is what it seems and complications abound. Red Seas Under Red Skies is a rollicking adventure of honour and dishonour among thieves, set in a fantasy world of alchemy and sleigh...more
Red Seas Under Red Skies is the next book in Lynch's The Gentleman Bastards sequence, following the marvelous The Lies of Locke Lamora. In this volume,Locke and Jean Tannen have landed in Tal Verrar and are plotting a typically
grandiose casino heist. But as is the normal course of Locke's life, not all is what it seems and complications abound. Red Seas Under Red Skies is a rollicking adventure of honour and dishonour among thieves, set in a fantasy world of alchemy and sleigh...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
2 comments
Read in October, 2007
The sequel to The Lies of Locke Lamora, Red Seas Under Red Skies sees Jean and Locke in the city of Tal Verrar, where they are planning to rob the Bellagio the Sinspire casino.
There are pirates and politics, banter and snark and people dying in gruesome ways, so, you know, pretty much par for the course with the first book, and an ending s...more
There are pirates and politics, banter and snark and people dying in gruesome ways, so, you know, pretty much par for the course with the first book, and an ending s...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Sadly enough, this is a piss poor follow up to a fantastic first novel.
The author suffered major A.D.D. with his storyline and flops around several times between plots that lead nowhere. It's almost as if he had two completely different ideas for novels but couldn't quite fill in the gaps to make them stand on their own. Instead, he decided to combine them in to one long book but does a poor job connecting the two.
I found myself slogging through it just to get to the end. Unfo...more
The author suffered major A.D.D. with his storyline and flops around several times between plots that lead nowhere. It's almost as if he had two completely different ideas for novels but couldn't quite fill in the gaps to make them stand on their own. Instead, he decided to combine them in to one long book but does a poor job connecting the two.
I found myself slogging through it just to get to the end. Unfo...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in May, 2008
Slightly more profane but just as manic and plot-twisty as the first one. Set two years after the The Lies of Locke Lamora (with flashbacks of the intervening period), with Locke & Co. now working Tal Verrar, another water-logged city with deep pockets to pick. About halfway through, they become pirates, but oddly, this book felt more derivative of Oceans 11-13 than the Pirates of the Carribeans. I like the Oceans movies fine, though, so it was okay. With this one, I did become more awar...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in August, 2008
recommended to Peter by:
Amazon reviewsrecommends it for: Fantasy/ Swords & Sorcery fans
My first experience with Scott Lynch and a very good one. A pair of thieves attempt several cons & heists in a feudal world with some magic & no gunpowder.
Somewhat is the tradition of Alexi Panshin & Fritz Leiber heroes but with less of a humorous element, more of an adventure read, less "Thud & Blunder".
A slick, sophisticated story with excellent details of ships under sail & piracy. Good charterers & descriptions. Lynch has created an interesting world ...more
Somewhat is the tradition of Alexi Panshin & Fritz Leiber heroes but with less of a humorous element, more of an adventure read, less "Thud & Blunder".
A slick, sophisticated story with excellent details of ships under sail & piracy. Good charterers & descriptions. Lynch has created an interesting world ...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2008
Unfortunately, I didn't think this lived up to the promise of The Lies of Locke Lamora. It had an interesting plot, which was very engaging, but it was far more see-through. In the first book, I had no idea what was going to happen, and who was going to die. This book, however, the outcome was fairly obvious, and I could nail all of the important characters that were going to be killed off.
Also, the idea of Sabatha scares me. She hasn't been introduced yet, but a spunky red-headed love i...more
Also, the idea of Sabatha scares me. She hasn't been introduced yet, but a spunky red-headed love i...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
The second installment in the Gentleman Bastards sequence is another adventure that can only be described as “rollicking.” Like Siria, I can see that this book had some rather obvious flaws—namely, as she says, one character’s incredibly clichéd arc and the fact that the book kind of feels like two different novels stuck together with sticky tape. However, both of these novels—especially the second one (omg pirates yay!)—are just so much fun, and I love Locke and Jean. (I wou...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
fans of Miles Vorkosigan
Two years after the disastrous events of The Lies of Locke Lamora, Locke and Jean are only days away from robbing the most heavily guarded, ridiculously wealthy vault of all--that of the infamous gaming hall, the Sinspire. But of course, skills like Locke and Jean's do not go unnoticed, and in just a few chapters they are trapped in a web of poltics, poison and power struggles.
Con artists!
Fights about playwrights!
...more
Con artists!
Fights about playwrights!
...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in June, 2007
recommends it for:
Anyone who likes books.
The second book in the bitchingly (yeah, I said bitchingly. Want to fight about it?) titled, "Gentlman Bastards Sequence" Red Seas is easily on par with it's much-hyped, well-received predecessor. It's fast, it's brutal, and it's fucking funny. Lynch may lack the intricacy, intrigue, and immersion of GRRM's well known (to say the least) "A Song of Ice and Fire" series, or the plain gorgeous prose of LeGuin's "Earthsea Cycle" but he easily makes up for it with brilli...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Lynch has done it again. The second in the series is just as good as the first. I don't know how he manages to be as creative, witty, and suspense inducing for so many pages, but somehow he does. The end feels a little rushed - after setting up the climax for 700 pages it resolves itself in 20 pages and the resolution feels too quick. That said any serious sci-fi/fantasy fan who isn't reading Lynch is really missing out. This rivals George RR Martin, Robin Hobb, or Robert Jordan.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in June, 2008
The follow-up to The Lies of Locke Lamora was just as good as the first one. The world continues to come alive with glorious little details that make it clear that Lynch is not just cut-pasting bits of Earth cultures onto his world. I laughed a lot, I loved the dialogue, and then I cried when certain events took place. Throughout the entire thing I kept wanting to flip ahead just to find out what was going on. It was amazing. I really loved it and I recommend it heartily.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
