Red Seas Under Red Skies (Gentleman Bastard, #2) in Fantasy Buddy Reads

Mar 31, 2018 Celise rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-adult, pirates-or-boats

I would probably read an entire swashbuckler series by Scott Lynch. Pirates are one of my favourite things to read about, and I've read so many bad pirate novels recently. This was excellent in that regard.

That said, I didn't love this nearly as much as The Lies of Locke Lamora and it didn't feel like a very well-suited sequel. I think it's great when a sequel has a completely different tone and plot than the first book, however I felt that the ingenuity of the characters was underused, and a lo I would probably read an entire swashbuckler series by Scott Lynch. Pirates are one of my favourite things to read about, and I've read so many bad pirate novels recently. This was excellent in that regard.

That said, I didn't love this nearly as much as The Lies of Locke Lamora and it didn't feel like a very well-suited sequel. I think it's great when a sequel has a completely different tone and plot than the first book, however I felt that the ingenuity of the characters was underused, and a lot of the plot devices/motivators felt forced. It also seems almost like a different genre at times.

The first half of the book is similar in style and tone to the first book. Not in an entirely bad or predictable way either. The second half is a high seas adventure, as the cover and synopsis would indicate. A lot of the clever plotting and twists drop away during this part and fail to return with any real impact. Instead, carefully crafted plans and smarts give way to brute force and violence. The driving force that sends Locke and company out onto the seas (which they would normally avoid like the plague) was cool at first but felt really contrived when I thought about it- as if Lynch really just wanted to write a naval/pirate book with characters he's already established, even if it didn't make sense for them to be there.

That aside, I loved the second half as something independent from the series, and I would love it if Lynch wrote another pirate book. Ignoring what we know of Locke and Jean and their capabilities, this is a great adventure novel. I love how Lynch generally used the way that pirates and sailing technically worked a long time ago, but made things up to suit his world. For example, women on ships are actually considered lucky, and it's bad luck to sail without them or cats! I suppose if you're not too familiar with how pirating and sailing used to work this might not be that amusing, but I appreciated it. The two pirate women we meet are also really cool characters. Zamira Drakasha and Ezri Delmastro were amazing and I can't wait for future novels with more new characters!

Still waiting for (view spoiler), and still very much into this series. ...more

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