The Republic of Thieves (Gentleman Bastard, #3) in Fantasy Buddy Reads

Jul 24, 2023 Dave rated it liked it · review of another edition

The Republic of Thieves on the whole gives us more of the same of what we got in the first two books. It is highly character-focused, with a lot of fun dialog and time spent with the main characters, largely Locke and Jean, as they navigate yet another crazy adventure, getting put through the wringer time and time again, as we have come to expect. The format actually returns to that of The Lies of Locke Lamora, where interludes are interspersed between the "present-day" chapters with flashbacks The Republic of Thieves on the whole gives us more of the same of what we got in the first two books. It is highly character-focused, with a lot of fun dialog and time spent with the main characters, largely Locke and Jean, as they navigate yet another crazy adventure, getting put through the wringer time and time again, as we have come to expect. The format actually returns to that of The Lies of Locke Lamora, where interludes are interspersed between the "present-day" chapters with flashbacks from their younger days. Lynch effectively draws interesting parallels between the two story lines during these two different time periods, which creates some nice cohesion that might otherwise be lacking if the two stories were told independently in a more traditional way.

The plot of this story though, I found to be somewhat less engaging and suspenseful than that of the previous two books. The plot here revolves around rigging an election, which does not exactly jump off the page screaming riveting subject matter. And while the author crafts a far more entertaining story around this topic than I could ever imagine, the stakes here never feel as high as they did in the previous entries in the series, so by comparison the plot here does not measure up to the high bar that has been set. In addition, it felt like Locke spent too much time being distracted by his love interest, rather than trying to accomplish the mission at hand. It is quite possible that Lynch thought this would spice up the story, but I felt that it was not done very convincingly and became rather tiresome at times during the middle sections of the book, so this really did not work for me.

My favorite part of the book may have been the interludes, the flashbacks to events of earlier years with the whole gang. The major story arc of these interludes revolves around running an elaborate scam that requires the gang to infiltrate a theater group. For the most part, I found these sections to be a lot of fun, and was frequently eager to get back to this story line in order to see how events would play out. Reflecting on the story now, having completed it several weeks ago, this is the part of the book that I remember most clearly and most fondly.

Overall, this book is a bit of a step down from the first two in the series, in my opinion falling just short of being a worthy successor. Nevertheless, there is still a lot to like here. Lynch's style, dialog, and characterization shine through to balance out a couple of the aforementioned shortcomings, the result being a book that I think most fans of the Gentleman Bastard series will enjoy reading. ...more

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Nov 29, 2014 Sara rated it it was amazing

Scott Lynch did it again. I think this one is my favorites out the three even though it is so hard to pick but I just loved this book. So many new things we get to learn, so many crazy twists, just so much goodness!! I'm seriously going to go crazy waiting for the fourth book. Anyway 5/5 stars!! ...more

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Feb 15, 2018 Diana Stormblessed rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, series, 2018-read

3.5 stars but I'm rounding up since I've read much worse.

I loved this book as it started out, but it ended up with one story line that was too political and another that was too boring. A lot of the flashback scenes felt like fillers. I really don't care about the actual play they're putting on. They don't need to act it all out for me. I care about the stuff surrounding the play. Go back to that. I was left with some questions and I felt the ending a little weak. Also, what is with these author ...more

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Jun 10, 2018 Stephanie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, ebook, do-not-own

I'm actually reading this omnibus, but I'm going to track my reading on this edition instead.

Buddy read with Anna and Megan!

I laughed out loud a lot more in this book than in previous books, that’s for sure! It is highly entertaining, with Locke and Sabetha given free rein to do as they will in this Five-Year-Game as opponents for different factions of the Bondsmagi. (Oh, sorry, you thought we were done with the Bondsmagi? Well they certainly weren’t done with Locke – not by a long shot!!) Wh ...more

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Nov 21, 2019 Sha rated it liked it

Shelves: skimmed-through, a-pretty-cover, a-title-to-remember, fr-abandon-this-wretched-ship, f-an-assault-on-my-emotions, f-ngl-that-was-hilarious

"Nobody admires anyone else without qualification. If they do they’re after an image, not a person."

That's a sentiment I can appreciate! However, I'm not sure if the book went about handling it particularly well.

I find myself in the confusing position of absolutely adoring both Locke and Sabetha while also wanting to smash their romantic relationship with a sledgehammer and then set it on fire.

The worship aspect of it disturbs me- I KNOW it got toned down through character development. I know ...more

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Jan 01, 2025 Ernest rated it liked it · review of another edition

The world created is fantastic, getting more in depth of the Bondsmagi was particularly great, and the jumps back and forth in time were handled well (rather than being potentially very confusing). Yet I felt the overall plot didn’t quite have the depth that the book’s length warranted, although the characters were well depicted and successfully continued from the previous books. The ending of the book was very intriguing and will be sure to have repercussions in the next book (when it is publis ...more

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