Red Seas Under Red Skies (Gentleman Bastard, #2) in Building a SciFi/Fantasy Library

Oct 18, 2008 Stephen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 6-star-books, signed-first-or-limited-edition, audiobook, sub-press-limited-edition, all-time-favorites, sfsite-reader-s-poll-top-10, fantasy

6.0 stars. On my list of "All Time Favorite" Novels. This has quickly become one of the best fantasy series I have ever read (certainly in the top 5). The title characters are superbly drawn, the world-building is second to none and the plot is tightly drawn (even at 750+ pages). Can not wait for the next in the series. HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION.

Nominee: John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (2008)
SFSite Readers Poll Top 10 (2008) ...more

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Feb 05, 2016 E.J. rated it it was amazing

Scott Lynch has written three books of his opus and it takes a few years for each of them to come out. Most readers would move on pretty quickly from an author like this, but he's got a lot of devoted followers for a reason. His $%(* is that good. He's like that restaurant that you really enjoy, but wait a while to come back to because you want to prolong the memory of the last meal and savor the one coming.

Red Seas Under Red Skies takes place after The Lies of Locke Lamora and the gentlemen bas ...more

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Oct 20, 2013 Bryce rated it really liked it

It's a sign of how well my new Kindle Paperwhite is working out for me that I've already finished a lengthy fantasy on the thing. I loved The Lies of Locke Lamora, and I've been looking forward to the sequel, so I decided to use the excuse of a new Kindle to try it out with a good book. (Well, I assumed it would be a good book--thankfully, I was not disappointed.)

Like the first, it's a heist book at its heart. Locke and Jean have left their home city of Camorr and gone on to look for fresh meat It's a sign of how well my new Kindle Paperwhite is working out for me that I've already finished a lengthy fantasy on the thing. I loved The Lies of Locke Lamora, and I've been looking forward to the sequel, so I decided to use the excuse of a new Kindle to try it out with a good book. (Well, I assumed it would be a good book--thankfully, I was not disappointed.)

Like the first, it's a heist book at its heart. Locke and Jean have left their home city of Camorr and gone on to look for fresh meat in other cities. They pick another major city and set about trying to figure out how to bilk as much money from its elite as possible. As with most heist books, knowing more about the novel is actually a bad thing. You want to be surprised.

How did this one stack up against the first? Fairly well. The characters are well drawn and compelling, and the writing's top rate. Where it fell short was in the plot. Bluntly put, it was just too scattered. There are casinos and taverns and pirate ships and everything in between. I felt like it lacked focus. Another complaint I had was the way the book was put together--it keeps zig zagging between flash backs, and it all felt a tad too haphazard to me. (Plus, the book starts with kind of a cheap prologue. I dislike gimmicks, and this one felt very gimmicky to me--as if Lynch didn't have confidence in the rest of his story to keep our interest. Maybe it's just me.)

In a different book, I probably still would have been blown away by the writing and characters. In a followup to a piece of awesome like The Lies of Locke Lamora? I couldn't help feel somewhat disappointed. Again--it's a solid book, and I'm glad I read it. I just wish . . . it had tried less and done it better. I think it was overly ambitious. (Easy to see how that would happen, working on a followup to such a great book.)

In the end, I think it's more of a 3.5 out of 5 stars, but in a situation like that, I always give the author the benefit of rounding up.

(Also note that Lynch's writing--while not overly violent or sexualized--does have a fair bit of language, so it's not for everyone.) ...more

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Apr 26, 2012 Eoghann Irving rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, 5-star

Sequels are treacherous things. Can the author bottle lightening for a second time? Do the characters and the settings have the depth to stretch? Was the book not actually as good as you remembered anyway.

In this case though I was pleasantly surprised. Red Seas Under Red Skies is every bit as enjoyable as its predecessor The Lies of Locke Lamora.

The core format of the story remains the same. It is shamelessly inspired by classic caper movies. The central characters jump through multiple identiti ...more

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Aug 29, 2014 Liz rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, 21st-century

Even better than the first! This book seemed to get going faster and was a bit more tightly woven than the first. And, of course, Drakasha as a character as wonderful. I'm really enjoying this series. ...more

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Dec 28, 2015 Rachael rated it really liked it

So, so good. Sometimes I forget that fantasy fiction writing can be really good, it's not all pulp with trite story lines and quick resolutions. ...more

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