“Now I have to wait for the next
book.”
The problem of being captivated by an
unfinished series of fantasy novels, is that you have to wait for the
next book. In the fantasy genre, authors usually plan on writing long
series, lengths varying from 7 to 10 books, and the wait for the next
book often stretches to several years.
It is almost like dining on a
beautiful, 7 course meal but knowing the dishes will only arrive at
your table, sequentially, once in every few hours. That, is how I
felt when I turned to the last page in The Republic of Thieves,
the 3rd entry in Scott Lynch's highly acclaimed fantasy
series, The Gentlemen Bastards Sequence.
Starting with The Lies of Locke
Lamora, I stepped into the adventures of The Gentlemen
Bastards three weeks ago. Every page of story in The Lies of
Locke Lamora charmed me, and the novel joined my list of favorite
books. When the time came for reading its sequel, Red Seas Under
Red Skies, the book did not disappoint despite having some pacing
issues. Next up, I eagerly opened The Republic of Thieves.
This book is the 3rd installment in the series, and I
enjoyed this novel so much that I dreaded the inevitability of
reaching its final page, knowing that agonizing months await me
before the next book can finally greet my reading world.
However, before I return to waiting for
the next book, I would like to share my thoughts on The Republic
of Thieves. Hopefully my review will convince you to start
reading this series too, so you can join me in the agonizing wait for
the next book and sharing my pain. Just kidding!
Let me begin with a synopsis for the
novel.
Synopsis:
Locke lies on a sickbed, slowly dying while a lethal poison tears through his body.
Unfortunately, no physiker or alchemist
possess the skills to purge the poison from Locke's frame. His
dearest friend and fellow Gentlmen Bastards, Jean Tannen, looks on at
Locke, in grief and in anger at the poisonous sickness stalking his
friend's life.
At the moment when the poison was about
to extinguish the last breath of life in Locke, an enemy from their
past, a Bondsmage, materialized in front of Locke's bed, offering a
bargain in exchange for ridding the venom from his body.
What is the catch? This Bondsmage
promised to expel the poison from Locke's body, provided that Locke
and Jean agree to take on an assignment in the city of Karthain. This
assignment, should Locke and Jean agree to contract it, requires them to
act as experts to help winning an election for a political faction
supported by Bondsmage. The difficulty is, there are two political
factions in Karthain, and their opponent's political campaign is led
by Sabetha Belacoros, a woman who not only dominates Locke's love
life, but she is also an ex-member of Gentlemen Bastards with wits
and cunning rivaling Locke's own.
Locke and Jean have no option but to
take on the assignment in exchange for the cure. So begins a
spectacular match consisting of intrigues and stratagem, intertwined
with old romances and personal history, a history tracing its root to
a theatrical known as The Republic of Thieves.
My thoughts on this book:
I find Scott Lynch's writings admirable
because he is not afraid to try new things. He began The Gentlemen
Bastards Sequence with a revenge story, then he expanded the
series with a sequel about pirates sailing on a nautical adventure.
Lynch continues to reinvigorate this series in the 3rd
installment by telling a story about romances and political heists.
That is right, The Republic of Thieves is both a political
heist story as well as a tale of romance, where readers finally meet
Locke's love interest, Sabetha Belacoros, who was mentioned multiple
times in the previous two novels but never made an actual appearance
until now.
Sebatha made an impressive entrance
onto the stage of The Gentlemen Bastards Sequence. She entered
the story as an antagonist to Locke and Jean's operation in this
book. Audacious and clever, Sabetha mirrors Locke both in personality
as well as abilities and skills. She proves herself a worthy
opponent, trading blows of intrigues and stratagem against Locke and
Jean. Their rivalry creates an electrifying story about a political
heist, where most actions do not reside in physical combats, but
instead the actions take places in the form of Locke and Sabetha
outsmarting each other to win the election for the political faction
they each represent. Furthermore, the story of Locke and Sabetha's
rivalry is abundant with humorous touches. When I was reading this book, there
were many occasions when lighthearted humors brought smiles on my
face. In my opinion, the theme of political heist aligned with The
Genlemen Bastards Sequence perfectly, especially because this is
a fantasy series of a grimdark persuasion.
Aside from the political heist story,
this book also explores Locke and Sabetha's romantic relationship,
one that takes place in the present as well as how their romance
originated in the past. These two, parallel stories not only gave
depth to Locke's character, but they also provided readers with
insight into the background of the overall story. In other words, The
Republic of Thieves contains two narratives. It is a book
flashing between the past and the present. One narration takes place
in the present election in Karthaine. The second narration unveils
the curtain of history behind Locke and Sabetha's romantic
relationship.
One might expect this type of
storytelling, flashing between the present and the past, may confuse
readers with time jumps. However, Lynch's storytelling works
exceedingly well here. Starting from the first book in this series,
Scott Lynch has been employing this storytelling device to all novels
in The Gentlemen Bastards Sequence, where each chapter
consists of two parts: The first part focuses on the events at the
present, and the second part details a story that took place in the
past. This narrating format gave Lynch an edge as a storyteller to
jump straight into the story, painting vivid, detailed portraits for
his world and characters, yet smartly evading a slow buildup at the
beginning of his book(s). It is also worth mentioning that
surprisingly, Lynch's unusual storytelling format provided smooth
transitions in between chapters without ever raising a
sense of disruption.
The Republic of Thieves is an
excellent novel. However, I still opine the first book in this
series, The Lies of Locke Lamora, is the best novel in The
Gentlemen Bastards Sequence (so far). Having said this, I prefer
The Republic of Thieves to its predecessor, Red Seas Under
Red Skies. In The Republic of Thieves, I found the
political heist story intriguing, it matches the overall theme of
this series like a swimming fish in the water. On the other hand, the
tale of romance between Locke and Sabetha fleshed out the key
characters in this series, giving them depths. I had a great time
reading this book and I cannot wait to read the next book. As I said
earlier, now begins the agonizing wait for the 4th book in
this series. The next installment is titled “ The Thorn of Emberlain”.
P.S. I have attached a link to a book
trailer for The Republic of Thieves, it is made by the
publisher Gollancz.
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