betty reviewed Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch
Review of 'Red Seas Under Red Skies' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Pretty much exactly like the first, [book:The Lies of Locke Lamora]. In fact, enough so that at one point I got annoyed; Locke and Jean are in the middle of a splendid con when they get involved in another scheme against their will, soon are out of their depth and struggling desperately not to salvage their con but stay alive. However, Locke, and the writing, remain witty enough that I stayed up late to finish it, so formulaic though it is, it's executed well. Locke remains charming even when he's not so entertaining as he thinks he is.
"We may need to ready ourselves to repel boarders."
"With what? One stiletto and hurtful insinuations about their mothers?"
On the other hand, neither is the book quite as witty as it thinks it is: several twists will be genuinely shocking only to people who have never seen The Sting (and if …
Pretty much exactly like the first, [book:The Lies of Locke Lamora]. In fact, enough so that at one point I got annoyed; Locke and Jean are in the middle of a splendid con when they get involved in another scheme against their will, soon are out of their depth and struggling desperately not to salvage their con but stay alive. However, Locke, and the writing, remain witty enough that I stayed up late to finish it, so formulaic though it is, it's executed well. Locke remains charming even when he's not so entertaining as he thinks he is.
"We may need to ready ourselves to repel boarders."
"With what? One stiletto and hurtful insinuations about their mothers?"
On the other hand, neither is the book quite as witty as it thinks it is: several twists will be genuinely shocking only to people who have never seen The Sting (and if you haven't, it's marvellous, and includes a young Robert Redford and Paul Newman, so get to that) or in fact, any con movie. However, if you like books about talented con men up against a challenge cut to their measure, then you will probably enjoy this series.
One thing I dislike about the book, although quite obviously merely a personal preference, is that Lynch spends the opening reminding you how incredibly brutal the world Locke inhabits is, and there are some fairly stomach churning bits that felt a bit ostentatiously gory. I get it: life is cheap and the men and women of power are brutal.
This sequel does better than its predecessor at including women in the narrative, and writes a lot more queerness and colour into the world as well. It doesn't change the fact that the main relationship remains that between Locke and Jean, and at one point, a character says, in essence, "Ha, I knew it, you two are friends!" when I feel the more obvious inference from the evidence would be that they are lovers.