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uh zip zoom posted:Totally valid. Before you give up on the series, keep in mind that Scott Lynch had originally intended the series to be about a thief who becomes a politician, and that The Republic of Thieves was intended to be a segue bridging the thief (books one and two) and the politician (books four and so on). I had no idea but the idea of more parliament stuff and political intrigue is far less interesting than heists and thievery so it sounds like this series is going in a direction I won't care for. I think I'll just wrap up this book and move onto other things then if it's not going to return to the style of Lies.
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Oct 23, 2013 16:07
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I guess that my thing is just I find the characters so god damned likable that while I wish they were doing other things sometimes, I can basically read about them doing just about anything and have a pretty good time. I don't ask for much. Apparently I am really easy to please.
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Oct 23, 2013 17:19
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The Gunslinger posted:I had no idea but the idea of more parliament stuff and political intrigue is far less interesting than heists and thievery so it sounds like this series is going in a direction I won't care for. I think I'll just wrap up this book and move onto other things then if it's not going to return to the style of Lies.
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Oct 23, 2013 18:06
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Is it too much to ask that just once a guy is good at stealing poo poo and conning people because he is good at those things and not cause of whatever the heck was being implied at the end there.
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Oct 23, 2013 22:22
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I don't think they ever implied that The Big Reveal is the cause of Locke's skills and abilities... do they? It only explains why he was 'born' in Camorr when and where he was.
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Oct 23, 2013 22:40
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SurreptitiousMuffin posted:Fantasy writers always write romance like 15 year-old boys. At least he's better than Rothfuss. A potato is better than Rothfuss.
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Oct 24, 2013 01:32
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The Gunslinger posted:I had no idea but the idea of more parliament stuff and political intrigue is far less interesting than heists and thievery so it sounds like this series is going in a direction I won't care for. I think I'll just wrap up this book and move onto other things then if it's not going to return to the style of Lies. The title of the fourth book is The Thorn of Emberlain so I think it's a safe bet that it'll be more like the 1st book, particularly since the Falconer is back.
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Oct 24, 2013 17:05
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Zasze posted:Is it too much to ask that just once a guy is good at stealing poo poo and conning people because he is good at those things and not cause of whatever the heck was being implied at the end there. After some thinking, it's not that bad - it establishes Locke as someone whose identity is so completely fake that he doesn't even have a true name. Even the one he told only to his close friend is only a nickname of the mage whose past may also be Locke's.
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Oct 25, 2013 09:18
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They also specifically said that he went into a body with out a gift, so at least it has that going for it. I hope they don't reneg on that. That being said, I'm definitely way less interested in a politically oriented book - especially if this book is a sampling of how he's going to handle it.
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Oct 25, 2013 10:54
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Oh I don't know. I could see Locke becoming some sort of cross between the Patrician and Moist Von Lipwig from the discworld series. I think there's a lot of potential in a politically inclined conman story. It really depends on how Lynch executes it.
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Oct 25, 2013 11:16
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After a 6 year wait I thought this was either going to be amazing or terrible. Turns out I was wrong and it was merely alright! I am kinda surprised that after a wait of that length we wound up with a book that felt like it was mostly there for transitioning to the next. The flashback was easily the more compelling of the two stories once it got going. The present day stuff felt rather unfocused. Outside of being sent to that ship, what Locke and Sabetha were doing to each other really felt like they were trying to outdo each other with pranks (which would have made a great short story but as a main part of the book it was a bit lacking). The Bondsmagi might have threatened Sabetha's life if Locke showed signs of cooperating with her, but that plot point seemed to have been forgotten considering how many dinner dates they had. Really didn't help that outside of that stuff the major events are all things that will have a payoff in later novels. Not just the Falconer being sorta healed, but also the war and I'm sure we'll see the Bondmagi again in some capacity. Ultimately it was very much an in-between book of sorts. The flashback was great stuff though. It really shows that it's a lot more fun when Locke has more people to play off of instead of only having Jean around. Also the redhead stuff was the worst. I mean the redhead stuff in both the flashback and the present day. Both really came across as cheap ways to start up some drama. I'm not sure how I feel about this book. Definitely not as good as the first, no question. But I can't decide how it measures up to the second. On one hand, it didn't meander as much. But on the other hand it wasn't as focused and didn't feel like a complete story. Either way, I don't regret reading it and I'm sure I'll read the next book, whenever it comes out.
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Oct 25, 2013 20:47
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The Republic of Thieves: Selected Excerpts posted:
Decent book, but not a great one. It never felt like it came together in a meaningful fashion. The premise with the mages and the election was silly. The flashbacks were good. 6/10 from me.
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Oct 26, 2013 07:24
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BananaNutkins posted:Decent book, but not a great one. It never felt like it came together in a meaningful fashion. The premise with the mages and the election was silly. The flashbacks were good. A bridging novel, so I'll cut it some slack. About the same level as RSURS, for very different reasons, in my opinion.
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Oct 28, 2013 15:08
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I definitely agree with everyone saying it seemed less focused. I kept waiting for some kind of TWIST towards the end that just never came, and not enough time was paid to the election. I feel that Sabetha and Locke should have been able to have better plots than snakes and bribing/blackmailing people. On the other hand, the dialog was the best out of all three books, I laughed out loud multiple times, and I liked that Locke and Sabetha actually seemed like real people. Locke acts like a goony mother fucker, Sabetha calls him on it, and they actually discuss their relationship and make changes. Much better than most fantasy relationships.
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Oct 28, 2013 18:27
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I really enjoyed the Locke/Sabetha relationship. I liked the conceit of telling the story of how they first started their relationship while Locke was trying to rekindle it. As some of you have said, the dialogue really sold the whole thing. Yeah it was a bit too clever but come on, these people are supposed to be witty jerks who steal things that can't be stolen. Of course it's going to be a little over the top. I also liked the politics angle but don't think they really went far enough with it. It would have been neat to see Locke/Sabetha using more modern methods of voter intimidation/fraud and stuff in the election. Certainly a missed opportunity, but I can see that the "heist" wasn't really the focus of the book it was the relationships between Locke/Jean/Sabetha and that's fine.
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Oct 30, 2013 02:54
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Just finished the first book, got completely drawn in and loved it. My only slight issue was in one of the cons toward the end of the book, involving Meraggio's: It jarred with me a bit the way Locke basically destroyed the waiter's life - I get that it was as part of a larger goal and that high stakes were involved, and that Locke chucked him a purse full of money at the end, but he's basically forced this lowly drudge into a life of exile while at the same time dropping him in the poo poo with one of the richest and most powerful men in the city. Otherwise, I'm pretty bought in to this series. Seems like a lot of the criticism about the second book involves the heist elements not being so present - while I loved those bits of the first book, I also really enjoy just reading the characters interacting, and especially the little sections with Locke's early years and lore about the world. The whole revenge thriller aspect of the first book really grabbed me too, I was kind of hoping the Grey King would get away so we'd be able to follow Locke and Jean tracking him down.
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Nov 7, 2013 15:14
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Owlkill posted:Just finished the first book, got completely drawn in and loved it. My only slight issue was in one of the cons toward the end of the book, involving Meraggio's: Thieves prosper.
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Nov 11, 2013 18:44
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Just finished the first book. It started slow and wanted to give up, but it picked up and I liked it in the end. Will these questions get answered in the second book (or ever): - How Chains died - How Bug joined - How Locke met this unmet girl that's a lover, but also moved away? e: I also like how Locke gets kicked the poo poo out of him, several times. Beats the original superhero sci-fi books. Grawl fucked around with this message at 01:36 on Nov 12, 2013 |
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Nov 12, 2013 01:32
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Grawl posted:Just finished the first book. It started slow and wanted to give up, but it picked up and I liked it in the end. Will these questions get answered in the second book (or ever):
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Nov 12, 2013 02:01
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Lynch has said that book 7 will feature Bug flashbacks heavily.
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Nov 12, 2013 02:29
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I finished this earlier in the week, and while I enjoyed it I can certainly see large flaws around pacing - from a narrative structure point of view, at the point where I felt the main plot was entering "act 2" I looked at how much book I had left and realised I was about 2/3 through it. Coupled with Patience's big reveal coming very much out of left field, and the ending being very abrupt it reads in some ways pretty much exactly how I'd expect a book that's been stuck in literary development hell for five years. Negativity aside however, I really liked some elements, especially Patience - why must you kill her off Scott, why?!?!. The "past" plot also did feel like a well structured story with good pacing, and I in both plots I felt Lynch did a very good job of defining flaws in his characters and then showing them in future scenes rather than repeatedly telling us about them like some fantasy authors do.
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Nov 21, 2013 21:39
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elzie posted:I guess that my thing is just I find the characters so god damned likable that while I wish they were doing other things sometimes, I can basically read about them doing just about anything and have a pretty good time. I don't ask for much. Apparently I am really easy to please. Just finished Republic of Thieves and I agree with you. Only complaint was that Jean seemed to be very much secondary in this book.
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Nov 22, 2013 21:59
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Just finished book two. While I read people say the first book is much better, I don't feel that way. But perhaps that's because I was also playing Assassin's Creed IV while reading the second book.
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Nov 27, 2013 17:59
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Grawl posted:Just finished book two. While I read people say the first book is much better, I don't feel that way. But perhaps that's because I was also playing Assassin's Creed IV while reading the second book. I just wish that the characters in the former spoke more like the characters in the latter. "squiggle-hosed the rightwise cock-swabber with a starboard jib"
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Nov 28, 2013 16:07
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So I just finished book 5 of The Riyria Revelations and the books share a very similar dynamic to the Lamora books. So check them out maybe. Or don't. Whatever.
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Nov 30, 2013 16:58
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The Riyria Revelations (based on what I read) are like Diet Locke: thieves, intrigue and espionage without any of the energy or prose. Still, kind of a fun romp.
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Dec 1, 2013 23:56
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The "big reveal" was the central con of the book. Patience basically tells Locke that she was called Seamstress because she was the magi version of a confidence trickster. It's a long con (the name Patience fitting the long con theme) to punish him for the Falconer, and there was enough evidence of truth to plan the seed in Locke and Sabetha's minds. In addition, it was part of the long con she was running on Foresight and the exceptionalist faction. Whether it's actually true or not probably doesn't matter at all, and since Patience is now dead he'll probably never know for certain. I thought the book as a whole was pretty weak because the narrative lacked any tension or compelling factor to keep me reading but I actually thought that whole thing was pulled off pretty well once you get what actually happened.
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Dec 2, 2013 07:24
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Suxpool posted:So I just finished book 5 of The Riyria Revelations and the books share a very similar dynamic to the Lamora books. So check them out maybe. Or don't. Whatever. Am I seeing this right? Is this book really entitled The Rose and the Thorn? Edit: and, surprise surprise, reception for these books ranges from the willingly positive to the viciously negative. Yes, we have an epic fantasy series, people. Also, thanks for the recommendation. I'll be sure to read it, if only because I cannot resist this genre. uh zip zoom fucked around with this message at 14:58 on Dec 2, 2013 |
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Dec 2, 2013 14:56
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Alright, finished the third book. I must say, it's the one I enjoyed the most, even though the plottwist and unanswered questions after three books is getting a bit annoying.
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Dec 8, 2013 20:25
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uh zip zoom posted:Am I seeing this right? Is this book really entitled The Rose and the Thorn? If you want a really good, finished series to read, you should check out The Chathrand Voyage series. It's tone, sense of adventure and humor remind me of the Locke Lamora books. http://robertvsredick.com/chathrand-voyage/red-wolf-conspiracy/
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Dec 9, 2013 03:30
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I read the first Chathrand Voyage book and got quite excited, because it really did feel like it could develop into a great fantasy series full of unknown stuff, but it got really young-adulty about two thirds of the way through and I didn't grab any of the rest. I'd describe as a similar feel: a living world filled with opportunity, but the dialogue, ingenuity and intriguing setting weren't like Locke Lamora stuff. I just finished the Republic of Thieves. I really enjoyed it, but felt it never quite kicked into full gear. I kept expecting Locke and Jean to start working on a ridiculous scheme that'd pull the whole thing together, plus frantic improvisation at the last minute when Sabetha figured it all out, but their plan seemed reactive, plus disconnected pranks and bribery. I duuno, I was expecting something much more ambitious, involving a plot to bring down the Bondsmagi and win the election at the same time with a single dramatic flourish. I think Scott Lynch could have done something a lot better with the premise of Locke running a political campaign in the bondsmagi city.
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Dec 10, 2013 10:08
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Wachepti posted:I really enjoyed the Locke/Sabetha relationship. I liked the conceit of telling the story of how they first started their relationship while Locke was trying to rekindle it. As some of you have said, the dialogue really sold the whole thing. Yeah it was a bit too clever but come on, these people are supposed to be witty jerks who steal things that can't be stolen. Of course it's going to be a little over the top. I also liked the politics angle but don't think they really went far enough with it. It would have been neat to see Locke/Sabetha using more modern methods of voter intimidation/fraud and stuff in the election. Certainly a missed opportunity, but I can see that the "heist" wasn't really the focus of the book it was the relationships between Locke/Jean/Sabetha and that's fine. I liked how it was written for the most part but I thought the whole, This section of neck you just kissed was coated in a devious poison that will rob you of consciousness. bit was obnoxiously contrived and cliched in a sort of, "This will incite so many pubescent fantasy boners" way.
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Dec 10, 2013 11:49
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I finished the book about a month ago after blowing through it in about 3 days, thanks to my urge to see everything play out (I think Lynch is really good, if not just as good as Sanderson as crafting a satisfying ending tying together bits and pieces of his work as a whole), but this one just didn't satisfy as much. I guess the fact that Locke and Jean never experienced any substantial danger other than when they were trying to get off their forced pleasure cruise made this one a bit bland for me, and it really depended on the flashback plot to save the book. The Falconer comeback at the end and Patience's death by birds was loving  as hell though, so I'll be eagerly awaiting a hopefully better fourth book.Khomaniac posted:I liked how it was written for the most part but I thought the whole, Meh, I didn't think this was too bad, seeing as it was a return from Book 2 of the bella paranella poison (I think) that Locke and Jean used to win the drinking game at the Sinspire. I just thought of it as Sabetha taking a keen interest in their prior exploits and beating them at their own game so to speak. Then again, I think Patrick Rothfuss broke my pubescent boner inducement detector, so I may just be full of poo poo.
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Dec 12, 2013 05:19
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Goddamn it's annoying when the ebook is more expensive than the paperback. Republic of Thieves is 10.99, wtf.
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Dec 22, 2013 18:11
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Book 4 is out next year: http://aidanmoher.com/blog/2013/12/asides/scott-lynch-reveals-2014-release-date-for-the-thorn-of-emberlain/ I'm inclined to think he'll make this date. Seems like it is almost done and he's mentioned a few times IIRC that he's had this book largely written beforehand. quote:The Thorn of Emberlain, the fourth book in the Gentleman Bastard sequence, picks up about half a year after The Republic of Thieves and finds Locke Lamora and Jean Tannen trying to get back on their feet with a major con. They’re trying to sell the services of a non-existent mercenary company to the besieged city-state of Emberlain, hoping to escape with the hiring fees before the chaos of the Vadran civil war overruns Emberlain. Naturally, things don’t go according to plan…
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Dec 25, 2013 00:41
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Sounds promising. I liked Republic of Thieves, but I definitely felt that the "con" element of the story was lacking tension. I hope the next one has a bit more adventure to it.
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Dec 25, 2013 01:18
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Ape Gone Insane posted:Book 4 is out next year: http://aidanmoher.com/blog/2013/12/asides/scott-lynch-reveals-2014-release-date-for-the-thorn-of-emberlain/ I'll believe it when the final draft's in.
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Dec 25, 2013 01:38
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Since Republic of Thieves suffered from being an inbetween book I'm glad that the wait looks like it'll be reasonable this time. Hopefully.
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Dec 25, 2013 04:10
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I'm trying to avoid spoilers on RoT because I'm just at the cliff reminiscence of the second book but I love this series so far. The audiobooks of this series are really well done and I strongly recommend them.
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Dec 30, 2013 20:25
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Nevvy Z posted:I'm trying to avoid spoilers on RoT because I'm just at the cliff reminiscence of the second book but I love this series so far. The audiobooks of this series are really well done and I strongly recommend them. Agreed. The voice actor does a great job. I just finished RoT, and while I didn't think it was as strong as the others, it really makes me look forward to the next one.
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Dec 30, 2013 22:54
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