Czytając tę książkę, przez długi czas nie byłem pewien, dokąd – i czy w ogóle dokądś – to wszystko prowadzi. Czy nie jest to po prostu wyrywek wymyślanej na bieżąco historii, opierający swą siłę tylko na ciekawej mieszance świata fantastycznego z historyczną Wenecją i kończący się w miejscu, w którym autor uznał, że czas już się zwijać.

Ale nie.

W pewnym momencie zorientowałem się, że ta fabuła jest doskonale zaplanowana od początku do końca. I – co więcej – że zależy mi na losach Locke'a Lamory i jego grupy. I – co gorsza – że pomimo wyzierającego z kart powieści humoru i dystansu, nie wszyscy muszą wyjść z tego żywi.

Warto było więc zainwestować trochę czasu i zaufania, by odnaleźć nowy, wart uwagi cykl o nie takich znowu niecnych i nie takich znowu dżentelmenach..

The Gentlemen Bastards are excellent con artists on the land, but then unforeseen events send them onto the waves to become pirates.  Red Seas Under Red Skies is the second book of Scott Lynch’s Gentlemen Bastards sequences as Locke and Jean find their plans upset by politics, the one type of con they tend to avoid.

Locke and Jean are working a two-year con of the owner of the grandest casino in Tal Verrar, the Sinspire, when their plans are upended by the Bondmagi threatening revenge.  They decide to get start their endgame with Locke admitting to the owner he and Jean have been cheating other gamblers to set things up only to be abducted by the secret police of Tal Verrar’s military commander-in-chief.  The Archon poisons the duo to force them to work for him to become pirates and get allies from the Ghostwind Islands to attack shipping around Tal Verrar so the archon can get money to strengthen the navy from the city’s merchant council as well as gain the political upper hand, but promises them temporary antidotes.  Suddenly in the archon’s service, the duo use this new wrinkle as part of their Sinspire con as the owner is an “ally” of the merchants whose wealth is in his vault.  After a six-week crash course in sailing, the duo and a ship’s master spring prisoners from a military prison and take an outfitted ship provided by the archon towards with Locke as the charismatic captain.  Things go well until the ship master dies just before their first storm and it become obvious that Locke and Jean are not sailors and there is a mutiny with Locke and Jean left on a little boat in the ocean.  Two hours later, a real pirate takes their former ship and the duo are rescued through the pirate captain finds their cover story fishy but allows them to stay alive.  Locke and Jean prove themselves on the ship and in the raiding another ship thus becoming full-fledge crewmen then reveal to the captain everything.  After arriving at the Ghostwind Islands, the pirate captain tells the other major captains of the archon’s plan and her plan to end it by “playing” along until they get a shot at killing the archon, the other captain’s agree either wholeheartedly or begrudgingly.  Weeks later, Locke and Jean report to the archon about their adventures and that they convinced a captain to hit the waters around Tal Verrar as well as continue their Sinspire con.  The pirates begin doing small time ship raids and mount a massive assault on a town to the northwest where peasants let themselves be put through cruel and humiliating games by nobles for money.  The archon isn’t pleased and demands a proper raid or never see him again, but then another pirate captain appears and attacks their ship believing his previous decision to approve the plan unwise.  Locke, Jean, and their pirate allies are victorious but at a personal cost to Jean and they decide to end things in Tal Verrar across the board.  Locke and Jean enlist the aid of the merchants against the archon then finish their Sinspire job by stealing the owner’s paintings then getting captured by the secret police who are waylaid and killed by the merchant’s operatives who take their masks and then proceed to the archon who attempts to kill them when the false secret police stage their coup though during the confrontation the chemist of the poison is killed and only one vile of antidote is available for Locke and Jean.  The two give the former archon to their pirate allies to do with as they please and go to sell the paintings only to find their replicas, getting only a fraction of what they were expecting.  Locke secretly gives the antidote to Jean and the duo sail off to the unknown.

While the overall book a good, after the halfway point it felt like there was a series of “add-ons” where people were introduced or events would happen that would be the next narrative turn of events with the set up for the pirate ship-to-ship battle the biggest example.  In contrast, the flashback intrudes to the events after the previous book up and during their set up for the Sinspire con not only gave the reader how Locke and Jean got to where they were at the start of this book but also foreshadowed things that you were looking forward to play out in the narrative flow.  The further developments of Locke and Jean were excellently written, and the major secondary characters were fun as well which compensated for the narrative “add-ons”.

Red Seas Under Red Skies is a nice follow up to the first Gentleman Bastards book, but also felt like a let down as well.  While Scott Lynch continued to develop Locke and Jean as well as creating some good secondary characters, the narrative flow felt off and as the book went along it was telling.  Overall a nice book with an ending that makes a reader curious about what will happen next.

From the FictFact.com book release calendar (if unfamiliar with Fictfact, it's a site for tracking book series).

So many covers and details are missing on booklikes, here's the text links as well:

• Devil's Haircut (Road To Babylon, Book 4) - Sam Sisavath 
• Unbound (The Men of West Beach Book) (Volume 2) - Kimberly Derting 
• Baby on the Bad Boy's Doorstep (Shadow Creek, Montana) (Volume 4) - Victoria James  
• Bodyguard: An Older Man Younger Woman Romance (A Man Who Knows What He Wants Book 33) - Flora Ferrari 
• Brooklynaire - Sarina Bowen 
• Greek God: A Single Dad, Older Man Younger Woman Romance (A Man Who Knows What He Wants Book 34) - Flora Ferrari 
• Playing House (Sydney Smoke Rugby Series) (Volume 5) - Amy Andrews 
• Police Officer's Princess: A Single Dad, Brother's Best Friend, Police Officer Romance (A Man Who Knows What He Wants Book 31) - Flora Ferrari 
• Statham: An Older Man Younger Woman, Mechanic Romance (A Man Who Knows What He Wants Book 32) - Flora Ferrari 
• The Thorn of Emberlain - Scott Lynch 
• The Valentine Mystery (Tess and Tilly Cozy Mystery) (Volume 2) - Kathi Daley 

He is known as The Thorn of Camorr, who steals from the rich and gives to the poor. The Thorn is a master swordsman, a great romancer of women, and a ghost who walks through walls. The Thorn is a commoner’s tale. Locke Lamora is nothing more than a Gentleman Bastard, who has mastered the art of the carefully orchestrated con. 

In the city of Camorr, there are ample opportunities for such, and it is rife with gangs. There is only one rule; all must abide by the Secret Peace. The Duke’s man, Capa Barsavi has a hold over all the gangs in Camorr’s criminal world. All who break the Secret Peace must answer to the Capa. Of course, he gets a cut of all the profits too. 

Locke is joined in his criminal schemes by his fellow Bastards, Jean Tannen, twins Calo and Galdo Sanza, and their new apprentice, Bug. All except Bug grew up learning their art under the tutelage of old Father Chains. He bought them as street orphans and taught them to be thieves, con artists and masters of disguise. Locke was quite the enterprising student and he was constantly trying to outwit and outplay his master. 

Someday, Locke Lamora,” he said, “someday, you’re going to f*** up so magnificently, so ambitiously, so overwhelmingly that the sky will light up and the moons will spin and the gods themselves will s**t comets with glee. And I just hope I’m still around to see it.”

“Oh please,” said Locke. “It’ll never happen.”

As the Bastards begin their latest caper, the city is sent into turmoil. Capa Barsavi’s rule is being threatened by a new and unknown killer, the Grey King. Locke Lamora and the Bastards become unwilling pawns in a deadly game and its winner take all.

This book falls together so well. The author uses a series of ‘Interludes’ to build the history of his world and characters. I like this style of revealing the past. The ancient city of Camorr is described in rich detail and I picture it my mind as being somewhat like Venice, although I’ve never had the pleasure of going there. I also love the interplay and bonds of friendship between the Bastards. They take what they have and make an adventure out of it. Locke is just a regular guy without any special strength or magic, getting by on wit alone.

Lies of Locke Lamora is grim, dark fantasy at its best. Heed my warning that there definitely are dark parts! There are also many playful quips along the way that help balance it out! This is an adult book and I feel compelled to add for the sake of some of my followers that there is profanity used, which may strike this off some of your TBR lists right away. Overall this is just a great book! I keep hearing that the series gets better and better from here on and I believe it. The end leaves us with a nice opening for future storylines with a simple statement.

“Old sins will never be buried so deep that they cannot rise again when least expected.”

Taken from https://www.fictfact.com/BookReleaseCalendar , new series releases today are:

A Finely Crafted Murder - Stacey Alabaster, #3 in Craft Circle Cozy

A Perfect View - Cori Doerrfeld,Cori Doerrfeld, #3 in Cici: A Fairy's Tale

Agent-in-Training - Terri Reed, #1 in Classified K-9 Unit

An Unjust Judge - Cora Harrison, #14 in Burren Mysteries

Before He Takes - Blake Pierce , #4 in Mackenzie White

Best Served Cold - Susan Rogers Cooper, #14 in Milt Kovak

Bodhi's Synful Mate - Elle Boon, #6 in Iron Wolves MC

Time Jumpers (Five Kingdoms) - Brandon Mull, #5 in Five Kingdoms

Burning Springs - T. L. Haddix, #13 in Firefly Hollow

Enigma of Fire - Marilyn Leach, #4 in Berdie Elliott Mystery

Extracted
R.R. Haywood
#1 in Extracted

Future Shock
Elizabeth Briggs
#1 in Future Shock

Future Threat
Elizabeth Briggs
#2 in Future Shock

Mayhem
Alexis Noelle
#5 in Deathstalkers MC

Never Say Die
Michele Bardsley
#3 in Wizards of Nevermore

Sizzling Summer Nights
Debbi Rawlins
#20 in Made in Montana

Take It Back
Tonya Burrows
#1 in Outlaw Recovery

 n

The Bastards and the Knives
Scott Lynch
#0.5 in Gentleman Bastard

The Bone Witch
Rin Chupeco
#1 in The Bone Witch

The Innocent's Secret Baby
Carol Marinelli
#1 in Billionaires & One-Night Heirs

To End All Wars
P. S. Power
#7 in Gwen Farris

Very Important Corpses
Simon R Green
#3 in Ishmael Jones Mystery