Ahoy, Readers!

Last night, I finished reading Red Seas Under Red Skies. This fantasy book by Scott Lynch is the follow-up to his debut novel, The Lies of Locke Lamora.

It is an enjoyable book, like the one came before. It maintains a very adult tone compared to the "safe for pre-teens" attitude that a large amount of popular fantasy takes. It continues to delve into matters of ethics and politics, and does so in a way that is very engaging.

The book continues to focus on Locke Lamora, the leader of the "Gentlemen Bastards," as he works another elaborate con operation, this time in a new part of the same fictional world the author created before. It is once again fun to be pulled along, trying to guess the particulars of the heist before it comes off, and trying to figure out how Locke and his partner will weasel their way out of some truly nasty complications.

But the book is not quite as strong as its predecessor. This time out, there are just a couple problems with the pacing. First of all, the book begins with a short three page prologue that starts in the middle of the action, and ends on a cliffhanger. It then jumps back several months as the book proper begins, leading you eventually back to the point of introduction.

This is a technique that used to be (pardon the pun) novel, but has been absolutely done to death on television, to the point where I don't even think it works in a literary context anymore either. Especially not in this case. Trying not to give away particulars to anyone who reads the book, there's just something about the intro that rings immediately false to anyone who read book one, and the ultimate resolution of the scene, once the book leads back to that moment, isn't at all satisfying. Not worth waiting 450 pages for. Fortunately, there's another 100 pages afterward that are breezy and fun, and go a long way to redeeming this narrative misstep.

The other pitfall in the structure of the plot is that it reads almost like two different books joined somewhere at the 40% mark. From the title "Red Seas Under Red Skies," it would seem the book is to be about some sort of nautical adventure. And eventually it is... after about 200 pages. And it's not that that first chunk of the book isn't good. It's a lot of fun, actually. So is what comes after. But I couldn't help but feel like the one part didn't have much to do with the other, beyond merely setting up another obstacle in the main characters' way to have to negotiate before the conclusion of the book. Each piece wraps up fairly well, but they never quite fully blend together, in my opinion.

As I mentioned in my review of book one, the author has said he envisioned a long cycle of books about the Gentlemen Bastards -- as many as seven books. Of course, unlike when he wrote that first book and found success as an author, he's now not necessarily under any obligation to wrap up anything at the conclusion of any given volume of the cycle.

In short.... you may want to know, does this book actually have an ending like the first one, or is it a cliffhanger?

I'm pleased to inform those of you already mired in multiple unfinished series of books, this story does indeed end. There is certainly an unresolved issue at the end of the final page, but it's really more of a springboard for where the tale might lead next, rather than an outright cliffhanger that will leave one feeling anywhere from unsatisfied to betrayed were the author to suddenly die of cardiac amyloidosis or something.

I put Red Seas Under Red Skies at a B, just under the previous effort. I do recommend it, and I know that I'll pick up book three whenever it should come along, happy that I've found a new author I enjoy.