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A review by roksyreads
Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
On the exotic shores of Tal Verrar, Locke Lamora and Jean Tannen have set their sights on the Sinspire, the most exclusive – not to mention guarded – gambling house in the world. But someone in Tal Verrar knows their secrets and intends to make the criminal duo pay for their past sins; all of their combined wits and cunning may not be enough to save them.
Similar to the first book, Lynch uses a dual narrative structure of past and present events to weave Locke and Jean’s journey to the latter stages of their ‘game’. You would expect a novel focused on conmen to go the way of Ocean’s Eleven/Twelve/Thirteen; setbacks would be quickly surmounted by clever tricks and cunning, and ultimately the conmen would succeed against the powerful clandestine ruler of the Sinspire. Pleasantly – or perhaps unpleasantly, at least for our protagonists – this is not the case. Locke and Jean are constantly faced with the challenges of maintaining multiple faces and plots, their lives hanging in the balance.
I am very fond of stories featuring found family and genuine friendship. Lynch brings so much emotion and depth to his characters and the relationships they build that it’s difficult not to become attached to this pair of morally grey conmen and the allies they make along the way. In this novel, I was particularly fond of Zamira, and most enjoyed the latter half of the novel in which she and her first mate, Ezri, featured prominently.
A dark, twisting, and detailed fantasy – with the added bonus of pirates and adventures on the high sea – Red Seas Under Red Skies was hard to put down and even harder to leave behind.
Similar to the first book, Lynch uses a dual narrative structure of past and present events to weave Locke and Jean’s journey to the latter stages of their ‘game’. You would expect a novel focused on conmen to go the way of Ocean’s Eleven/Twelve/Thirteen; setbacks would be quickly surmounted by clever tricks and cunning, and ultimately the conmen would succeed against the powerful clandestine ruler of the Sinspire. Pleasantly – or perhaps unpleasantly, at least for our protagonists – this is not the case. Locke and Jean are constantly faced with the challenges of maintaining multiple faces and plots, their lives hanging in the balance.
I am very fond of stories featuring found family and genuine friendship. Lynch brings so much emotion and depth to his characters and the relationships they build that it’s difficult not to become attached to this pair of morally grey conmen and the allies they make along the way. In this novel, I was particularly fond of Zamira, and most enjoyed the latter half of the novel in which she and her first mate, Ezri, featured prominently.
A dark, twisting, and detailed fantasy – with the added bonus of pirates and adventures on the high sea – Red Seas Under Red Skies was hard to put down and even harder to leave behind.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Torture, and Violence