Ever seen one of those bank heist movies where Person A is working for Person B, they both want to get rid of Person C but Person C wants them to kill Person D. On the other hand Person E and F have other plans for Person A and B, and then Person G was the one really all behind it? you with me so far? yeah that’s what I thought. You had to really pay attention in this novel to get everything all straight. Red Seas Under Red Skies continues the adventures of Locke and Jean. Word to the wise: Read The Lies of Locke Lamora first. You have to, to get the understanding of everything. Not that this book will help you understand anything at all either. Mind you, I rather liked The Lies of Locke Lamora. It was pretty good. Then I decided to read this one, thinking it’s just as good. I was a bit disenchanted. Not only did the book really drag, but it was just so long winded that I noticed I was putting the book down a lot and reading other things and finishing them. It wasn’t until I realized that I can’t renew the book anymore that I decided to actually finish this book. I don’t understand why it has to be 500 pages for this book. You could have condensed everything and make the book about 350 pages max. I found that in this book, you had a lot of fast paced action, and then for about 40 pages you get slow events where you just felt like putting the book down. Then it goes back to some action, and then more flatness. The whole entire book was like that except the ending.

What I liked about the novel? I was attached to Locke in the first book and he was still entertaining and funny here. Being a cat lover, I loved the little incidents with the kittens and with Regal the kitten and Locke. That was cute! More new characters were introduced in this book which was fine. It kept the book interesting for a moment until the static flatness started all over again.

Eventually I ended up skimming a lot of the book in the last 200 pages. I just got fed up with this whole thing and wanted to get to the bottom of the plots and sub plots and see where this series is headed. At least the ending had some excitement although it wasn’t worth reading through 500 pages to get to the last four to find some good stuff.

From what I heard, it’s going to be another 5 or so books after this one? I just hope they turn out more exciting than Red Seas Under Red Skies. ( )

Escaping from the attentions of the Bondsmagi Locke Lamora, the estwhile Thorn of Camorr and Jean Tannen have fled their home city. Taking ship they arrive in the city state of Tal Varrar where they are soon planning their most spectacular heist yet; they will take the luxurious gaming house, The Sinspire, for all of its countless riches. No-one has ever taken even a single coin from the Sinspire that wasn't won on the tables or in the other games of chance on offer there. But, as ever, the path of true crime rarely runs smooth and Locke and Jean soon find themselves co-opted into an attempt to bring the pirate fleet of the notorious Zamira Drakasha to justice. Fine work for thieves who don't know one end of galley from another. And all the while the Bondsmagi are plotting their very necessary revenge against the one man who believes e has humiliated them and lived; Locke Lamora. © DnBB AS

Another good one in this series.
There are so many reviews for it, I don't feel as if there is much I can add.
After finishing this, I decided to get both this, and the Lies of Locke Lamora in hardback :) ( )

Despite how much I loved this book, I'm glad to be done with it. Now, I'll finally be able to sleep again :P

Scott Lynch has done it again. Locke and Jean have been tricked into serving the archon of Tal Verrar, Maxilan Stragos, and are on a new adventure. This time, while attempting to pull of an extremely large heist on the most famous gambling house in Tal Verrar, they must also figure out a way to start a war. Stragos, head of the city's navy, has been losing his power with no one to fight. He's nearing the end of his life and decides to go out with a bang. He wants the people of Tal Verrar to remember that they need him and so employs an unwilling Locke and Jean to go to sea and bring a fleet of pirates ready to attack Tal Verrar. Stragos will then slaughter the pirates and be remembered as a hero. Locke and Jean, of course, decide to make things difficult and deceive everyone, all the while attempting to rob everyone blind.

The brief summary may sound a bit confusing (and it doesn't do the book justice at all), but with almost 800 pages to the book, there are lots of twists and turns that make it too intricate to properly summarize but rest assured, it's nearly impossible to put this book down once it's started. The writing is phenomenal and the imagery - well, it's damn cinematic at times. The final battle took my breath away.

And of course, Lynch had again created fantastic characters that are so vivid you can almost see them moving on the page. Lynch doesn't shy away from creating strong female characters either. The captain and first mate of the pirate ship, Poison Orchid, seem to make it their hobby of getting the best of our protagonists.

This is an amazing book. It's exciting, visually stimulating, and touches all your emotions. I was left laughing in many places (including the surprise twist in the epilogue) and a couple scenes almost left me in tears. I will say I thought the ending felt a tad rushed, but I enjoyed this book regardless. It ends on one hell of a cliffhanger though! I will definitely be awaiting the next in the series, to be released in a few months! ( )

I thought Lynch's second book started off strong, but lost its way in the second half of a book. I appreciated that he broke from the "now, before, now, before" style of the first book halfway through this most recent offering, but I thought he made the story too complicated and had to unroll it too quickly. I also did not enjoy the first chapter's gimmick.

I liked that he brought back events from the first book as repercussions, but I sincerely hope he breaks from the mold of playing two people against one another in the third book, and I hope he can advance the Bondsmagi story further. I would also like to see him add another recurring character, or at least reconnect with the female Bastard.

While tighter than his debut novel, I found this second book to be very average. I believe that Lynch has a lot of promise as a writer, so I hope that he continues to improve his craft with the third book in the series. ( )