by Scott Lynch.
Gollancz Fantasy 2007, 587 pages (tpb).
I think this is my first review of a sequel, but RSURS is relatively independent of The Lies of Locke Lamora, so I’ll take my chances.
The plot of RSURS is quite elegantly summed up by Locke himself, on page 554:
Why did some stupid motherfucker always have to imagine that you could cross a Camorri with impunity?
The basic plot is in other words structured much like TLoLL. The Gentleman Bastards — or what’s left of them — are working on a scheme that will make them quite rich, when something unexpected happens and all their plans go to Hades, before the story totally changes direction and Locke and Jean have to fight their way free and exact vengeance on said motherfucker, as things get kind of personal.
The details, of course, are quite different. Not only have Locke and Jean removed themselves from Camorr to Tel Verarr, but the events up to their final moment of vengeance is a lot more social, one might say. Through a lot of accidents and cunning plots — most of which aren’t Locke’s, but rather aimed against him and Jean, I might add — the two find themselves as members of a pirate crew, even though they don’t know shit about sailing.
Again, I won’t say too much about the plot, as one of the greatest pleasures a reader can extract from both TLoLL and RSURS comes from just leaning back and enjoying the ride. And it certainly is an enjoyable ride. The tale doesn’t have a moment as devastating as the huge tragedy of TLoLL, something that makes it somewhat inferior in my book. But this is quite understandable; it’s hard to compete with the character deaths of TLoLL, since that book’s characters were much more established when they were killed. Not that the most prominent character death in RSURS wasn’t tear provoking, but it was nevertheless inferior. Remember, though, that inferiority is a relative thing.
One area where it beats TLoLL, though, is in its social realism. In TLoLL Locke’s priestly duties were toned down, focusing more on his obligations to his friends, although there was a certain naturalist element in the descriptions of the Camorri class society and the misery of the poorer quarters. In RSURS the second part of the motto of the Crooked Warden’s clergy is emphasised — Thieves prosper, rich remembers. This is particularly clear in Locke’s musings on the Amusement Wars, where Lynch moves from just describing social differences, to commenting on them. Some might misapprehend this as being preaching, but I don’t see it like that. First of all, because it is too short, and second because it is a natural reaction for Locke to think like this. His origins and education as a priest of the Crooked Warden taken into account, it’d be wrong if Locke hadn’t reacted the way he did.
When we’re on the subject of “wrong”, though, how about that dialogue of Lynch’s? A world where everyone is a witty bastard, able to within seconds come up with an intelligent and stinging, yet funny, retort to just about any insult or comment. Sounds like the wet fantasy of a sit-com writer, when put like this, but the fact is that without the wit, The Gentleman Bastard Sequence would have been quite less entertaining, and also quite less unique. Also, it would probably have made the characters less charming, because everyone loves an arrogant slob with a fast mouth, right?
If I have any complaints at all about this book, it must be that the plot and the schemes at times got a bit unwieldy. With all the double, triple and quadruple crossing Locke and Jean were up to, I found it hard to keep track at some points. However, this didn’t really subtract anything from the story as a whole, as Locke himself in one situation thought that he had trouble remembering all his plans, which identity he was supposed to take on and when, and who he was fooling when, where and how.
All in all, Red Seas Under Red Skies was a delightful read, which I’ll probably pick up again sometime soon. There aren’t published nearly enough novels this entertaining and, well, simply good.
As a concluding note, I think I already know what the topic of the reminiscences in RoT will be. Or at least I hope I do. Because RSURS really couldn’t end the way it seemed to end.
Posts