Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch

Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch is the second in The Gentlemen Bastards series (after The Lies of Locke Lamora), a currently three book series that looks like the author has plans to make a seven book series, but since Lies came out in 2006 and we're still waiting on the fourth book, I'll believe that when I see it.

I thought the first book was great fun and truly enjoyed hanging out with Locke and his band of thieves with their convoluted plans and strange sense of morality. I thought this second book was fun, too.  We spend some time with a casino heist, hanging out with a fabulous lady pirate at sea, and managing all of Locke's various identities and characters.  I also think Lynch has a way with words and I think each sentence is a joy to read, the dialogue is sparkling, and the setting is brilliantly actualized.  In short, I liked it a bunch.

The relationship between Locke and Jean, his boon companion and fellow Gentleman Bastard, grows and changes in this novel. I think the depiction of a complicated male friendship, complicated particularly when one of those men develops a new, close female relationship, was really well done. I read a fair amount about the complications of  friendships among women and girls (consider all the Ferrante novels), but this an eye-opener for me. There are women characters in this book, which was a nice change from Lies, and I thought this book was really strong with all of its character development.

Apparently, I am in the minority. There seems to be a sizeable population out there who thinks that this book didn't allow for the true cunning of the characters to come out and that the time of the characters spent at sea was not plot driven, in that all the time spent at sea didn't really change their positions in their schemes back on shore. But the time at sea was not about plot. It was about character and it was about relationships and it was about how sometimes in life you make decisions that don't actually propel you forward in life.

Anyway, I'm pro-Scott Lynch, but I wish he weren't in the long list of authors who take forever to finish a series (Rothfuss and Martin, I'm aiming this right at you).