Gentlemen Bastards!

Today we're going to talk about literature. Fantasy literature to be exact. Today's post is all about The Gentlemen Bastard Sequence by Scott Lynch.

To date there are three books on the series; The Lies of Locke Lamora, Red Seas Under Red Skies and The Republic of Thieves.

I finished the third book last night, and I've read the two other books twice, so I feel qualified to talk about them.

Together with A Song of Ice and Fire (George R.R. Martin) this is my favorite fantasy series, hands down. It does have magic and some fabulous beasts, but otherwise no classic fantasy tropes like elves, dwarfs, dragons and giant burning eyes perched on dark towers. No, The Gentlemen Bastards are thieves, con-men and criminals extraordinaire. But in a world with mostly gray on gray morality they come out as pretty nice people. Mostly because their targets are rich jerks and a lot of people are much worse then the Bastards.

I'm sitting here struggling to explain to you why these books are so good without either spoiling anything or going into a long rant about everything, but the most important point has to be the way Mr. Lynch writes. He paints vivid scenes filled with great characters you can actually sympathize with. The entire world comes alive and is tremendously believable. Not a mean feat considering it's fantasy after all.

Also, Mr. Lynch does not shy away from unpleasant themes. Violence is nasty, child thieves are hung and tons of bad things happen, but without any scene descending into a needless gore-fest.

The main characters are criminals yes, but the books don't moralize. Sometimes things go well, other times they really don't, but the causes and consequences speak for themselves without you getting preached at. Neither are the characters ever really let of the hook just because they happen to be the main characters. A tricky balance Mr. Lynch handles terrible well.

The Lies of Locke Lamora had me hooked completely after only the prologue, and I would not hesitate to give it five out of five stars anywhere.

Red Seas and The Republic are easy four star novels, with the only reason they weren't as good being, well, hard to explain. Perhaps they're lacking some of the joy you feel leaping at you from the pages. Otherwise they are magnificent.

If you like your fantasy, or indeed any genre, liberally coated with intrigue, mystery, charm, wit, adventure, romance and suspense you absolutely can't go wrong with these books.

Start reading The Gentlemen Bastard Sequence as soon as you can!

That's all he wrote, dear readers. Take it easy, gather some energy in this dark December and keep on trucking!