Yuffie's Book Reviews

The Republic of Thieves - by Scott Lynch

The 3rd installment of the Gentleman Bastards series was heralded to me as the best book in the series thus far, so I went into it with high hopes. What could possibly beat Red Seas Under Red Skies?

And.... I can't even begin to explain my disappointment with this book. It was the worst of the three. I'm not sure where all the praise stemmed from, but it was poorly constructed on a storytelling level, exhausting, distracting, and insufferable on the romance, and unimaginative in plot and world building that had been phenomenal in the previous two books.

Let's start with the storytelling. The most basic elements of a story are a protagonist(s) who has a goal with clear stakes. The Republic of Thieves had two stories being told, one in the past and one in the present, and neither of them had concrete goals or stakes, which made the entire book feel so flimsy and droning. Young Locke and friends were ordered by Chains to help his friend get his acting troupe back together and put on a show, but there were no personal stakes involved for Locke. He was doing as he was ordered (or else Chains would kick them all out, but that is such a weak, weak motivation). Older Locke was spirited away to Karthain where he had to work for a political party to rig an election in their favor (or else.... they'll let him go?) And the ever-referenced Sabetha finally came into the picture as Locke's opponent, but again with the same "motivation/stakes" as him. Neither of them took their roles serious, other than author exposition telling us they took it seriously—and for what? There were no personal stakes other than "put on a good show and put in your full effort, or we'll kill Sabetha." Seriously? How is "put on a good show" and "full effort" any kind of concrete goal? He didn't even need to win the election, which was more of an "amusing game" for the magi than anything of actual consequence. They did threaten Sabetha's life if Locke showed anything but businesslike seriousness with her, but then they were flirting and going on dates and making out and nothing happened, so it was just an empty threat. It wasn't anything that could be enforced, which made it feel very weak.

In order to get readers emotionally invested in a character, the characters themselves need to be emotionally invested in what they're doing. But the entire time, Locke and Sabetha were just romancing each other and playing practical jokes on one another with a coy smile, and rekindling their old relationship. There was little more than contrived tension between the two, no reason for them to be going against one another and want to beat the other. Absolutely none. So what was the point of the entire story? I failed to see it.

The election rigging plot was underdeveloped and flimsy as well. The narrative focused heavily on Locke's pining and angsting and self-pity over Sabetha, and it was absolutely exhausting, and distracted from the main plot of the election. Romance, I believe, should add to the main plot, not overshadow it. The election became a joke in the background, not something I could take seriously, so when obstacles and complications arose around it, I didn't care at all whether or not the characters solved the problem. That's not a good thing. I had no investment in who ultimately won the election, because there was no political agenda for both sides, no stakes involved for either party, and no consequences of losing.

Another complaint was the fact that Lynch essentially just wrote two completely different stories and alternated chapters for them within the same book. When you write two stories together, they should be weaving together, influencing the other or our reaction to the other, in some way. But the young Locke story and old Locke story had nothing to do with one another. I could've separated the two into 2 different books and it would've been fine. If there's more than one central narrative, they must weave together in some way, be it plot or theme. All this did was show us how Locke and Sabetha hooked up, and that's it. But we already knew they hooked up from the many lamenting whinings of Locke in the previous books, so the young Locke story was absolutely meaningless and unnecessary backstory, and that's not a good thing in a 650-page behemoth of a novel.

Overall, the plot arcs were so watered-down in scale, scope, and meaning from the previous books, and the huge emphasis on Locke's pining for Sabetha and the heavy-handed, exhausting romance between them throughout the entire book overshadowed the actual plot. It was so tedious to read through, and once we reached about halfway with no end to the dull romance or a concrete plot in sight, I was forcing myself to open the book and keep reading. It was just not good. I'm really left scratching my head as to how all the others who've read it thought it was the best book of the series. There were some amusing moments with the practical jokes Locke played on Sabetha, but they were far from enough to salvage this book.

2.5/5 stars