Book: Red seas under red skies
Dec. 26th, 2010 07:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livAuthor: Scott Lynch
Details: (c) 2007 Scott Lynch; Pub Bantam Spectra 2007; ISBN 978-0-553-90358-4
Verdict: Red seas under red skies is enjoyable and moving.
Reasons for reading it: It's the sequel to The lies of Locke Lamora, which I enjoyed.
How it came into my hands: I lied to an ebook site called Books on Board, telling them I lived in the US (thanks,forestofglory, for lending me your address!) so that I could buy books from them.
Red seas under red skies certainly lived up to my expectations from Lies. It's similarly snarky and exciting and full of delightful characters and all kinds of amazing little background details about the world. In addition to that, it has rather more emotional depth than the earlier book. It manages to pull off the very difficult thing of having believable, actually dangerous danger, while still making it plausible when an almost-miraculous combination of luck and cleverness lets Our Heroes win the day. Even more than in the previous volume, Lynch manages to portray the protagonists in several simultaneous forms of deadly danger with several powerful and sensible enemies trying to kill them, without making me lose interest or suspension of disbelief in some of the subplots.
I particularly enjoyed the development of the relationship between Locke and Jean. The book really gives a strong and moving sense of their deep friendship, but doesn't pretend that caring about eachother magically solves all problems. And all the minor characters, including the various antagonists, are three-dimensional and interesting. There are plenty of humorous moments, but most of the book is really intense and exciting, both on an interpersonal level and regarding the external events.
The only flaw was that the ending felt a little rushed and unsatisfying. The early part of the book, and one really creepy scene in the middle, built up a very scary scenario regarding the Bondsmagi, but this isn't really resolved at all, being put off for a later sequel. The tension is therefore wasted, which seems a shame.
Details: (c) 2007 Scott Lynch; Pub Bantam Spectra 2007; ISBN 978-0-553-90358-4
Verdict: Red seas under red skies is enjoyable and moving.
Reasons for reading it: It's the sequel to The lies of Locke Lamora, which I enjoyed.
How it came into my hands: I lied to an ebook site called Books on Board, telling them I lived in the US (thanks,
forestofglory, for lending me your address!) so that I could buy books from them. Red seas under red skies certainly lived up to my expectations from Lies. It's similarly snarky and exciting and full of delightful characters and all kinds of amazing little background details about the world. In addition to that, it has rather more emotional depth than the earlier book. It manages to pull off the very difficult thing of having believable, actually dangerous danger, while still making it plausible when an almost-miraculous combination of luck and cleverness lets Our Heroes win the day. Even more than in the previous volume, Lynch manages to portray the protagonists in several simultaneous forms of deadly danger with several powerful and sensible enemies trying to kill them, without making me lose interest or suspension of disbelief in some of the subplots.
I particularly enjoyed the development of the relationship between Locke and Jean. The book really gives a strong and moving sense of their deep friendship, but doesn't pretend that caring about eachother magically solves all problems. And all the minor characters, including the various antagonists, are three-dimensional and interesting. There are plenty of humorous moments, but most of the book is really intense and exciting, both on an interpersonal level and regarding the external events.
The only flaw was that the ending felt a little rushed and unsatisfying. The early part of the book, and one really creepy scene in the middle, built up a very scary scenario regarding the Bondsmagi, but this isn't really resolved at all, being put off for a later sequel. The tension is therefore wasted, which seems a shame.
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Date: 2011-01-11 02:01 am (UTC)