Tia's Summer Reading List 2016

I didn’t do too badly on my summer reading list last year, conquering both the Mistborn and the Magicians trilogies for one, except that I didn’t actually read either of those over the summer. Apparently, I struggle to read when baseball is on TV and the sun is shining outside. BUT, have no fear, I have found a solution this year: the audiobook. The audiobook, when well narrated, is one of the greatest (and technically oldest, I guess) forms of storytelling ever. It makes any commute or chore worthwhile and allows you to enjoy a good story while participating in an outdoor adventure like hiking or biking or canoeing or fishing or whatever is your thing.

I am by no means an audiobook pro, but I’ve learned a few tips: 1) the narrator is EVERYTHING. Listen to a sample before you buy; and 2) consider Audible’s subscription service. Audiobooks can get expensive, especially if you go for long ones, but with Audible’s subscription services, you get one free credit/book a month at the $15/month rate which is way better than paying full price (which can approach $50). See here for more money saving tips.

I still plan on reading some print though, and I’m open to suggestions for great audiobooks and tips from audiobook experts. 

Enough ado....

1. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling, narrated by Jim Dale (Audiobook). So far I have clocked around 80 hours in Harry Potter listening and words can hardly describe the experience. The narrator, Jim Dale, is phenomenal, and his voice is like liquid happiness. Having read the books and seen the movies so often, I didn’t think there was any way to relive the feeling of experiencing Harry Potter for the first time, but I have found that in the audiobook. If you are a Harry Potter fan, I highly recommend this experience.

2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling, narrated by Jim Dale (Audiobook). Naturally, this follows.

3. Uprooted by Naomi Novik (Print). This book seems very much up my alley. I like that it is a stand-alone, as a new series is too much for a summer commitment. As I’m sure I don’t need to point out, Uprooted has received much praise, both in the greater SF/F community and here on NOAF.

4. The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (Print or Audio, not sure). Yes, I know this completely contradicts my previous statement about not wanting to start a series, but I am actually only interested in reading this first book. I keep going back and forth about diving in to the behemoth that is Wheel of Time so I think it is best to just test the waters.

5. The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, narrated by Michael Page (Audiobook). This is another ‘must read’ that I downloaded an e-book sample for but never read more than a few pages. I hear good things about the audio version so I will at least give the first in this series a listen.

6. The King's Blood by Daniel Abraham (Print). Amazon just informed me that I purchased this item on May 10, 2012. Shortly after I stopped reading it because I was appalled by Abraham’s representation of women. Here’s the thing… I can’t remember why. More than once recently this topic has come up in conversation and I want/need to reread this book so I can tell you all why I feel this way, if indeed, I still do.

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POSTED BY: Tia  -- overambitious reader and Nerds of a Feather contributor since 2014

Microreview [book]: The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch

Lynch, Scott. The Republic of Thieves [Del Rey, 2013]

The Meat

Scott Lynch is back! Those of you who follow this blog no doubt know how happy this makes me, owing to my rather mixed experience with his Gentlemen Bastards series. The first book, The Lies of Locke Lamora, is an absolutely brilliant debut and a fantastic book in its own right (deserving of perhaps the rare Nerds of a Feather score of 9/10). His sophomore book and second in the series, Red Seas Under Red Skies, however, was mediocre at best. It was set up with a cliffhanger that could have been a game-changing betrayal, but in the end it was the reader who felt betrayed for picking up the book in the first place. The plot was unmemorable, but more importantly, the gimmick with which Lynch set up the book ended up undermining the reading experience. And it did not give any sense to the outline of the broader series (see my review of Red Seas Under Red Skies here). But no longer do we have to worry about whether to pick up the next book in this series. With The Republic of Thieves (Gentlemen Bastards #3), Scott Lynch is back in form. Oh happy day! Or as many happy days as it takes you to read!   

The Republic of Thieves interweaves two stories. First, it tells the tale of Locke Lamora's current attempt to rid himself of the poison that no physiker or alchemist he meets can cure. At the very point when all hope appears lost, along comes a feared Bondsmage, Patience, who gives Locke an offer he can't refuse: if he goes to Karthain on behalf of Patience's Bondsmage faction and does his best to rig (or win, by any means) Karthain's quinquennial political elections, then she will cure him of his poison. Locke and his trusty sidekick, Jean Tannen, suspect the Bondsmages of playing an even deeper game, but find they have no choice but to follow along. Once in Karthain, they find themselves competing with a former Gentlemen Bastard, Locke's brilliant rival and his past love interest: Sabetha.

The second tale tells the story of Locke's childhood in Camorr, a story that will be of even more interest to fans of Locke Lamora. It centers on the trials and tribulations Locke underwent before becoming a Gentleman Bastard. Readers will learn more of his shady past, including his initial meeting with Sabetha, his growing conflict with her over who would become the true leader of the thieving group, and their hilariously funny attempt to save one of their master's old friends by going to Espara and staging a play from which the book gets its title, "The Republic of Thieves.'

Together, the two stories are focused on the central relationship between Locke and Sabetha. Everything else takes backseat. But in the process, Lynch reveals many more interesting tidbits or questions on Locke's own history and the world at large. Where did Locke Lamora come from? Why has he been able to keep his true name secret for so long, even from Bondsmages? And why was he smitten with Sabetha from the first time he saw her luscious red hair? Moreover, we learn a great deal more about the Bondsmages, but since I don't want to spoil anything for you, I'll leave it at that. 

Sabetha is quite possibly the strongest female character I have read since joining Nerds of a Feather. A stone cold professional crook, Sabetha is strong yet compassionate, strategic and thoughtful, brilliant and merciless: the kind of woman men rightly swoon for. And swoon Locke does. But in Sabetha we find a flighty teenager at heart; even so, she is still much more sympathetic than other flighty leading ladies in fantasy (The Kingkiller Chronicle's Denna, anyone? -- the most annoying leading lady in recent fantasy). Whatever the case, Lynch does a great job of showing the sexual tension and teenage angst between Locke and Sabetha; even after they meet again in Karthain, a similar dynamic re-emerges, letting the reader lead his/her own imagined and awkwardly adorable relationship vicariously through them.

The strength of Locke and Sabetha's relationship is where Republic shines. Although the constant "are they gonna get together?" is trying at times and tiring toward the end, the dynamic between the two feels authentic. As do Sabetha's complicated feelings toward Locke--not only is Locke her possible love interest, but he is also the man who stole from her the leadership role in the Gentlemen Bastards.

Unfortunately, however, the two stories do not fit together as well as they could. Granted, both stories of Locke's past and present are compelling in themselves. Presumably, the story of his past was meant to show why his relationship with present-day Sabetha is tense and problematic. But it ended up showing nothing of the sort. The reader is left with the head-slappingly-difficult-to-understand conundrum of why in the seven hells are present-day Sabetha and Locke so cold and tense? In the end, the two stories were not linked together in a compelling way. Another round of editing could have fixed this, the biggest flaw I saw in the book. The only other problem was that the Karthain election storyline dragged on perhaps one chapter too long. 

But these problems are offset by the fact that The Republic of Thieves is uproariously funny. The crisply written bantering prose not only lightens the spirit, it also helps us flex our laugh muscles. In fact, it has been a long time since I have laughed this hard while reading a fantasy book. For those who need a comparison, The Republic of Thieves is as laugh-out-loudtastic as Steven Erikson at his best (I'm thinking the sections featuring Tehol Beddict and Bugg in Midnight Tides).

More importantly, the book was resolved in a way that actually kept my attention (this time), and a threat was introduced that definitely re-invigorated my interest in the series. Whereas I went into reading this book worried about where Lynch would take the story and wondering whether I should even read it, now I can't wait for the next installment (thank the heavens for advance review copies!). With The Republic of Thieves, the Gentlemen-Bastards Train is back on track, heading to who knows where? I look forward to finding out.

Three thumbs up, Scott. 

The Math

Baseline Assessment: 8/10

Bonuses: +1 for all-encompassing hilarity; +1 for Sabetha.

Penalties: -2 for not linking the two stories together in a compelling way.

Nerd Coefficient: 8/10 "Well worth your time and attention"

See why an 8/10 at NoaF is like an 11/10 at other sites here.

Microreview [book]: Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch

The Meat

Red Seas Under Red Skies is Scott Lynch's second fantasy novel recounting the tale of the Gentlemen Bastards, Locke Lamora and his gang of witty thieves. His first installment of the series, The Lies of Locke Lamora, was a brilliant debut. Featuring witty dialogue, fantastic world building, a gang of complex characters you love to hate (or hate to love?), and a crisp and clear story of a con gone bad, Lies had all the makings of a perfect story. In fact, it was a bit too perfect, at least too perfect to serve as the debut of a broader series. The disastrously failed con had left the Gentlemen Bastards in ruins, with most of its members laying dead. Only Locke Lamora and Jean Tannen survived the tragic events in Camorr (they triumphed over the Karthain Bondsmage and the Grey King), but they were forced to go on the run. With many of my favorite characters gone and only Locke and Jean left alive, I did not see how Scott Lynch could continue the story arc and keep it as compelling as Lies. So I started Red Seas Under Red Skies with a good deal of trepidation.

Perhaps recognizing that he needed to regain a sense of tension, Lynch begins Red Seas with a cliffhanger: Jean betrays Locke on the pier of Tal Verrar. The rest of the book, which takes the reader back two years earlier, explains the path that led Jean to double-cross his best friend. This betrayal takes place against the backdrop of yet another impossible plan hatched by Locke and Jean. They plan to rob the Sinspire, an exclusive, thief-proof gambling den notorious for executing cheaters and thieves. Locke's newly hatched plan is complicated, however, by its entanglement in the factional politics of Tal Verrar, which revolved around three political poles: the Archon, the head of the military forces;  Requin, the infamous owner of the Sinspire said to possess a huge personal fortune; and the Priori, the political leaders of Tal Verrar. Just as Locke and Jean prepare their great heist on the Sinspire, they find themselves ensnared in the schemes of the Archon, who saw Locke as a useful pawn in his struggle for power against the Priori. The journey to the Sinspire heist thus takes the reader on an adventure through Tal Verrar and a delightful side journey where Locke and do their best to con a pirate crew into thinking they were, in fact, seasoned pirates. It is only shortly after their return from sea that Locke finds himself betrayed by his best friend.  

The resolution to his betrayal, however, left me utterly disappointed and angry that I even picked up the book to begin with. This cliffhanger was the biggest misstep of Red Seas.  

!SPOILER ALERT AND COMMENTARY AHOY!

Jean, of course, did not betray Locke. He simply pretended to do so in order to save Locke. Granted, this resolution to the cliffhanger should have been obvious. But Lynch peppered the book with references to Jean's growing disillusionment with Locke that would make his ultimate betrayal more believable (albeit not that believable). After resolving the betrayal cliffhanger in less than a page, I wondered why I had even read the past few hundred pages. This was, in short, a major structural misstep.   

!SPOILER ENDED!

Furthermore, the book ends rather abruptly and implausibly. An anonymous threat is suddenly revealed, and Locke and Jean make use of their collective wits, attempting to navigate the dangers of Tal Verrar and to pull off their heist of the Sinspire at the same time.

Granted, the above problems are balanced by the book's considerable strengths. Red Seas features fantastic world building, witty dialogue, lovable characters, and some of the most fantastic insults I have read in a long time. Further, the deepening friendship (bromance?) between Jean and Locke, the point of the book, is touching. In the end, Red Seas is a real page turner and a fun overall read. A good book, but one that does not come close to reaching the heights of The Lies of Locke Lamora.

The Math

Baseline Assessment: 6/10

Bonuses: +1 for witty dialogue, great characters, and a fun overall read (this book is a real page turner!); +1 for intelligent villains and interesting plot twists.

Penalties: -3 for the book's structure, which blew the Jean Tannen betrayal way out of proportion to its importance. It would have been more interesting and fulfilling without this tension-creating gimmick.

Nerd Coefficient: 5/10. "problematic, but has redeeming qualities"

Read about our scoring system, in which average is a 5/10, here.