It’s time at last to catch up with our good friends, the Gentleman Bastards. Boy, I can’t wait to see Locke and Jean again! I sure hope they’re doing good!
Oh, right. Poison. Forgot about that.
I’ll be honest: I was kinda sad going into this one. The first two books in the Gentleman Bastards sequence have been some of my favorite reads in ages! Now here we are. The last one. Sadness over it ending alone was enough to make me hold off on it.
And then I finished it and realized the reality was so much worse. Turns out, the series isn’t over. There’s supposedly a fourth book on the way. One that’s been… ten years in the oven.
God dammit, it’s ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ all over again!
The story begins many years in Shades Hill. A young and tiny Locke Lamora tries to remain alive and inconspicuous. Quite badly; already, the boy has quite the reputation among his peers. As such, his master, the Thiefmaker, sets him on a task with his most trusted babysitter: Sabatha, the first and only love of Locke’s life.
Cut back to the present. Locke is bedridden, dying to the poison from book two. Jean tries in desperate vain to try and cure his friend. Just as all hope seems lost, an unwelcome face appears to offer aid: Patience, one of the leaders of the Magi, and mother of their old enemy, the Falconer.
But she’s not here to exact her revenge. Rather, she’s here to extend them an offer. There’s an election coming up, and she wants Locke and Jean to rig the results in her favor. If they agree, she can cure him. Just one problem: they’re going to have an opponent working for the other side. None other than the third Gentleman Bastard, Sabitha.
The story is divided between these two points in their shared history. In the past, we see Locke and Sabitha’s relationship as it grew and blossomed. In the present, the three Gentlemen Bastards wage an intellectual war against one another. The two plotlines have a phenomenal back and forth that makes the story so damn engaging to read!
Sabitha plays a large role in why it works so well as it does. She’s been built up all the way since book one, and she more than lives up to the hype. Locke’s equal in almost every way, yet burdened by self-doubt and distrust of others, she’s a phenomenally interesting character! Every scene she has with both Locke and Jean are incredibly compelling!
I love how the conflict between them isn’t personal or vicious. In fact, the three use it as an opportunity to reconnect and get closer to each other again. They have fun with their political duel; no one is out for blood here. Yet even that is a struggle; the Magi want them to butt heads, not kiss and make up.
Good as the present storyline is, I much prefer the flashback storyline. Not only do we get to see Locke and Sabitha’s relationship grow, which is an expertly written romance, but we also get to see all the Gentleman Bastards working together. Getting Locke, Jean, Sabitha, Carlo, and Guldo all together, bantering and bickering and being masterful thieves, is endlessly entertaining in every scene!
With all that being said, the book isn’t perfect. For me, the ending kinda dropped the ball. The flashback timeline comes to a near perfect conclusion, but the present storyline ends abruptly and wasn’t especially satisfying. Especially since the ending is just a cliffhanger setting up the next book. Locke, Jean, and Sabitha are kinda just swept aside! It’s basically, “And then the Gentleman Bastards all went away. Tune in next time for the evil magic throat singer!”
Another thing that didn’t work for me was the reveal of Locke’s ‘true’ identity. Though calling it a reveal may be a stretch. It’s left intentionally vague by the character who revealed it whether or not it was actually true. All it really contributes to is set up for the disappointing ending and another tease for the plot of the next book.
These issues aside, I still really liked ‘The Republic of Thieves.’ It still has everything that made the series so fantastic in the first place. Witty dialogue, creative and fun plots and schemes, an interesting setting, and great characters. As it stands, it’s a great cap off to the trilogy.
With that, the Gentleman Bastards sequence comes to an end. At least for now. Hopefully we’ll get ‘The Thorn of Ember Lane’ so the series can see a proper conclusion. For now, all we can do is wait.
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