GB Readalong: Week 12

The Republic of Thieves read-along continues! Also, don't forget about the Thorn of Emberlain Giveaway**!

If you're just joining in, check out the intro post for the schedule and other details!

What we're reading this week

Republic of Thieves | Part III Ch8-9 and interludes

Recap from last week

Flashbacks: The Gentleman Bastards travel to Espara and find out Moncraine is in jail. They con him out of jail but now have to keep the favor of the kind-of-sleazy Boulidazi. Rehearsals for THE REPUBLIC OF THIEVES begin, with varying success for the bastards. Locke and Sabetha have a heart-to-heart that ends with Sabetha exploding and Boulidazi holding Locke at knife-point.


Present Day: More political manipulation and tricks between the Deep Roots and Black Iris parties. Locke finally meets Sabetha after 5 years apart, and the encounter ends with Locke and Jean on a boat heading far far away from Karthain. The pair manage to escape and get back to Karthain using more good old fashioned cons.

Observations/Theories/Questions

 This book is a lot more fun the second time around. The first time, I was expecting more cons and an Amazing Sabetha and I was kind of disappointed that this book was full of quibbling and a not-so-Amazing Sabetha.


Now that I'm reading it again, I can see how Sabetha is almost like a real person, and that my disappointment was because I was buying into Locke's idealized fantasy of her. Obviously no real person ever lives up to someone's romanticized fantasies! I'm also enjoying all the political tricks and back-and-forth more now that I know I shouldn't be expecting dramatic heists and cons.

Although there is still some dramatic stuff to look forward to, if the covers are any indication ;)

Food for thought:

• A tiny bit more about Locke's past:
  
  "I don't remember my own [parents]...I don't remember where I was  born, or the Catchfire plague, or how I surveved it, or anything that I did before the Thiefmaker bought me from the city watch!" (p309, UK edition)
  
  This will be important very, very soon :D Can't wait to discuss this stuff , but I think it's part of the chapters for the week after this one.
  
• More creatures from the deep: When Locke and Jean fall head-first into the ocean on their escape from Sabetha's ship, they notice strange and menacing underwater lights. Locke says something about hating the Eldren and everything they left behind; if these strange creatures are the Eldren's doing, then perhaps that ominous sea monster from RSURS is also leftover from the Eldren's shenanigans. Or maybe these creatures are the Eldren, who retreated into the ocean a la Atlantis! Yeah, crazy theory, I know, but Scott Lynch promised a lot more to the world so I don't think it's impossible.
  
• Tongue in cheek romance: Sabetha's passionate outcry of "I don't want to be loved because it's inevitable" is hilarious, because it's such a cliche that the two main characters of a book will inevitably fall in love (especially in YA. If there's a male main character and a female main character [because LGBTQ stories have yet to become mainstream], no matter where they stand at the beginning of the novel, chances are they're going to be swooning and making out by the end). You, Sabetha, are in a book, and Locke loves you, therefore it is inevitable that you'll love him back by the end. Right?
  
  But by pointing out the cliche, Scott Lynch frees himself from having to follow it. We readers become aware of our expectations of the story, and now we have to revise them because Lynch makes no promises. In fact, we've already had Jean, Calo, and Galdo talk about how unhealthy Locke's "love"/obsession with Sabetha and her red hair is, so I'm not even sure we're supposed to want this romance to play out with a big happily ever after.
• Remember, spoilery discussions can go here.

Giveaway (One more week)!

**Just so you're aware, the release date has been pushed to 2016! The giveaway is still on, you'll just have to wait a bit longer than originally anticipated to actually get your book/pre-order. 

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