GB Readalong: Week 13

It's the last week of The Gentleman Bastards read-along!
The Giveaway winner will be announced at the bottom of this post :)

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 | Finish the book!

Recap from last week

Flashbacks: Boulidazi is appeased, Sabetha reveals the dangers of having red hair, Jean learns some tricks from Jenora, Locke takes on the role of Aurin. When Locke and Sabetha spend the night together, Boulidazi decides to find Jenora, with disastrous results. The Gentleman Bastards take charge and try and salvage the situation!

Present Day: Locke and Jean make their way back to Karthain, more political scheming, and more devious tricks between Locke and Sabetha on their dates. Patience makes THE BIG REVEAL (finally!). Meanwhile, mysterious Bondsmagi are plotting...something...

Observations/Theories/Questions

What do you mean Locke is actually a reincarnated bondsmagi??!?

Okay, second time around, I still don't know if I want to believe what Patience said or not. But more on that in the Food for Thought section!

The flashbacks were really intense this week too! The last thing you're expecting is a murder cover-up in the middle of all the preparations for the play, but that's exactly what happens. this series terrifies me sometimes because nothing is off limits: we've already lost some beloved characters, and now apparently being alive doesn't guarantee being sane or whole.

Food for thought:

• The Big Reveal: I would like to have spent a whole discussion post on this, but there is something else really important I want to talk about in this week's discussion post, so this discussion will be right here.
  
  First of all, do you think what Patience says about Locke's past is true? It uncannily explains so much about his past, like why he can't remember anything before the Thiefmaker found him and how he survived the Catchfire plague. She also magically knows his secret name, the one he's only told Jean: But then again, Patience is a queen of manipulation and may just be messing with Locke and Sabetha to make Sabetha leave him. It's no secret that Patience and The Falconer had a rough relationship, but what kind of mother wouldn't want some form of revenge on the guy who gave her son a fate "worse than death"?
  
  Other reasons I have doubts about Patience's story: she mentions that Locke still has a hidden name that no one knows but himself. Yet, the creature from the deep in Red Seas speaks everyone's hidden name, but that creature also says "Lamor Acanthus" and not Locke's truly hidden name. That may be because Locke has lost his original hidden name by being reborn, but why would the creature call Locke by that name instead of his bondsmagi name if the creature knows people's true names? Also, Patience mentions that she is the one Locke remembers instead of his mother, but what would make her so special to the Bondsmagi that he remembres her after losing all his other memories?Well, I guess he didn't lose his memory of his wife's red hair, but his wife was the whole reason he started all the black magic nonsense. I can't see how Patience has that strong of a tie to him.
  
  But what if it really is true? Does knowing more about Locke's past change who he is now? I can't imagine Locke ever going back to torturing hundreds of innocents in order to find the secret to being reborn, even if that was what he did in a past life. The Locke we know has no memories of any of this, so he hasn't subconsciously been acting like his past self. Even if it's all true and Locke finally knows who he was, I don't think it changes who Locke is now. To quote from Patrick Ness, "We are the choices we make" and the Locke we know would never make those horrible choices (I hope).
  
  Thoughts?

Giveaway winner!

The winner of the Thorn of Emberlain Giveaway is Ashley! Congratulations, and hopefully we get an official release date on the book soon :)