The Republic of Thieves Read along, Part 3!

Posted by: Redhead on: November 11, 2013

• In: read along | Scott Lynch
• 21 Comments

Welcome back to the Republic of Thieves read along! This week’s section covers Chapter 6 thru Interlude “Aurin and Amadine” and is hosted by the lovely Lynn of Lynn’s Book Blog.  If you’re just joining us, click HERE for the full reading schedule.  If you’ve been following along on twitter (#lynchmob) you may have noticed there’s some team loyalties happening. all in good fun!

Instead of torturing you with an overly long thesis on Sabetha Belacoros, I shall torture you with the world’s shittiest poetry (Lucarno I ain’t!), in a spoilery summary of where we are:

liquor license saved at last,
but for a woman from their past,
That Vordratha is a cranky git,
and Locke sees Sabetha for a bit.

The boys wake on a luxurious ship,
headed to sea at quite the clip.
Funny how Locke and Jean completely forget
they can speak Vadran.

Elsewhen. . .

Five young Camorri bastards will succeed,
as soon as they can get Moncraine freed
The find the Duke and Sabetha talks,
his crush on her is as bad as Locke’s!

It’s now the Boulidazi-Moncraine company,
and acting lessons are had for free.
The Sanza boys find their niche
and Locke may finally get his wish.

(said quickly, all in one breath) and then he completely wrecks it by complimenting something Sabetha doesn’t like about herself. Great job, assmunch. Also, Boulidazi is PISSED.

This week’s spoilery questions and spoilery-er answers are after the jump!

Head over to Lynn’s Book Blog for links to everyone else’s responses.

1. The election competition. Sabetha isn’t wasting any time throwing pranks at Locke and Jean. Mostly it seemed fairly harmless, or at least not overly serious, until they were kidnapped and put onto a ship and taken out to sea. What did you make of Sabetha’s latest plan? And what did you think about the way she executed it?

She is so sneaky!!! Like, insanely, villainous sneaky!  I liked how she “poisoned” Locke.  She knew exactly how he would react to her, exactly how to go after him, and she manipulated the shit out of him.  She told him she was doing it for his own good, but I wonder if she really means any of that.  But again, she’s not stupid. She has very limited ways that she can get him out of the contest (she can’t kill him, have him killed, bribe him to leave, or politely ask him to leave. see? limited).  I adore her creativity.  The trickiest part for her, I think, was holding a straight face while lying to Jean.

2.During the escape overboard and Jean’s rather subtle nose dive into the water – I was curious about the lights Locke saw deep in the water when he was performing his rescue – Locke thought they looked different once he was under the waves which I suppose they would but he also had the feeling that he was being watched? Do you think this relates back to the Eldren or some other presence?

There’s definitely something creepy down there. At first, I thought they were phosphorescent jellyfish or something, but then someone last week said something about them being cthluhu-esque Elder-things, and now I can’t get that out of my mind.  Would be hella cool if they were “some other prescence”. The Bondsmagi think they’re the top of the food chain, but maybe not.

I don’t remember the specifics, but closer to the beginning of the book, we get some info about the Amathel (maybe Patience tells us?), and they are talking about the lights under the surface that lure the sailors down. All I can think of is “Dream Lake”, one of the interior lakes at Luray Caverns.  It looks like a fairy city underground, you swear you can see ten or thirty feet down.  But it’s just a reflection of the roof of the cavern, the lake is only 18 inches deep. You look down first, and it’s so mesmerizing that it’s nearly impossible to pull your eyes away and look “up” to understand what you are seeing.

3. Given that Locke hadn’t seen Sabetha for five years how did you think their first meeting together went (well, it wasn’t strictly speaking their first meeting of course – were you surprised that Jean and Locke hadn’t figured out that the woman pickpocket was Sabetha?) and also what did you make of Jean and Sabetha’s reaction to each other?

When the lady pickpocket showed up, I was wondering about the four cornered hat, and “G.B.” embroidered on her purse? nice.

I loved their “first” meeting at the Sign of the Black Iris.  Locke is completely nervous and flustered, which was pretty adorable, seeing as how he’s so often  such a cocky SOB.   I  chuckled out loud at Locke and Jean’s quick little discussion outside the tavern, that Jean is basically damn sick and tired of Locke’s nervous moping.

Sabetha has nothing against Jean, they were always friends, there was never any weirdness between them.  But he’s still sore about the pickpocket bit.  He hugs her, but won’t share in her jokes. Does Sabetha have any idea how much Locke has been pining for her, and how much he’s been driving Jean batshit crazy with said pining?

What a terrible way for the three of them to have a reunion. And at this point, I don’t think Sabetha yet knows about Calo, Galdo and Bug no longer being with us.

still, #teamSabetha !

4. So, the gang have arrived in Espara and already the plans have gone wrong through no fault of their own! Jail for a year plus lose a hand for slapping a noble?? What do you think of the justice system in Espara and how does this bode for the gang?

Well, since Jean is a bruiser and Locke is really good at getting beaten up, this bodes quite poorly. I am not a fan of the justice system in Espara (although I did like the “terra cotta soldiers” and the little history lesson!), they seem to have a “chop off hands, ask questions later” type system.  There also seems to be a lot of rampant racism in Espara as well. Ick.  That’s what they get for not having any Eldren engineering!

I don’t know about you, but I’m enjoying the motif of “things going terribly wrong before the first step is taken”.

5.The acting company are finally coming together and we’re watching the gang as they try to read, act and grab the best parts – are you all ‘happy face’ with the whole theatre scenes or, sad face! Also, I can’t help feeling like this whole storyline is a step out of character for the gang. Any ideas of how it will play out??

It took me a while to get used to the theatre scenes, but one I did, I started to like them.  I enjoy watching a good Shakespeare play, but I never much enjoyed reading them in school. Is anyone in the read along  listening to the audio? How is the play bits done in the audio? I bet they are a lot of fun to listen to, because there is some rythym, some meter to them, you know?

There’s a super quick little line in there somewhere, how Locke suddenly likes having all his lines written down for them. The Gentleman Bastards are pros at improvising, they aren’t used to sticking to a script, or reading someone else’s lines. I did like the scene where Moncraine is coaching Calo and Galdo. Nice for the brothers to have something interesting to do besides being comedy relief.  And, I just really liked the scene. I liked seeing Moncraine and Sylvanus shine, instead of being has-been drunkards.  Poor Sylvanus, getting very maudlin about the parts he’ll never play because he’s too old. A little like modern hollywood, no? plenty of parts for actors who look 16 through 34. But once you look older than 45, ehhh…. you’re gonna play the bumbling bank manager or the mother in law.

6.We are also being introduced to a number of new characters, particularly Moncraine and Boulidazi. What are your first impressions of these two and the other new characters in the Company and any particular likes or dislikes so far?

I like Moncraine. He’s impulsive, he’s talented, he’s a damn good actor, he’s in denial that he’s past his prime. There’s a lot of potential for some really good characterization here.  I hope as this storyline continues, we get plenty more Moncraine!

and then there is Boulidazi. He means well, really he does. He’s a bored noble, who wants to use some of his money to fund some local good works. And well, Moncraine doesn’t take kindly to being seen as a charity cause.   Thank goodness Locke already knows about the justice system in Espara, otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to get through that last conversation with Boulidazi without punching him!  I was a little surprised at how fast Boulidazi fell for Sabetha and Locke’s tricks (and I liked that Locke let her carry most of this conversation!), but then again, maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised!

7.The rooftop scene and the apology. How did it all go so wrong? And how will Locke get out of this latest fix with Boulidazi?

Locke was doing so well!  He’s actually been *gasp* listening to what Sabetha has been saying, and thinking about it. He might 100% understand where she’s coming from, but at least he’s trying to respect it.  He’s making good progress, and she’s willing to give him a chance. not too shabby!

Defintetly not an Anjani Wine. In fact, no oranges were harmed in the making of this wine.

and then it all goes wrong. He starts complimenting how beautiful she is, and mentions her red hair, the red hair she’s been dying brown since early childhood.  And she flips the fuck out.  I hated my red hair when I was a kid too, but if someone complimented it I didn’t turn into an asshole. what the fuck is her problem!?  Gah, and Boulidazi, what shitty timing!  Locke is going to have to some mighty fast talking, that is for sure!

Tags: fantasy, Locke Lamora, read along