Overall, I really liked Red Seas Under Red Skies.

I don’t think it’s at the same level of quality as The Lies of Locke Lamora, but it is still good in its own right. I guess that is because I was sort of expecting something similar to The Lies of Locke Lamora and while I wasn’t dissappointed in this regard, it also did not supercede my expectations, something which The Lies of Locke Lamora did abundantly.

I must remark that I’m a bit ambiguous about about something. I imagine that Scott Lynch spent a great deal of time getting intimately acquainted with the sailing life, I say this because Red Seas Under Red Skies is absolutely packed with nautical terms and commands, so precise, that I can’t imagine it any other way. There’s actually so much of it, that it makes me wonder if he’s not just showing of. On the other hand, it does add quite a bit of immersion to the story, even if I don’t comprehend all the commands. The story would probably be quite different if none if the technicalities of sailing were used. Still, whenever the captain shouts a bunch of commands, I have absolutely no idea what the hell she’s trying to accomplish, and this causes the few fights at see to be a bit blurry in my minds eye.

Noteworthy: Writing about naval warfare and pirates without the use of firearms or cannons is quite the challenge, and I think Scott Lynch pulled that off marvelously.

To conclude, great, worthy follow-up to The Lies of Locke Lamora, it’s only flaw would be that it doesn’t improve on the concept of its predecessor. 4.5 stars.