The Lies of Locke Lamora (2006)Red Seas Under Red Skies (2007) The Republic of Thieves (2013)
⚡ Pace: fast · 🎭 Emotions: witty, adventurous · 🚪 Entry threshold: medium · ⭐ Why read: clever schemes, memorable duo
In a city that smells of salt, smoke, and stolen coin, a boy named Locke Lamora grows up to become the most audacious thief in Camorr – a Renaissance Venice remade in shadow. The Gentleman Bastard series by Scott Lynch (The Lies of Locke Lamora, Red Seas Under Red Skies, The Republic of Thieves) fuses high fantasy with the swagger of a crime saga. It’s a world of con artists and cutthroats who treat deception as art, loyalty as religion, and survival as theatre.
Locke and his partner Jean Tannen lead the Gentleman Bastards – a gang of thieves who rob the rich with elegance and drink with even greater passion. Beneath their tricks runs a story about trust: between brothers in arms, between lovers divided by fate, and between power and those who steal from it. Lynch’s prose is lush and rhythmic – part baroque poetry, part gutter slang – carrying the scent of wine, blood, and river mist. Every scheme collapses into consequence, every joke hides a scar.
What makes The Gentleman Bastard trilogy unforgettable is its tone: fierce, funny, and heartbreakingly humane. It’s fantasy without prophecy – no chosen one, only flawed men daring to matter. Lynch turns adventure into an elegy for friendship, grief, and the cost of wit in a cruel world. By the end, the lies don’t end; they just change shape, like masks in a city where survival means pretending, and pretending sometimes becomes the truest thing you have.
📚 Did you know 📖
The first book, The Lies of Locke Lamora, immediately stood out in fantasy for blending the flair of Ocean’s 11 with a Venetian-inspired setting.
The series is renowned for its vivid language and sharp-witted dialogue.
Lynch has planned seven volumes, but only three have been published so far – much to the impatience of fans.
The novels have been nominated for the World Fantasy Award and the Locus Award.
Legend has it: Lynch admitted he was inspired by both con-artist films and old cookbooks – which explains the lavish attention to food in the series.