Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch (Gollancz)

The second novel in the Gentleman Bastard Sequence sees master thieves and conmen Locke Lamora and Jean Tannen rebuilding their fortunes after their gang was wiped out in The Lies of Locke Lamora.

But an ambitious warlord who knows more about the pair than they’d like interrupts their next complex con game with an offer they can’t refuse: Help him cement his power or die of slow poison.

Their job? Masquerade as pirate captains and raise an armada – a tough ask when the lads don’t know the bow of a rowboat from the stern.

With larger-than-life characters, witty dialogue, earthy language, unflinching violence and flashback-juggling galore, Scott Lynch is still the Tarantino of fantasy, but he builds his tale solidly around a core theme of trust, love and loss; the last chapters pack some hefty blows to the gut.

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