Product reviewsThe Republic of Thieves: The Gentleman Bastard Sequence, Book Three by Scott Lynch (Paperback, 2014)

Ebay suggest "lightweight with great features" as an example review title for this. And why not?

Lynch (if not his characters) lacks the self-righteous arrogance of a Plato, the ineffectual pomposity of a Marx, the deluded reductionism of a Descartes, or the self-serving obscurantism of a Derrida, and is all the better for it. It is strange that so many people who write books which claim to grapple with the nature of the real world seem to have far less of a grasp on reality than writers of fiction (I give Bertrand Russell some slack here as one of those exceptions which tests the rule) and I defy anybody who has done their first year of philosophy studies to say that they learned more of real value (as opposed to what it cost) in their lectures than they could from this book.

Not that this book is didactic in nature, but then neither is the world. So, lightweight, and I think avowedly so.

Great features? The characters, the settings, the wit, the humor, or humour, depending on which side of the water you are on, the plotting, in more senses than one. Above all, the quality of the writing, which is fluid and fluent, limpid and lambent, economical and precise. Whilst he is no Aristophanes, nor a Rabelais, Lynch bears comparison with other writers of popular fiction, such as Dickens, Le Carre, or Poe, and knocks the works of many an esteemed and "serious" author into a suggestively cocked hat.

So: much less expensive and time consuming than the first year of a philosophy degree, that sound like a bargain to me. Thanks, Scott.Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: webuybooks

hard to put down

Bought it for my son, he read it all in a couple of days

A+++to great eBayer great product

A+++to great eBayer great product

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: webuybooks