Reading Order
Gentleman BastardThe Gentleman Bastard Sequence Reading Order
Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora (2006) is the first Gentleman Bastard novel — Locke Lamora, raised as a con artist thief in the city of Camorr (modeled on Renaissance Venice), whose elaborate scheme to rob a corrupt noble is interrupted by the Gray King, a murderer targeting the city's criminal bosses. Lynch spent several years writing it and it was immediately recognized as one of the finest fantasy debuts of the decade — the city of Camorr, its criminal underworld, and its alternating present-and-flashback structure made it distinctive in a crowded genre. The Gentleman Bastard series continues with Red Seas Under Red Skies (2007) and The Republic of Thieves (2013).
Where to start
The Lies of Locke Lamora
Complete Gentleman Bastard Book List
- 1Buy
The Lies of Locke Lamora
Scott Lynch·2006·The opening novel — the founding Camorr heist, the Gray King, the Gentlemen Bastards in their full early membership. The best entry point and the most complete single-volume Gentleman Bastard story. - 2Buy
Red Seas Under Red Skies
Scott Lynch·2007·The second novel — Locke and Jean at a casino in Tal Verrar, the pirate subplot, Lynch expanding the world beyond Camorr in a story that combines the heist with a nautical adventure. - 3Buy
The Republic of Thieves
Scott Lynch·2013·The third novel — the election-manipulation job in Karthain and flashbacks to Locke's first encounter with Sabetha, the romantic complication the earlier novels had deferred.
Gentleman Bastard — Frequently Asked Questions
What is Camorr in The Lies of Locke Lamora?
Camorr is a city-state in the world of the Gentleman Bastard series, modeled most directly on Venice in the Italian Renaissance — canals, bridges, merchant nobles, criminal guilds, and glass-making artisans. The city has an additional element: Eldren glass, the remnants of a pre-human civilization that built the city's distinctive towers and bridges. Lynch has said he was also drawing on the structure of cities from other fantasy and historical sources. Camorr is one of the most fully realized secondary-world cities in recent fantasy literature.
Is the Gentleman Bastard series complete?
As of 2024, the Gentleman Bastard series consists of three published novels: The Lies of Locke Lamora (2006), Red Seas Under Red Skies (2007), and The Republic of Thieves (2013). Scott Lynch has described the series as planned for seven volumes; subsequent volumes including The Thorn of Emberlain have been long-announced but not yet published. Lynch has discussed health difficulties that affected his writing timeline. Readers should be aware that the series is unfinished.
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