Red Seas Under Red Skies

The second of seven novels in The Gentleman Bastard Sequence, by Scott Lynch. First published in 2007. http://www.scottlynch.us/books.html#redseas

In the aftermath of the Falconer's demise, Locke and Jean head to Tal Verrar for another, even bigger, con. They lie and cheat their way through a gambling house no thief has ever survived an attempt to rob, and in which cheating has a death sentence. They are deterred, however, by someone looking for their expertise - they are coerced into masquerade as pirates in the Sea of Brass. Meanwhile, they are being pursued by the last people any sane person would ever offend... the ruthless Bondsmagi of Karthain.

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Tropes used in Red Seas Under Red Skies include:

• Alliterative Name: Locke Lamora
• An Axe to Grind: The Wicked Sisters.
• Bad Guy Bar: The Last Mistake, right next to Capa Barsavi's headquarters. And the Tattered Crimson, in Port Prodigal.
• Big Bad Friend: Jean pretends that he becomes this in the prologue.
• Bittersweet Ending: Though both Jean and Locke are poisoned, Locke tricks Jean into taking the antidote (they only have enough for one person), and Jean has lost the woman he loved.
• Boxed Crook: Locke and Jean are subjected to this by the archon.
• Brains and Brawn: Locke and Jean respectively. Though Jean actually has the better formal education, Locke is clearly the planner.
• Carrying the Antidote: Though he only carried enough for one person.
• Fake Ultimate Hero: Locke's reputation with the crew of the Poison Orchid.
• Fixing the Game: Locke and Jean become gamblers and of course cheat.
• Gambit Pileup: Locke might have done this to himself in the second book.
• Gender Is No Object - The tradition of the Twelve Gods requires at least one woman per ship, preferably an officer.
• Heartbroken Badass: Jean.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Ezri.
  • Though it likely won't be fatal, Locke's move at the end of book two could also count. At the very least, he intends it to be a heroic sacrifice.
• Heterosexual Life Partners: Locke and Jean, very, very much so, down to repeatedly risking their lives to save each other, attempting to sacrifice their lives for each other, or attempting to leave the other in order to protect him (which the other staunchly refuses to allow.)
  • At the end of Red Seas Under Red Skies, they argue vociferously over who gets the single vial of antidote, each insisting the other should have it, until Jean announces he's going to physically restrain Locke and force him to drink it - at which point Locke reveals he already slipped it into Jean's wine.
    • Jean should have known better than to go in against a Camorri when death was on the line.
  • Their sole attempt at a major life plan involves buying a pair of aristocratic titles and retiring to neighboring estates. In fact, the end of Red Seas Under Red Skies sees them sail off on a yacht together with no real plans other than to idle around.
  • There's also Locke's fit of jealousy when Jean gets interested in Ezri and starts spending time with her, although he eventually concedes that she can come along with them.
• How We Got Here: Every other chapter is a flashback to the events immediately after the first book.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Jean and Ezri.
• Human Chess: The game in Salon Corbeau.
• I Call It Vera: The Wicked Sisters
• In Medias Res: The book starts with Locke and Jean already deep into their plan to cheat their way up into Requin's office.
• More Expendable Than You: Ezri does this to Jean when he's about to go and grab the shipsbane sphere.
• More Hero Than Thou: Locke and Jean arguing over who's going to take the antidote at the end of the second book.
• Out-Gambitted: During the climax, this happens to the Priori when they try to kill Locke after he helped them getting rid of Stragos

Locke: "You amateur double-crossers. You make us professionals cringe. [...] I saw this coming about a hundred miles away."

• Pay Evil Unto Evil: The sacking of Salon Corbeau.
• Pirate: Many in the second book. Locke even pretends to be a captain for a while.
• Pirate Girl: Ezri Delmastro and Zamira Drakasha, both from Red Seas under Red Skies.
• Scary Shiny Glasses: Requin has a pair in Red Seas Under Red Skies, but they've been alchemized so they don't just reflect light, they permanently glow orange. And they fit him, too.
• Serial Escalation: Locke's thieving spree in the second book. In four hours he steals four purses, a knife, two bottles of wine, a pewter mug, a brooch, gold pins, earrings (while they were being worn), a bolt of silk, a box of sweetmeats, two loaves of bread, and the necklace of the mistress of the governor. In the governor's home. In the governor's bed. With the governor sleeping next to her! Oh, and did we mention that he did this while half drunk?
• Tempting Fate: Locke and Jean are about to sail into a storm, but Jean confidently asserts that experienced sailor Caldris will get them through it. No sooner have the words passed his lips than Caldris staggers in and dies of a heart attack.
• This Is Reality: A scene in Red Seas Under Red Skies has Locke and Jean discussing the relative merits of romantic fiction and non-fiction.

Locke: But romances aren't real, and surely never were. Doesn't that take away some of the savor?
Jean: What an interesting choice of words. 'Not real, and never were.' Could there be any more appropriate literature for men of our profession? Why are you so averse to fiction, when we've made it our meal ticket?
Locke: I live in the real world, and my methods are of the real world. They are, just as you say, a profession. A practicality, not some romantic whim.

• Traumatic Haircut: Happens to a chess piece in Salon Corbeau.
• Two-Faced: Selendri.
• Unholy Matrimony: Requin and Selendri.
• Unspoken Plan Guarantee: We never hear how Locke and Jean intend to get past Requin's vault's allegedly unsurmountable security measures. And we never hear that they weren't actually going after the vault, while their actual plan works perfectly...except that the paintings they steal turn out to be reproductions.
• You Don't Want to Catch This: Locke and Jean pretend to be what basically amounts to lepers for a little while in Red Seas Under Red Skies.