Though overshadowed by delays from Patrick Rothfuss and George R.R. Martin, Scott Lynch’s The Republic of Thieves, the third volume in The Gentleman Bastard Sequence, has fallen off the radar as of late, but remains no less anticipated because of it.
Recently, though, Lynch has returned to the world of the, erm… living and has been seen posting on twitter and, more importantly, has released an excerpt from The Republic of Thieves on his web site!
You asked politely. You asked impolitely. You sent death threats. You hired mercenaries. Well, they made their point very clear! Enjoy the prologue to The Republic of Thieves, and lay eyes on Sabetha Belacoros for the very first time.
Now, don’t go getting your panties in a twist. It’s obviously a good sign that Lynch and his publisher are comfortable releasing this excerpt, but don’t forget that both Martin and Rothfuss have had excerpts from their respective novels out there for years. The only official word is that it looks like a 2010 date is likely.
In other words, don’t take this as any sort of confirmation that the novel is done, or soon to be released, but do go ahead and enjoy reading it!
You can download an RTF HERE or a PDF (that I created) HERE.
According to his editor Anne Groell at Comic Con, Scott was only two weeks away from delivering the book to her. It has been a month since I saw Anne, so there is a strong possibility she has the book and is editing it/ripping it to shreds. :)
It wouldn’t surprise me to hear some kind of release date within the next month or so. We’ll see.
I loved The Lies of Locke Lamora. I’m about to go on Jury Duty, and I’m taking Red Seas Under Red Skies with me.
Anne Groell is my editor, too. No doubt when I’m done I’ll be asking her what the deal is on RoT.
Peat – If you get any dirt, be sure to let me know. I’m eager as anybody to find news on The Republic of Thieves.
I’m curious to see what you think of Red Seas Under Red Skies. I’m of the mind that it’s a big step down from Scott’s first novel, but still decently entertaining.
Yeah, I read that too, but these things are subjective, so who knows?
First I need to finish The Steel Remains, which I’ve been stratching at for months. Next up is either Red Seas or Ender’s Game, and then probably Warbreaker.
I’ve still got to get to The Steel Remains, but for some reason it’s just fallen down my reading list. I really loved Altered Carbon, though.
I’m in the middle of The Well of Ascension by Sanderson, and if it’s any indication, I expect Warbreaker will be right up your alley. Sanderson reminds me a lot of first discovering Feist and Brooks.
Ender’s Game is one of my all time favourite novels (even if Card is a dick), and I can’t recommend it enough.
Regardless of which direction you go, you’ve got some great reading ahead of you!
Ender’s Game is half the size of Red Seas, so maybe I’ll hit that first. I have all the Mistborn books and want to read them, but I don’t have the time to commit to a trilogy at the moment.
Brandon Sanderson and I are at the same literary agency. We had a friendly rivalry, but he just writes too damn fast for me to keep up. I think when our careers are over I will have written like 10 books and he’ll have written 100.
His proliferation is absurd. How he manages to have any sort of life away from the computer, I’ll never know. I hope for his sake, once the WOT books are done, he slows down a bit and takes some times for himself. He’s an admirable dude.
As for Mistborn, I didn’t think I had the time for a trilogy… but then one night I was looking for a new book, kept looking at The Final Empire and putting it off because I didn’t want to commit. Then I realized that in the next month or two, I’ll read 3-4 books anyway, so what does it matter if it’s a trilogy or a bunch of standalones. I haven’t regretted that decision.
Still, Ender’s Game is brilliant, short and a blazingly fast read. You’ll be done it in a couple of days, then can move onto Lynch.