Fedora Heavy Industries

Really excellent, probably some of the best food writing I’ve run into in a while. Dispels a lot of myths and is chock full of memorable people and good information. Highly recommended

And, dammit, now I need to find some Valrhona.

Author: Scott Lynch

I picked this book up on the recommendation of the SF Site Reader’s Choice poll and wasn’t disappointed. The action takes place in the vaguely-Italianate city of Camorr; the world that surrounds it is not particularly fleshed out (it doesn’t need to be), but is haunted by the indestructible, diamond-like towers and artifacts of a vanished race.

Our titular hero is a thief-priest, raised in the service of the god of thieves to be a thorn in the side of the aristocracy. Together with his compatriots, the Gentleman Bastards, Locke has already pulled off several successful swindles to the tune of tens of thousands of crowns and is now prepared for the biggest con of his life. When, naturally, matters are complicated by the ducal secret police, warring crime lords, and a representative of a magocracy that has reduced entire kingdoms to ashes…

The story pulls off a pretty good tightrope-walk: it has what I’d call “cinematic” action, but without going over the line into ludicrousness. The characters are all a little bit larger than life, but they aren’t invincible heroes—some of the scenes will really make you feel the pain. The episodic nature of the book (each chapter is followed by an “interlude” regarding Locke or the other GBs’ training, or some crunchy bits regarding the world) almost gives it a movie-serial feel, with frequent cliffhangers and “how’s he going to get out of this one?” moments. It kept me turning pages—I read it straight through in one session, stayed up until 3:30 AM, and was in a rotten mood for work the next morning. Not bad at all, and I’ll definitely be picking up the next one (Red Seas under Red Skies) when it hits later this year.