Kindle Euphoria

5 How Does This Series Stay Awesome? Stars 

 Synopsis -

Locke and his trusted sidekick, Jean, target the grandest prize of all: the Sinspire, the most exclusive and heavily guarded gambling house in the world. Its nine floors attract the wealthiest clientele—and to rise to the top, one must impress with good credit, amusing behavior... and excruciatingly impeccable play. For there is one cardinal rule, enforced by Requin, the house's cold-blooded master: it is death to cheat at any game at the Sinspire.

But someone in Tal Verrar has uncovered the duo's secret. Someone from their past who has every intention of making the impudent criminals pay for their sins. Now it will take every ounce of cunning to save their mercenary souls. And even that may not be enough.

Review -
   The first book about the Gentleman Bastards was about prestigious con men who lived a life of luxury and came up with elaborate scams to rid the rich of their money and it was extremely entertaining. I saw some of the reviews liken it to Ocean's 13. The first book was way better than the movie. You had Locke's back story and saw how he grew up to become such a smart man to come up with elaborate scheme's with lots of flair. He is an extremely clever character. You meet Jean in his early years and see how they both grew up into the lives of the Gentleman Bastards. You saw them lose some of the Bastards to a terrible situation involving some very powerful magical men for hire.
   In this book, it takes a completely different turn. It's crazy but they pull an even more elaborate scheme on a the Sinspire, what we'd call a casino. Yeah yeah yeah, Ocean's 13, but things get crazy when Locke and Jean are poisoned and are forced to work for a man who blackmails them into helping his career. The archon of Tal Verrar is an evil man who uses his police powers in every wrong way possible. He wants Locke and Jean to rouse some pirates on the ocean to start a war with the Archon, which I'd liken to a police chief, so that he can continue to con the ultra rich Priori to keep funding his military and his paychecks. His false war would ensure he'd have a job for the rest of his life, as the Priori want to get rid of him and his military as they see no need to continue paying for something that's unnecessary.
   Locke and Jean are on a swashbuckling pirate adventure in this book before long. They try to follow the Archon's plan to build up a ship's crew and set sail on the ocean and piss off some pirates, but nothing goes as planned. The God's of the Sea take out their vengeance on them for not adhering to strict laws of putting a ship into the ocean. Locke and Jean have to put aside their scheme of taking the Sinspire for a huge haul of cash and learn that they can't fake being a ships captain and crewman. The crew of the ship that Locke aka Kosta and Jean are on soon mutiny. Jean won't let Locke go alone so they both soon find themselves alone out in the middle of the ocean in a small boat. They weren't thrown overboard because they did after all, save the crew from prison.
   Things take a turn for the worse after a pirate ship comes and takes over the ship that Locke and Jean just vacated and picks them up as well from their small dinghy. They're all now prisoners of the pirate ship and things aren't looking good.
   Anyway, I could go on and on because there's over 500 pages of this book to be read. It would make a fantastic show or series. It's amazingly written. I was in another world as I'd read this book. I'd get lose in the world and the time, the magic, and the characters. I love this series and have already jumped into the last book of the series. I'm ready to get a jump on it, even if it does take me a long time to read. These books are to be savored and enjoyed. I'd recommend it to anyone who loves reading adventurous stories. Enjoy!