Blogocentric Formulations

Gentleman Bastards Sequence

"Blog Harbor from The Talent Pond"  PROMPT (DAY 13): Adaptations! You're still the head of a major studio, so what piece of material (can be anything except another movie: a book, comic, TV show, toy, news article, real life true story, etc.) would you choose to have adapted into a feature motion picture? Also, which movie do you think was the absolute best adaptation of the source material (best can be either most faithful or most improved, your choice)?


Apparently I really like this prompt because I also used it four years ago during a prior Blog Harbor activity ("Sleeping In & Rifts" ), so even though I still think Rifts is a great choice and the first thing I thought of, I'm going to challenge myself to think of something new this time around. And since they just made Ready Player One, cue Scott Lynch's Gentleman Bastards Sequence.

Set in a low-magic fantasy world, the three books (The Lies of Locke Lamora, Red Seas Under Red Skies, and The Republic of Thieves are immensely entertaining books about a team/adoptive family of con artists and criminals who make their way in the world by utilizing disguises, clever schemes, and subterfuge to make a living... only to get embroiled into the much larger schemes of much more powerful people.

The books are smart, irreverent, and action-packed. I listed to all three audiobooks over the course of about two weeks (and they're not short books!) because I was constantly staying in the car an extra twenty minutes (after a two-hour commute, mind you!) just so I could finish a little more of a chapter. If you don't mind a bit of vulgar language and some mildly gross descriptions, this is actually a great book for those who are looking to venture into fantasy. It's as much a crime story as it is a fantasy one, and the magic and fantastical elements of the story are minimal rather than being pervasive. This isn't a story where everyone's running around casting spells and fighting dragons. It's mostly a funny urban crime tale that just happens to be set in a medieval-era secondary world.

Each of the three books builds upon events in the previous installment, but are also complete tales on their own. I really enjoy stories like this where, if you haven't read the earlier installments you can still enjoy the story... but if you have, you'll really appreciate the way some of the subplots and backstory are fully explored through all three installments. And, more impressively, each of the three books takes place in a different city of the world, so the reader gets the feeling like they're exploring a larger world when the second book takes them to a location that was only peripherally mentioned in the first, and the third takes them to a legendary place to fight a legendary enemy that's been built up to legendary status over the prior to volumes.

Scott Lynch, to me, went from unknown author to one of my favorite fantasy authors in just three books, leapfrogging some authors that I've been reading for years. I will read anything this guy writes from here on out, no questions asked, because of how enjoyable I found these books. If you're a fantasy-lover, or someone who's interested in giving low fantasy a try, I'd definitely check these books out... and I'd love to see these made into a movie trilogy by someone who sees the same potential in them that I do.