The Gentleman Bastards
#614.27 in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 3 books Status Ongoing 2006–present Reading commitment Medium Scott Lynch Last reviewed 2026-08-05
Overview
Scott Lynch's Gentleman Bastards follows the con-artist Locke Lamora and his crew across the Republic of Thieves' city-states. A confirmed 7-book plan is in progress; book 4, The Thorn of Emberlain, remains undated even in the author's most recent (2026) public statement. The series opens with The Lies of Locke Lamora (2006), following Locke and his fellow orphan-thieves, raised and trained by a Fagin-like priest-conman in the canal city of Camorr, as an elaborate heist against the city's nobility collides with a much deadlier criminal power struggle. Lynch's prose blends heist-thriller plotting, interleaved flashback chapters detailing the Bastards' training, and a Venice-inspired setting built around alchemical glass and a submerged criminal underworld. The series has continued through The Republic of Thieves (2013), with the long-delayed fourth volume remaining the most anticipated unpublished entry among the series' devoted fanbase.
Sword & sorcery · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (3 works) counts toward ranking
The Gentleman Bastards Scott Lynch
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The Lies of Locke Lamora | 2006 | 1 | core | 4.30 (359,555 ratings) |
 | Red Seas Under Red Skies | 2007 | 2 | core | 4.25 (165,804 ratings) |
 | The Republic of Thieves | 2013 | 3 | core | 4.21 (125,525 ratings) |
Author-confirmed 7-book plan (Locus Online interview, 2013: 'there will be seven books and I can't break that rule'). Book 4, The Thorn of Emberlain, remains unpublished/undated as of the author's own July 2026 interview, displayed as in-progress per Constitution Article 8, not registered as a book (no confirmed title-page facts to record) and not penalized in any future ranking.
Library / Expanded (1 work)
- Locke Lamora and the Bottled Serpent (2024) ; Published in two parts, Grimdark Magazine, Oct 2024 and Jan 2025; set during Locke's teenage years, before The Lies of Locke Lamora.
Quick answers
- How many books are in The Gentleman Bastards? The Gentleman Bastards's Core Canon is 3 books, plus 1 more in the wider Library/Expanded material.
- What is the reading order for The Gentleman Bastards? Publication order, starting with The Lies of Locke Lamora. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is The Gentleman Bastards finished? Ongoing (2006–present).
- How much reading does The Gentleman Bastards take? Medium reading commitment (estimated from 3 Core Canon books · ~1,980 pages).
- How is The Gentleman Bastards ranked? #61 in this site's official ranking, based on 650,884 reader ratings across 3 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #61?
Ranked #61 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 4.27 across 3 core books.
- Backed by 651k reader ratings.
- Remarkably consistent across the whole series: all 3 rated core books rate within 0.09 of each other.
- 0.01 behind #60, Raybearer.
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Top-tier rated · 3 books · Ongoing · 651k ratings · Ranks #61 overall
Good choice if you want a moderate-length sword-and-sorcery universe that's still ongoing, with new books still coming.
Reading order
Publication order (3 Core Canon books)
- The Lies of Locke Lamora (2006)
- Red Seas Under Red Skies (2007)
- The Republic of Thieves (2013)
Documented internal/story chronology is recorded for every Core Canon book here, and matches publication order exactly, with no divergence to show separately.
Awards (verified)
- British Fantasy Award: Sydney J. Bounds Award for Best Newcomer, 2008: won (author-level): Author-level award.
- John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, 2007: nominated (author-level): Author-level award.
- John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, 2008: nominated (author-level): Author-level award.
- World Fantasy Award (Novel), 2007: nominated: The Lies of Locke Lamora
- British Fantasy Award (August Derleth Award (Best Novel)), 2007: nominated: The Lies of Locke Lamora; Correction: an automated Wikipedia extraction wrongly reported this as a win. sfbook.com confirms the actual 2007 winner was Tim Lebbon's Dusk; Lynch's book was a nominee only.
- Locus Award (Best First Novel), 2007: finalist: The Lies of Locke Lamora; Locus reader-poll placement, ranked 2nd.
- Locus Award (Best Fantasy Novel), 2014: finalist: The Republic of Thieves; Locus reader-poll placement, ranked 3rd.
- David Gemmell Legend Award, 2014: nominated: The Republic of Thieves
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Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.27 across 650,884 ratings on 3 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: The Gentleman Bastards admitted; Core Canon accepted 2026-08-05
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
Last reviewed: 2026-08-06
Rule: New universe.