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Series · 3 books

Gentleman Bastard

Scott Lynch · read by Michael Page

They tell a story. Hardcover files every book in this run as fiction, and their readers there call them funny and adventurous. Facts, not factors: neither plays any part in our call.

Listen to it

Every book we have judged on how far the recording outruns the page: 201 of them, the page's answer at the left-hand end and the recording's at the right. Marked for scale: All the Light We Cannot See, To Kill a Mockingbird and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. This one sits in the top 21% of our shelf of books for how far the recording outruns the page. −0.40, where we start backing the page; 0.40, where we start backing the recording.Gentleman Bastard
ordinary · 0.54 clear of the line where this would stop being a listen

Michael Page’s reading is what wins it: it lands in the top 10% of our shelf of books, on 17,189 ratings of the narration, which is a lot of credit for a voice. And nothing about the book is fighting the format.

Length does not decide this

71h 16m to listen, at 1×57h 01m to listen, at 1.25×47h 31m to listen, at 1.5×40h 43m to listen, at 1.75×35h 38m to listen, at 2×about 66 hours to readabout 50 hours to readabout 40 hours to readabout 30 hours to readabout 25 hours to read

The runtime is Audible’s, 3 recordings added together, shown at the speed beside it. The reading time is our estimate: 1,980 pages in total at 30 pages an hour, the pace you told us. Ours is 50, about 300 words a page, read at 250 a minute.The runtime is Audible’s, 3 recordings added together, shown at the speed beside it. The reading time is our estimate: 1,980 pages in total at 40 pages an hour, the pace you told us. Ours is 50, about 300 words a page, read at 250 a minute.The runtime is Audible’s, 3 recordings added together, shown at the speed beside it. The reading time is our estimate: 1,980 pages in total at 50 pages an hour, which is about 300 words a page, read at 250 a minute.The runtime is Audible’s, 3 recordings added together, shown at the speed beside it. The reading time is our estimate: 1,980 pages in total at 65 pages an hour, the pace you told us. Ours is 50, about 300 words a page, read at 250 a minute.The runtime is Audible’s, 3 recordings added together, shown at the speed beside it. The reading time is our estimate: 1,980 pages in total at 80 pages an hour, the pace you told us. Ours is 50, about 300 words a page, read at 250 a minute.

Slot → commute-safe

Harder work in audio than Slaughterhouse-Five.

All the books we hold · 222

About as much work in audio as most of the books we hold.

Fiction · 176

About as much work in audio as most of the fiction we hold.

Doorstoppers · 54

About as much work in audio as most of the doorstoppers we hold.

Reading load against listening load

Every book we hold placed by how much work it asks on the page, left to right, against how much it asks in your ears, bottom to top: 222 of them. Easy both ways is the bottom left corner, hard both ways the top right; above the dashed line the ears work harder, below it the page does. Marked for scale: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, To Kill a Mockingbird and The Diary of a Young Girl. This one is in the middle 40% of our shelf of books for effort on the page and in the middle 40% of our shelf of books for effort in your ears.
The dashed line is where a book would be same effort either way. This one sits on that line (the format is not fighting you either way), between the bottom 34% and the top 23% of our shelf of books for extra work in audio.
On the page−0.01
In your ears−0.08
Audio disadvantage−0.12

Where that puts this one among the books we hold: in the middle 40% of our shelf of books on both counts (effort on the page and effort in your ears). The middle of the scale is not the middle of the shelf (most books sit below the average on both), so a book at 0.00 is already in the top 43% for effort on the page. Each of the three is measured against the whole shelf separately, so the bottom figure is not the top two subtracted. It is this book’s own distance from the middle.

What the audio disadvantage is made of. Two things and no others: how fast readers say this one moves, and how demanding the reviews we read found it. There is no third: the structural one has no data source, so it contributes nothing rather than being guessed at. Both directions are declared priors we have never fitted against a real verdict, which is the weakest-evidenced part of the whole model.

Every book we could measure both features on placed by pace, fast to slow, against how demanding the reviews we read found it, plain to demanding: 166 of them. The easiest listens are the bottom left corner and the hardest the top right, which is the shaded one. Marked for scale: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, To Kill a Mockingbird and The Diary of a Young Girl. This one reads at about the pace of most books we hold and more demanding than most, and neither is pushing it far from the middle of the shelf.
This one reads at about the pace of most books we hold and more demanding than most, and neither is pushing it far from the middle of the shelf.

How the call was made

Where a bar carries ticks, the grey one is the middle of our shelf and a coloured one is a line we publish, cool where we start backing the page, warm where we start backing the recording. The evidence squares at the foot are a different thing: how far each of our four sources went, hatched where there was nothing to measure at all.

The audio case
0.94It sits in the top 21% of our shelf of books for how far the recording outruns the page. Past the line where we start backing the recording.
Narration payoff
0.81Michael Page’s reading is better received than the book it came from: in the top 10% of our shelf of books, on 17,189 ratings of the narration. This is a difference, not a score: it sets the reading against its own book, so a much-loved book with a merely good reading sits low on this shelf even where nobody disliked either.
What is at stake
0.49It sits in the top 34% of our shelf of books for how well the print crowds think of a book: well enough regarded that a wasted first encounter costs more, so we lean towards protecting the page. Blended across 651,317 Goodreads ratings and 3,696 on Hardcover, each scored inside its own population first, and never added together.

For the page

  • The print crowds think highly of it

For the recording

  • The voice beats the book
  • Audio is neither helping nor fighting this one
  • 17,189 listeners behind it

So the case for the recording won it.

A bigger dot counted for more: the voice and the ear are sized by their share of the sum above, the other two by how much stands behind them. A hatched square is a reason that did not apply here, which is not the same as one that counted for little.

Evidence
1.00How much of the picture we actually have, out of 1.00: four questions, each answered as far as the source could answer it, less anything taken off for reading fewer reviews than we aim to.The reading17,189 people have rated this reading: as good as it getsThe second sourceHardcover knows this book, with 3,696 readers there: as good as it getsThe matchHow sure we are that the recording we scored is this book: as good as it getsThe reviewsWe read 900 reviews to judge how demanding it is: as good as it gets

What each crowd complains about

In the reviews we read, how often readers brought it up and how often listeners did, each against what is usual for that same crowd across our whole shelf, which is the grey tick. The track stops at 4×. Listeners are only ever compared with listeners.

Readers of this book bring up the pace about 1.7 times as often as readers usually do, while listeners of it bring it up about as often as listeners usually do.

The books in it

Showing the stars as each shop prints them. The two crowds are not measured from the same place: on our shelf Audible’s listeners average 0.35 of a star above Goodreads’ readers, so a recording that is ordinary for Audible can still out-star a book that is genuinely well liked for Goodreads. Switch the toggle to take that difference off.Showing each figure as its distance from its own crowd’s middle on our shelf, in standard deviations, so 0 is a typical book for that crowd. Listeners start 0.35 of a star up, partly because anyone who finishes a twenty-five-hour recording chose it deliberately, and this takes that off. It is not a claim that audio is better, the story figure is still Audible’s own (people rating a story they heard), and none of it moves the verdict above.

One row per book: who reads it, how long it runs, then Audible’s listeners on the story and Goodreads’ readers on the book.

The Lies of Locke Lamora
Michael Page21h 59m17h 35m14h 39m12h 34m11h 00mAudible 4.64+0.43Goodreads 4.30+0.53
4.65·Audible
overallAudible
overall, pooled by the shop, so we hold no ruler for it
75%5 stars: 75 per cent, 6,858 ratings
19%4 stars: 19 per cent, 1,727 ratings
4%3 stars: 4 per cent, 396 ratings
1%2 stars: 1 per cent, 118 ratings
1%1 stars: 1 per cent, 75 ratings

9,174 ratings · performance and story, as the shop pools them

4.73+0.45 sdAudible
the performanceAudible
the performance, against Audible’s own crowd
79%5 stars: 79 per cent, 6,467 ratings
16%4 stars: 16 per cent, 1,281 ratings
4%3 stars: 4 per cent, 293 ratings
1%2 stars: 1 per cent, 64 ratings
1%1 stars: 1 per cent, 41 ratings

How often this goes badly1.3% of the people who rated the performance gave it one or two stars. About typical for the shelf. The middle of our shelf is 2.0%, and half of it falls between 1.0% and 3.1%.

105 of 8,146 listeners gave the performance one or two stars

The shape of the room

  • United, this one
  • Warm
  • Split
  • Lukewarm

A united room: 79% of the listeners gave the performance five stars. A room that agrees this far leaves little to gamble on.

8,146 ratings

4.64+0.43 sdAudible
the story, as heardAudible
the story, as heard, against Audible’s own crowd
74%5 stars: 74 per cent, 5,980 ratings
20%4 stars: 20 per cent, 1,599 ratings
5%3 stars: 5 per cent, 393 ratings
1%2 stars: 1 per cent, 87 ratings
1%1 stars: 1 per cent, 62 ratings

8,121 ratings

4.30+0.53 sdGoodreads
the book itselfGoodreads
the book itself, against Goodreads’ own crowd
52%5 stars: 52 per cent, 188,090 ratings
32%4 stars: 32 per cent, 115,216 ratings
11%3 stars: 11 per cent, 39,015 ratings
3%2 stars: 3 per cent, 11,322 ratings
2%1 stars: 2 per cent, 6,201 ratings

359,844 ratings

Red Seas Under Red Skies
Michael Page25h 34m20h 27m17h 03m14h 37m12h 47mAudible 4.52−0.06Goodreads 4.25+0.30
4.60·Audible
overallAudible
overall, pooled by the shop, so we hold no ruler for it
68%5 stars: 68 per cent, 3,648 ratings
26%4 stars: 26 per cent, 1,401 ratings
5%3 stars: 5 per cent, 292 ratings
1%2 stars: 1 per cent, 37 ratings
0%1 stars: 0 per cent, 10 ratings

5,388 ratings · performance and story, as the shop pools them

4.79+0.71 sdAudible
the performanceAudible
the performance, against Audible’s own crowd
82%5 stars: 82 per cent, 3,891 ratings
15%4 stars: 15 per cent, 719 ratings
2%3 stars: 2 per cent, 111 ratings
0%2 stars: 0 per cent, 13 ratings
0%1 stars: 0 per cent, 5 ratings

How often this goes badly0.4% of the people who rated the performance gave it one or two stars. Fewer than most recordings here. The middle of our shelf is 2.0%, and half of it falls between 1.0% and 3.1%.

18 of 4,739 listeners gave the performance one or two stars

The shape of the room

  • United, this one
  • Warm
  • Split
  • Lukewarm

A united room: 82% of the listeners gave the performance five stars. A room that agrees this far leaves little to gamble on.

4,739 ratings

4.52−0.06 sdAudible
the story, as heardAudible
the story, as heard, against Audible’s own crowd
63%5 stars: 63 per cent, 2,978 ratings
28%4 stars: 28 per cent, 1,312 ratings
8%3 stars: 8 per cent, 375 ratings
1%2 stars: 1 per cent, 48 ratings
0%1 stars: 0 per cent, 15 ratings

4,728 ratings

4.25+0.30 sdGoodreads
the book itselfGoodreads
the book itself, against Goodreads’ own crowd
43%5 stars: 43 per cent, 72,008 ratings
41%4 stars: 41 per cent, 67,902 ratings
13%3 stars: 13 per cent, 21,667 ratings
2%2 stars: 2 per cent, 3,419 ratings
1%1 stars: 1 per cent, 889 ratings

165,885 ratings

The Republic of Thieves
Michael Page23h 43m18h 58m15h 49m13h 33m11h 52mAudible 4.42−0.46Goodreads 4.21+0.13
4.55·Audible
overallAudible
overall, pooled by the shop, so we hold no ruler for it
65%5 stars: 65 per cent, 3,107 ratings
26%4 stars: 26 per cent, 1,218 ratings
7%3 stars: 7 per cent, 356 ratings
1%2 stars: 1 per cent, 51 ratings
0%1 stars: 0 per cent, 19 ratings

4,751 ratings · performance and story, as the shop pools them

4.79+0.72 sdAudible
the performanceAudible
the performance, against Audible’s own crowd
83%5 stars: 83 per cent, 3,601 ratings
14%4 stars: 14 per cent, 604 ratings
3%3 stars: 3 per cent, 109 ratings
0%2 stars: 0 per cent, 18 ratings
0%1 stars: 0 per cent, 8 ratings

How often this goes badly0.6% of the people who rated the performance gave it one or two stars. Fewer than most recordings here. The middle of our shelf is 2.0%, and half of it falls between 1.0% and 3.1%.

26 of 4,340 listeners gave the performance one or two stars

The shape of the room

  • United, this one
  • Warm
  • Split
  • Lukewarm

A united room: 83% of the listeners gave the performance five stars. A room that agrees this far leaves little to gamble on.

4,340 ratings

4.42−0.46 sdAudible
the story, as heardAudible
the story, as heard, against Audible’s own crowd
59%5 stars: 59 per cent, 2,558 ratings
28%4 stars: 28 per cent, 1,210 ratings
10%3 stars: 10 per cent, 447 ratings
2%2 stars: 2 per cent, 93 ratings
1%1 stars: 1 per cent, 33 ratings

4,341 ratings

4.21+0.13 sdGoodreads
the book itselfGoodreads
the book itself, against Goodreads’ own crowd
42%5 stars: 42 per cent, 53,177 ratings
40%4 stars: 40 per cent, 50,237 ratings
15%3 stars: 15 per cent, 18,325 ratings
2%2 stars: 2 per cent, 3,126 ratings
1%1 stars: 1 per cent, 723 ratings

125,588 ratings

The verdict is for the series as one commitment (71h 16m57h 01m47h 31m40h 43m35h 38m of it), because that is the decision you are actually making.

The series

Gentleman Bastard

Finished · One voice throughout

7 books numbered on Goodreads’ list, with 1 novella or companion filed between them. The last one came out in 2013 and Goodreads lists nothing further. Five quiet years is where we start using that word.

Michael Page reads all of the 3 volumes Audible names in our records.

From Goodreads’ own series index, checked on 11 September 2026.

Every reading we hold

One complete reading of The Lies of Locke Lamora, and it is the reading the call above leans on. If there is another, we have not found it. The shelf grows in reviewed batches, never because somebody searched for a book.

  • Michael Pageour pick21h 59m17h 35m14h 39m12h 34m11h 00m · One voice · Audible UK and US
    • The same voice all through

    Performance 4.73 · Story 4.64 · 8,121 rated the reading · 1.3% of the people who rated the performance gave it one or two stars

    Hear it · Audible’s clip, its length read from them on load

The recording we mean · The Lies of Locke Lamora

Runtime
21h 59m at 1×
Read by
Michael Page
Kind
One voice
ASIN
B004K4EMHE · Audible UK
Rated in
Audible UK and US · 6,175 + 1,971 ratings of the performance
Judged on
17,189 ratings of the narration
Published
Gollancz · 2011

Audible sorts a search by newest, so ours may not be the first one you are offered. The runtime is the check: if the one in front of you says 21h 59m, that is the reading these numbers describe. “Judged on” is the crowd behind every judgement we make about this reading: the smaller of the performance and story counts, which is why it is a little under the two shop counts added. We do not link out to a shop, and we take nothing if you buy there.