The Lies of Locke Lamora

I grabbed this book after reading Scott Lynch's story "A Year and a Day In Old Theradane" from the [b:Rogues|20168816|Rogues|George R.R. Martin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1404616147s/20168816.jpg|27565413] collection. Lies is described as a bit of Ocean's Eleven and Robin Hood, or (as Nataliya put it) the love child of Ocean's Eleven and The Godfather. That's a good start, but leaves out the fantasy aspect!

The fantasy element here had a similar feel to that of Michael J. Sullivan's Riyria Revelations series. There are some interesting creatures, and some types of magic are relatively common. The camaraderie between Locke and Jean also reminded me of the Riyria books. Hadrian and Royce had a similar dynamic.

One thing I did not expect is that as the first book of a series, it manages to stand alone quite well. I want to read the next book because I love the world and the characters, not because I feel like I got conned into reading part of a great story. That's a difficult balance, and Lynch nails it.

Honestly? The last book I read that captured me this much was "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss. But, even then, Rothfuss's poetic tale didn't make me feel as much. I was caught up in its whimsy, not the brunt force of its emotions.

The last 100 pages of "The Lies of Locke Lamora" held me captive. I had no choice but to sit at the bar, ignoring all external stimulus, until I could close the paperback. I'm in love with these characters. With Locke and Jean, The Spider of Camorr, and Captain Reynart. All these people, on opposite sides of the coin, but interwoven. Lynch has written a masterful mix of epic world-building, poetic prose, and a downright magical use of the gritty and vulgar language of the street.

All characters are fully realized, even those who don't have large roles to play (so far). And those that you truly get to know? Well, you cheer at their successes, morn their losses, and feel nauseous right along with them when they have to attempt some death-defying feat just to escape from an even worse fate.

Numerous times.

This book had me all kinds of nervous. I'm lucky I have any fingernails left.

Please, if you like fantasy, if you appreciate richly developed worlds and characters, if mysterious magics and alchemy coupled with thievery and the slightest hint of piracy intrigues you, read this book!

This is the most entertaining fantasy I've read this year and probably the best from a writer new to me that I've read in years.

Locke Lamora is a scam artist. An expert con-man. He and his band of Gentleman Bastards prey on the rich in the city of Camorr (clearly styled after Venice). The stakes however soon grow higher and their plots spin out of control when they get tangled up in the schemes of the Grey King.

Lynch has a great balance between character, plot and background. The fantasy world feels solid even though very little of it is really detailed and the background we do get springs naturally from the story and while the plot starts slowly it is put to good effect in establishing the closeness of the family that the Gentleman Bastards have formed amongst themselves.

Lynch is not sentimental with his characters. They suffer and some of them die. They're also not pure heroes in any way. The nobles, the merchants and the thieves are all guilty of something. The world he creates is dangerous. Magic is deadly as is alchemy in it's own way.

I'd call this one a must read and I'm already hunting down the sequel.

I raced through this book in very little time, considering that I listened to it while working. The fact that it took me only 2 days, says something about the quality.
First the good:
The audiobook is very well narrated by Michael Page. He really voiceacts and has a good pleasant voice/accent (to my ears). His voice reminded me of Johnny Depp. It is just perfect for this book. Publishers undervalue the importance of a good voice for an audiobook, often they are low quality and boring.

The plot is nice, but not surprising.
As I said in the in between updates: the world reminds me of the book Cyrion (compilation of stories by Tanith Lee). However, Cyrion made more of an impression on me as a "brilliant" thief/conman. The tone of Lies is light and tasty. Easy to digest. Intriguing enough to want to keep reading. It got me hooked from the first 'page' (audiobook again). That's a big plus.

The character of Locke is mysterious and captivating, and we don't get to know much about him in this first book. Not enough for my taste. There are large gaps in his history. He is charming, clever and a loyal friend. The dialog between the characters is snappy and full of catching one-liners.


The bad.
Now, I'm reading a lot of rave reviews on this book here on Good Reads. It certainly is a good book, but I don't think it deserves the 4 and a bit star rating. All through the book you read how brilliant Locke is, but frankly, he isn't. The "twists" are not that clever, I don't even get a real 'con-men' feel of his crew. They are thieves, clever thieves, but nothing special. Telling readers over and over that something is very clever of even brilliant doesn't make it so. I expected to be suprised, and I unfortunately wasn't.
Maybe I'm spoiled in my taste. I'm an avid fan of the tv-series "Hustle", "Sherlock" or "Coupling". Those are tvseries, but for a plot it doesn't differ much from a book. They all do twists, mysteries or cons a lot better/more clever than this book.
The humor in the book is nice, but not the ROFL kind. More 'smile' than 'laugh'. The humor is refined, which suites me just fine.

For my books I look for a writer to live up to the Steven Erikson standard... and Scott Lynch just doesn't. Not in cleverness/plot. Not in character development.

This is not to say I didn't like the book, because i absolutely did. I will read the sequel and look forward to the forthcoming third book. It's a nice light snack for reading inbetween my heavier books. And I love it for that.

(Pardon me for my english, it's not my native language.)

Because spelling is my Waterloo, I avoided this book for the longest time, even though it was popping up everywhere, because a book about a Scottish lake seemed profoundly boring. If you have been too, thank god, because I'd hate to be the only one that dumb.

Locke Lamora is the name of our protagonist, who we follow from his start as a precociously larcenous six year-old to a masterfully larcenous adult. It's a bit like [book:Oliver Twist], if Oliver hadn't been such an obnoxiously moral little snot, a bit like [book:Illusion] by [author:Paula Volsky], without the lurking dread, and a bit like [book:Death of the Necromancer] by [author:Martha Wells] without the female characters. I found, no matter how out of control events spiralled, I remained fairly confident that Lamora would eventually come out on top.

Locke lives and fleeces his prey in a near-Venice on the border of SF and Fantasy: Camorr is built on top of and within the ruins of a city abandoned by aliens. He works at the head of a brotherhood [sic] of Gentlemen [sic] Bastards.

On which editorial sarcasm, let me expand: There is one female character who is explicitly aligned with Locke. She is Sabetha, the woman Locke loves, and who is entirely present by her absence. She is referred to as the reason that Locke doesn't seek out prostitutes, and he is much mocked for his devotion to her. However, she never makes an in-person appearance, and her conspicuous absence doesn't do a lot to deflect a homoerotic reading of Locke's friendship with Jean Tannen.

The book takes a very non-judgemental approach to Locke's larceny and occasional murder: Locke may regret or not the deaths he is responsible for, and avenge the deaths of his friends or allies, but the only real difference between any of the thefts he is subject to and thefts he perpetrates is how they affect him, and the book doesn't really pretend otherwise. Locke manages to be likable withal.

A fun read, if the by turns grim and cheerful amorality will not bother you. I would like to read the sequels when they come out.