The Lies of Locke Lamora

This book was recommended to me as a good “steampunk” novel (?), which it isn't. But I'm glad for the recommendation anyway because this book was a fantastic read. From the beginning, it is an anxious page-turner; I don't want to admit how many late nights this book brought upon me (I'm a slow reader to begin with).

On the surface, this book is about Locke Lamora and his Gentlemen Bastards. Their profession is thievery. They rob the rich by developing complex schemes that should result in the victim's willful giving up of their own money. The schemes are well developed and entertaining to read as the Gentlemen Bastards perform their tricks from beginning to end (like Ocean's Eleven).

Aside from the entertaining and frankly funny schemes described in the book, my favorite parts were the lavish descriptions the author writes about the setting. I'm a huge fan of well-developed settings and characterizations, and this book had both of those. I could picture this world clearly in my head with its fantastical Elderglass and the like