The Lies of Locke Lamora

Executive Summary: While it didn't completely suck me in from the beginning, it was pretty close. This one is hard to put down and whole lot of fun.

Full Review
This book has a whole lot of influences mixed together in a way that is impressive: Part Ocean's Eleven, Part Godfather and Part Fantasy.

The back cover totes Part Robin Hood, but since I didn't see the Gentleman Bastards giving any of their stolen loot to the poor, I don't really agree with that one. They DO have a Robin Hood reputation in the book, even if it's untrue.

Mr. Lynch paints a gorgeous world that could be a whole separate series of it's own. They city is full of amazing buildings from some long dead society and the current people are just living in it now.

We meet young Locke Lamora at the age of 5, and already he's trouble. Stealing from guards and breaking all the rules of the “Silent Peace” that has been established between Capa Barvosi (the Godfather) and the Nobility.

I really love the structure of this book. That's not something I usually comment on in my reviews, but it's really worth bringing up here. There is a fairly beefy prologue set in the past where we get a little background on our protagonist. Then in chapter 1 we are in present day with an adult version of Locke and his Gentleman Bastard friends.

It then alternates with Interludes flashing back to the past and filling in details about Locke and his friends lives. The interludes get short and eventually skipped in some places as the present day story really gets going.

It was well executed. I didn't find myself grumbling when an interlude came up interrupting the main story. It always added something important, and I liked how they got shorter as the book went on.

The characters are really great. Locke and Jean are probably the most developed, but the supporting characters are all interesting and feel to have depth. I'd really love to get more details on his master and founder of the Gentleman Bastards, Chains. He seems to have lived an interesting life, and what we did of his past left me wanting more.

It is once again another series where it seems like the Mages are assholes. That's probably more realistic. If you could do magic and were more powerful than most people, would you really be as benevolent as Gandalf? I think most people would end up like Saruman instead, and in this series we have a whole guild full of them.

The rules of the magic seem non-existent. It's hard to know just what a Mage is capable of, but it's pretty damn impressive, and scary. These are not people you want to mess with.

I've marked this as grimdark, but while there are some truly awful things in it, it's not as dark as some of the other stuff I've been reading. It's more of an adventure/caper story than anything else.

I finished the book a day earlier than I had planned, and if I hadn't been so busy last weekend, I might have finished it even sooner. This book grabbed me early on and never let go. I can't wait to see what Locke gets up to in the next book.

The young little liar was really quite interesting. Sadly, the book isn't about him. Instead, it stars the vaguely clever adult Locke being neither smart nor capable, instead relying on a suicidal stubborn streak. Which would have still been fine if the story hadn't persisted in telling what was coming before it came. And at that point, I think I still would have been happy if some of the world's mysteries had been addressed. But they weren't.

Outstanding. Just outstanding. Fun. Gripping. Suspenseful. Awe inspiring. Other adjectives that if I was 1/24th as good as Lynch I could fill this space with.

The world he's created alone deserves 4-5 stars – so wonderfully constructed, so intricate, so original. Lynch does in this one volume what it's taken Martin 5 to create.

The characters? I'm not even going to try to describe how great these guys are.

Clearly, words are failing me. This is just too good to not read.

Locke Lamora is a somewhat mysterious character. You get glimpses into his childhood that help you understand parts of his motivation, but you never get to see the whole of Locke Lamora. The author admits to this freely as he plans on this being a 7 part series. I must say I look forward to reading it! Locke Lamora lives in the city of Camoor

Just ok, can't say I'd recommend it but wouldn't shoot it down either.

This book was just okay. I did not like it enough to be interested in the other books in the series. The main character was just not that likable.

Edit added 6/26/2020: Recently it???s come to light that Scott Lynch is a serial emotional abuser and manipulator. I did not know that at the time I wrote this since I don???t move in the same spaces as his victims, but I???m leaving this note here now to say that, despite my high praise of this novel, I absolutely do not condone his behavior at any point in time, whether I was aware of it or not. Any of his books that I now have will not be reviewed on this blog. Review of any of his future work will depend upon whether he has demonstrated any actual, genuine change in his behavior going forward.

It is not very often that I find myself in the position I'm currently in: rabidly, insanely delighted to levels that would terrify any sane person. I want nothing more than to shriek and squeal and jump around in delight. I want to pull a Lottie La Bouff from Disney's The Princess and the Frog when she is at her most pleased. Those who have known me since college have likely seen me do something similar (though significantly restrained for the sake of propriety in public) often enough when I was younger, but I've had very little reason to do so in the last few years.

Until now.

Books rarely turn me into a squealing fangirl. Well, they used to, with some frequency at that, but it appeared I had sobered up significantly since I turned a quarter of a century. This might partly be maturity, though I mostly attribute it to the fact that I am taking up my masters', and am trying to set up a book review website, as well. Since my undergraduate years the need for distance and objectivity have been drilled into me, and it is something I try to maintain even in the book reviews I write, even though they are personal expressions of opinion and so need not be entirely academic.

Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora, the first book in a series titled The Gentlemen Bastards, shattered all of that. Most books that I enjoy press a small set of buttons but miss others: I like the characters, but feel so-so about the setting. I like the world, but the plotline is a bit wobbly for my tastes. I like the plot, but the characters do not necessarily fit a particular trope that I enjoy. This does not mean, of course, that do not like the book in question; it simply doesn't make me want to jump around like I've eaten too much sugar, or write a review with a lot of italics for emphasis.

The Lies of Locke Lamora however, has done something only a very small handful of books have done in the past few years: it pressed all my buttons, at the same time.

First: the setting. I adore the Renaissance, as I have mentioned several times before in previous reviews, and enjoy it thoroughly in historical novels. However, when the Renaissance is used as an analogue for a fantasy world, as opposed to the usual Medieval period, then my enthusiasm goes right through the roof. Fantasy novels set in Renaissance-analogues are so rare that it almost hurts; the last one I read was Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay, and that, while I enjoyed it enough, I did not particularly care for. As a matter of fact, I thought The Lions of Al-Rassan was a better read, and that one is set in an analogue of Medieval Spain during the Reconquista.

Camorr, the main setting of the novel, is an analogue of 16th-century Venice. While I have a deep, abiding bias towards Florence, I will admit that Renaissance Venice is an equally appealing prospect as a setting. Although the surface similarities between Venice and Camorr are obvious, it is the feel of Camorrian culture that really brings the similarity to life. The Renaissance, as a period in history, had its own particular vibrancy, an energy of creativity and mischief that does not seem prevalent in the Medieval period, and so seems absent in fantasies that are set in worlds that are Medieval-analogues.

Camorr, however, cannot be considered a carbon-copy of Venice itself. The culture of Camorr, while similar in some respects, is entirely its own. The way corruption is treated in Camorr, for instance, is interesting, and very Camorrian, but not necessarily Venetian. The culture of thieves and whores and gangs, the “Right People of Camorr,” as they're called in the novel, is again very Camorrian and not Venetian. While something like the Shifting Revel of Camorr could conceivably have existed in historical Venice, the type of entertainments in the Camorrian version would probably shock even the most debauched Venetian. Thus, in reading the novel, the reader will recognize much, but discover much, much more.

Once, when I was younger, I liked my heroes to be appropriately heroic: noble, self-sacrificing, and just out-and-out good. Nowadays, however, I find myself inexorably drawn, and favoring, rogues: characters who are not necessarily noble or self-sacrificing, and whose morals might be more than a little skewed. Wit and cleverness are always appreciated - the sharper, the better. Ingenuity is vital, because that is what rogues are known for: the ability to use their brains and their wits more than their physical strength to get what they want.

In Locke Lamora, not only is the titular character an excellent example of the above, but he is also surrounded by people who are just like that, to varying degrees. Take Father Chains, the Gentlemen Bastards' mentor. He educates his wards, including Locke, in the art of the con, and in the art of “false-facing:” pretending to be something one is not in order to better carry out a scheme. He is extremely intelligent, cautious, and a meticulous planner - nothing is ever for nothing when it comes to anything Chains does. He teaches the Gentlemen Bastards to become the best con-men, the best deceivers in Camorr. Locke is his star pupil, though even said star pupil is not without problems of his own - in the interlude chapter titled “Minor Prophecy,” Chains predicts that Locke's cleverness will one day get him into such deep trouble that he will be unable to get himself out of it. Locke, only fourteen in that interlude, scoffs and says that will never happen. Unfortunately, at this point the reader is already aware that Chains's prophecy has become all too true.

And now that I speak of Locke, I think it is only right that I talk about him, as well. Locke Lamora is everything I enjoy about rogues: witty, too clever for his own good, and (in the first book, at least) really rather shallow. Some readers have actually found fault in this, but I think that Locke is just right the way he is: a shallow, self-serving bastard, his only redeeming quality being his extreme loyalty to his fellow Gentlemen Bastards. This comes as no surprise: Locke really has not experienced true, genuine tragedy up until the events of Locke Lamora, and so can afford to be the shallow rogue that he is. Of course, later events will change things for him in a very big way.

It helps to keep in mind that Lynch plans to write a seven-book sequence of novels, and that Locke Lamora is only Book One in that seven-book series. It is quite obvious that Lynch is taking his time with character development for Locke, who will, in all likelihood, grow more complex even as he commits mistakes and loses people along the way. By Book Seven, I expect he'll be quite an interesting, well-rounded character.

While it helps that Locke is an enjoyable character on his own, the other supporting characters are equally great fun as well. Jean Tannen, Locke's best friend and the muscle to his brains, has a special place in my heart. When he first comes into Chains' care it is obvious that he doesn't quite have the same aptitude for crime as Locke, nor does he have the same easy confidence and good looks as the Sanza Brothers. He does, however, have a great deal of physical strength, the math skills of a merchant, and - maybe most importantly - a great deal of common sense. Jean's role is not only to act as muscle for the Gentlemen Bastards, but as the Voice of Reason: a role that is in itself both difficult and necessary, given the way Locke is at the start of the novel.

And then there are the women. Though the central characters of Locke Lamora are men, there are quite a few females who play significant roles. Chief of them definitely has to be the mysterious Sabetha, one of Chains's original proteges even before Locke came into his care - and who, it is stated very clearly early on in the novel, is Locke's one true love. She is never seen in the novel, not even in the flashbacks, and is only ever mentioned in passing. This makes her even more intriguing, especially as the reader gets to know Locke and the rest of the Gentlemen Bastards better.

Aside from Sabetha, there are other, more visible female characters, all of whom are just as intriguing and fascinating and strong as the male characters. Nazca Barsavi, for instance, is initially introduced as the spoiled daughter of Capa Barsavi, and famous for her iron-shod shoes. As a grown-up, however, she is not just a spoiled daughter, but a capable and intelligent young woman with a good head on her shoulders. It is made known that, although she has a pair of older brothers, her father wants her to be his heir. It is implied that she is more sensible than her brothers, and thus is the best choice to take Capa Barsavi's place as leader of the Right People of Camorr.

There are also Dona Sofia Salvara and Dona Vorchenza - the former a minor noble notable for her skills in alchemy, and the latter being something much, much more, than just Camorr's resident gossip-monger to the rich and noble. Though they are a wife and a widow (or spinster, I'm not entirely sure), respectively, they both wield significant power in their own right: Dona Salvara's reputation as an alchemist is entirely separate from her status as a wife (in fact it is implied it was her husband who was lucky to have married her, not the other way around), and Dona Vorchenza's true role in Camorran politics might be considered one of the most important.

One other thing - perhaps the thing - that I loved most about this novel was the dialogue and narration. Everyone seems to have their own ready supply of wit, and even the narrative comes off as very witty, and quite funny as well. There is never a dull moment in this book, whether it is the Gentlemen Bastards ragging on each other, or the narrator describing some district or custom of Camorr. Locke and his closest friend and accomplice Jean Tannen have their own unique voices, though Father Chains is especially delightful. Be warned, however, that there is a great deal of swearing in this novel - not even made-up swearing, but actual, honest-to-goodness real-world four-letter-words, and they are used with remarkable frequency. Some readers have found this to be jarring, since the swear-words used tend to clash with the somewhat “higher” language used elsewhere, but I do not find the swear-words jarring at all. In fact, they have been used well, if rather copiously, and there are times when the swearing can get rather, dare I say it, poetic. It takes reading the book to understand what I mean, but the quote below should illustrate my point well enough:

“Someday, Locke Lamora,” he [Father Chains] said, “someday you're going to fuck up so magnificently, so ambitiously, so overwhelmingly that the sky will light up and the moons will spin and the gods themselves will shit comets with glee. And I just hope I'm still around to see it.”

Needless to say, readers adverse to swearing might want to skip this book entirely, but I do hope said readers will at least attempt to cringe their way through the book, because despite all the swearing, it really is a very well-told story.

Overall, The Lies of Locke Lamora is a fantastic read - though I suppose this is already expected, given what I said at the beginning of this review. There is honestly very little that I found negative in this book, except maybe that it ends on a right and proper cliffhanger and I cannot get my hands on the second book soon enough. Of course, that flaw needs to be taken as a recommendation, because for readers who love rogues, and who love their rogues witty and far too intelligent and maybe potty-mouthed, then this is absolute perfection, and they shall be squirming in their seats to read the next book.

Not my kind of book I guess. Got lost somewhere at the start itself. Its rated highly so I guess its just the world that it is set in that does not interest me.

Loved it. I'll admit it took me awhile to get familiar with the world. Moreso than usual with fantasy novels, which always take some getting used to. And it took awhile to make clear that this was not a spires and wizards tale a la T.H. White. In fact that's one of the things that endeared me to it in the end. Without going dark, it played as a believable telling of ruffians in an ancient world of magic. I love Joe Abercrombie and Patrick Rothfuss, and because of them I don't need another dark gritty world. Lynch has made a world that's realistic and I suppose gritty enough, without relying on that all the time. The fight between Locke and the bad guy at the end (avoiding spoilers) is damned dark, sure, but that's not the continuous tone. I like the hinted at past of the elders and their glass. I like the fact that there's gods-d,Ned magic that isn't scinc, yet there's alchemy that is, with a bit of magic thrown in. And I love the pantheon of the thirteen née twelve new thirteen. Crooked Warden, but I ended up loving this book. When Locke is crying “I just have to hold you until Jean gets here” near the end I had gods-damned tears in my eyes, I did. And the cons within cons never end. I liked Sawyer in “Lost” too. We named our dog after him. And Locke is in the same vein. Well done Mr. Lynch. On to the Red Seas for me.

I had seen descriptions of this novel as being Oceans 11 meets A Game of Thrones, and that fits very well to the first half or so. It almost becomes an organized crime story in the later parts.

This book has tons of action. Almost non-stop, the slower parts are few and far between. It also jumps back and forth in time a bit, telling back story at breaks in the action. I enjoyed those parts, the back story bits typically filled in info on what was about to happen in the main story line. A non-chronological timeline isn't an easy thing to pull off in a novel, and I felt Scott Lynch did a fantastic job.

I tend to enjoy novels in general, so my ratings skew high, but this book was a ton of fun, and well deserving of my 5 star rating. I look forward to reading future books in this series.

One of the books that I consider to be top-tier is the recent sensation, The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss. This book, The Lies of Locke Lamora, was published a year before The Name of the Wind and the two are, in my opinion, equals.

Both are typical, in that they weave the story of a charismatic (flawed genius) hero. What sets both apart from a sea of similar books is the quality of the writing, and how engaging the story is. The Lies of Locke Lamora is a much grittier tale than The Name of the Wind, but it also had me laughing out loud a lot more often than when I read the latter.

What attracted me to The Lies of Locke Lamora, at first, was a review which mentioned it as being “Ocean's Eleven in the middle ages”, and I think that that's about as good a single-phrase description can get. So if you liked Ocean's Eleven, and you liked The Name of the Wind (how can you not?!), then pick this one up, A.S.A.P.

Un fantasy assolutamente fuori dal comune, una ventata d'aria fresca in un genere letterario che troppe volte sforna fotocopie a ripetizione.

Questo è il primo pensiero che viene in mente leggendo questo libro, che è prima di tutto originale, soprattutto la trama, molto ben congegnata e per i personaggi che sono insoliti per un fantasy, che si discosta molto dagli stereotipi comuni a questo genere.

Menzione particolare anche per i dialoghi: briosi, a volte scurrili e mai banali, ben descritte anche le parti dedicati ai combattimenti. Altro fatto che fa di questo libro un'eccezione nel genere per lo più dominato da buone azioni contro il cattivo di turno e una “violenza” volta al bene. Un fantasy, che sembra una grossa truffa dei giorni nostri, ma ambientata in un mondo inventato.

Anche l'ambientazione, sebbene il mondo dove si svolge la vicenda richiama in qualche modo un mondo di stampo medievale (dunque non proprio aria fresca), con gilde, nobili, dei, commercianti e la città principale Camorr suddivisa come una tipica città stato delle signorie di un tempo, vengono inseriti parecchi spunti affascinanti e insoliti: il vetrantico per esempio, enormi strutture lasciate dagli “avi” di un materiale che all'avvento della sera si illuminano, o alla conformazione della cittadina, che sembra una Venezia ingigantita, ma cupa, nebbiosa e tenebrosa; dove i mercati vengono svolti sull'acqua su enormi chiatte mobili e il tempo è caratterizzato di giorno dal Vento fresco che viene dal Mar di Ferro e la sera dal Vento del Boia, che porta afa e il tanfo dei campi e delle paludi, ma tutti e due smuovono i cadaveri appesi davanti al Palazzo della Pazienza o fanno muovere le gabbie del Corvo dove i prigionieri vengono appesi per espiare le proprie colpe.

Anche i personaggi sono ben caratterizzati e anche qui originali, soprattutto ovviamente Locke Lamora, orfano truffatore iniziato al culto del Tredicesimo Ingannatore: in questo caso le figure protagoniste sono i “cattivi”, anche se non lo sono fino in fondo e in ogni caso vengono contrapposte a figure ancora più cattive e alla fine il buonismo fantasy non manca, ma per lo meno non annoia mai e non sembra di leggere la solita fiaba a lieto fine.

Consigliato a chi ha voglia di sperimentare un genere un po' diverso e respirare una boccata d'aria nuova.

I wrote a full review at SFF Book Review.

I am currently reading book 2 in the series (and hoping very much for book 3 to come out next year) which reminded me that this is one of my favorite fantasy books ever and I haven't officially squeed about it.

The characters drew me in immediately and I cound't get enough of the dialogue. It was sooo good. There's swearing, there are allusions to sex, there are moments when people vomit for an entire night and Scott Lynch makes it hilarious and thrilling at the same time. Do you really need to hear more than fantasy con men?

Personally, I can not get enough of Scott Lynch's writing and if the next book doesn't come out in 2013, I'll be more than happy to re-read the first two. This is what makes fantasy great. Authors coming up with new things, mixing tropes and original ideas.
If you like fantasy and you haven't read this book, pick it up now.

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

I was in the mood for another fantasy and this one was rated favorably... It tells the tale of a thief named Locke Lamora and his small gang of Gentlemen Bastards in the canal-ridden city of Camorr. Locke has another grand scheme in motion to divest some visiting nobles of half their fortune when things begin to get more complicated and dangerous. It's sort of a cross between Robin Hood and Ocean's Eleven with a dash of sorcery mixed in. Locke and his gang are interesting characters and the various other players in the story are equally of interest. There are spies, swordsmen, numerous crooks, and con men everywhere in this story. It's also interspersed with flashbacks of Locke's upbringing. At 752 pages it's fairly lengthy but moves briskly. I found the denouement to be particularly exciting and I was entertained throughout.

Full review here: http://fantasycafe.blogspot.com/2007/05/lies-of-locke-lamora.html

I finally got around to reading The Lies of Locke Lamora after hearing a lot of good things about this debut novel by Scott Lynch. At first, I was afraid it wasn't going to live up to all the good things I had heard about it since I found it a little hard to get into in the beginning, but I ended up absolutely loving this book.

This is definitely not a book to read if you are looking to read something thought-provoking and insightful. However, it is something to read if you are looking for something entertaining. It's a very dialogue heavy book, and a lot of the dialogue is clever and witty. Toward the beginning of the book, I thought it seemed like the dialogue was a bit forced and the author was trying too hard to make it seem clever, but it got better as the book went on.

One thing that some may find annoying is that the entire book switches back and forth between the past and the present. It isn't confusing since the past parts are referred to as interludes (with the exception of the prologue, which goes between the past and further past without as much warning as to when it's changed times). After the prologue, it smoothed out and I ended up enjoying the brief looks into the past.

The characters are wonderful. If you're tired of goody-two-shoes characters who can do no wrong, this might be the book for you. The main character Locke Lamora is a priest of the Benefactor, a god of thievery, and a master of disguise. He and his friends in the priesthood are con men who make schemes to take some money of the hands of the rich noblemen in the city of Camorr, which seems to be modeled after an Italian city. Locke isn't really an evil character, but he's certainly not good either. If you're familiar with D&D alignments, I'd call him some sort of neutral (but definitely not lawful neutral). Also, he's actually a fantasy book main character who is not good at fighting at all - he's much better at using his brain. (And, just to be clear, he's not a mage of any sort either - just a clever rogue.)

I could not put this book down, and I thought it was a fairly unique fantasy book. It did have it's flaws early on and it's not what I'd call a masterpiece of literature, but I had so much fun with it and found it different enough from normal fantasy literature that I have to give it a pretty good score. It was the most entertaining book I'd read in quite a while.