Synopsis:
An orphan’s life is harsh—and often short—in the mysterious island city of Camorr. But young Locke Lamora dodges relentless danger, becoming a thief under the tutelage of a gifted con artist. As leader of the band of light-fingered brothers known as the Gentlemen Bastards, Locke is soon infamous, fooling even the underworld’s most feared ruler. But in the shadows lurks someone still more ambitious and deadly. Faced with a bloody coup that threatens to destroy everyone and everything that holds meaning in his mercenary life, Locke vows to beat the enemy at his own brutal game—or die trying.
Review:
In a very me sort of fashion, I picked this book up without knowing much about it, other than it gets recommended a lot. And I now understand why. It was a damned fun read.
The book bounces between scenes of Locke Lamora’s past (as a child/teen), his present (as an adult leading the band of thieves known as the Gentleman Bastards), and a few historically-minded interludes featuring tidbits of lore from the book’s world. While most of the interludes had an obvious correlation to the main (present time) story, a few of them seemed a bit random to me.
But I really enjoyed Locke as the main character. He’s witty, clever, and loyal to his friends, but he’s also someone you do not want to make angry. What I think I liked most about him was that his weapons aren’t usually the conventional type; he outsmarts his opponents, and uses charm and guile to get what he wants (although he isn’t afraid to spill a little blood if things come down to it. There were some great action scenes when things got ugly.)
Going into the story, I initially thought it was going to be a fantasy heist book, but it’s so much more than that—especially when revenge starts coming into play. And talk about an unpredictable plot! It was one thing after another until I was seriously wondering how Locke was going to get himself out of the mess he was in.
Overall, this book was a ton of fun, and it was definitely worth the read.
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