Synopsis
An orphan’s life is harsh—and often short—in the mysterious island city of Camorr. But young Locke Lamora dodges death and slavery, becoming a thief under the tutelage of a gifted con artist. As leader of the band of light-fingered brothers known as the Gentleman 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
I tried to do this book about halfway through last year, but I got a little stuck in the second chapter of the audiobook. Something wasn’t working with me and I was struggling a bit. But I’ve seen SO many recommendations for The Lies of Locke Lamora, that I wanted to give it another shot. I powered through the second chapter and…boy was I glad I did. And let me just say after reading this powerhouse of a novel…
I’m sorry, Scott Lynch. I was unfamiliar with your game.
This was a book that could have gone off in so many different directions and I would have understood. But even from the start, Lynch takes the reader on a rollercoaster, with ups, downs, loops and dark caves. Once I got a few hours into the book, I was good and truly hooked and couldn’t stop.
Our protagonist – the titular Locke Lamora, is set up from the start as a genius thief, but also one that is so clever, it will get him into trouble with problems seen and unseen. And truly, that’s where the brilliance of this novel comes into play. With a lesser author, Locke would have cruised through the story as an untouchable superhero of sorts, and the audience would have had a rollicking good time. A lesser author wouldn’t have taken the risks that Lynch did. A lesser author couldn’t have written this book.
Lynch is clearly not the lesser author. He takes his time and sets up our protagonist for heartbreak and life-altering chaos. There are sequels to this book, but it never feels like we are being set up for the next book or what comes later in the series. In fact, I bet there were probably about three or four times where I was convinced our hero wasn’t going to make it out of the book in one piece.
The book is a fantasy novel, but the fantastical elements take a bit to show up. For a good quarter of the book, it reads in many ways like a medieval or Renaissance-era historical novel about young thieves in a vaguely European city. But the magical system Lynch brings in adds danger and unpredictability to the mix, upending Locke and his friends, right when they think they have the world by the tail.
I really don’t want to even talk much about the book’s plot. The part that threw me off last year was a time jump that I didn’t see coming, but Lynch utilizes time in clever ways. The book moves seamlessly from one set piece to the next and Lynch plays with time and the reader’s expectation of time as well. In a way, Lynch is toying with us as readers in how he tells the story, and I love him for it.
The Lies of Locke Lamora isn’t a new book – published originally in 2006 – but I couldn’t resist writing up a review for a book that very well may make my Top Ten of the year. I thoroughly enjoyed it and now need to track down the next entries in the Gentlemen Bastard series to bring Locke and his crew back in my life.
Leave a Reply