Actual rating : 4.5 stars "Someday, Locke Lamora,” he 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.”“Oh please,” said Locke. “It’ll never happen."I'm only reading this because I fucking love when I don't understand shit at first. Liar!I'm only reading this because I always dreamed to go through awfully long descriptions of buildings and stuff.Liar!I'm only reading this because except what's mentioned above, everything else was fantastic.Bastard!O I would like to meet hilarious characters who share a questionable morality. What can be surprising and quite unsettling at first is the fact that Scott Lynch introduces his characters invertedly. Indeed if they seem to be just there at the beginning, thanks to the flashbacks and their interactions we slowly become acquainted and yes, attached to them of course I adore them all, duh. Moreover, I can only salute the splendid organization used here between what we learn in flashbacks in regards to the action set in present day. Fucking well-wrapped indeed. ●•۰► Locke Lamora is a fucking genius in deception, a master in the game of make believe, an untrustworthy professional liar and highly deceptive bastard gentleman. Yet he is loyal to death, and trust me, he won't let you indifferent. "... It's perfect! Locke would appreciate it.""Bug," Calo said, "Locke is our brother and our love for him knows no bounds. But the four most fatal words in the Therin language are 'Locke would appreciate it.'""Rivalled only by 'Locke taught me a new trick,'" added Galo."The only person who gets away with Locke Lamora games ...""... is Locke Lamora ...""... because we think the gods are saving him up for a really big death. Something with knives and hot irons ...""... and fifty thousand cheering spectators."●•۰► Lamora's partners in crime all have something interesting to bring in the story, but frankly, what I ADORED were the awesome dialogues between them all. Jean, Calo, Galdo and little Bug, I love you all.●•۰►Chains can be referred as their mentor, and I must say that I particularly enjoyed his really insightful life lessons. "When you don't know everything you could know, it's a fine time to shut your fucking noisemaker and be polite." Why, thank you, I shall try.O I'm interested in everything politically incorrect. DAMN how it spoke to my sarcastic self! We have : ✔ A parody on religion, with quite cute prayers, I must say. "Thanks for deep pockets poorly guarded," said the Sanza brothers (...)"Thanks for watchmen asleep at their posts," said Chains."Thanks for the city to nurture us and the night too hide us," was the response."✔ Selfishness but friendship. Practical and prudent minds but extravagant craziness. Corruption everywhere. Schemes. Con inside con. Dear gentlemen bastards, I applaud you. "There's no freedom quite like the freedom of being constantly underestimated"O I would like some pieces of these priceless inside jokes, thank you.From page one I was laughing, feeling (almost) guilty, the hand on my mouth, at the ironical gritty writing. YES. I adore this kind of humor - the one that is hidden in every sentence, the whole thing said in the most casual way possible, as if sarcasm was just dropped in a "business as usual" fashion without any intention to make the reader laugh. AS IF. This shit is HILARIOUS.O While I'm at it, I'd rather be entertained, thank you very much.Several storylines happening in different times are followed, but it was never confusing to me (well, apart from the very beginning, I must admit), but on the contrary increased my interest. I mean, chronological order is so overrated! Apart from being disjointed, the story is a hell of an entertainment. Moreover, beware of your conceit, reader, because it reserves us several unexpected twists that shocked me something fierce.Mostly it can be read as Locke Lamora : a Life or Locke Lamora : story of a thief or Locke Lamora : how I became the guy who stole your shit or I worked with Locke Lamora and he taught me his tricks or ... Well, now, you get the idea right?O I want to learn more about this corrupt and crazy world we were talking about earlier.Concerning the world-building, I must say that Scott Lynch really knows his job : in what appears to be some alternative medieval settings, we get food/clothes/religions/cities/traditions/PEOPLE. The settings are highly detailed - sometimes it was a bit too much for me actually (see disclaimer).O Why, thank you, I shall take more of these gentlemen bastards pretty soon, because for real? This was an amazing book.For more of my reviews, please visit:
So this one was an interesting journey. I can't recall the last time it took me so long to finish a book (not counting the Song of Ice and Fire books and that was only because I was reading along with the t.v. show one episode at a time). Was it two weeks about to get through Lies of Locke Lamora? I don't even know now but it took for-flipping-ever. You'd think if the book was so hard to soldier though, I would have quit out. Well Crystal and I were buddy reading this and I think we both stubbornly decided to finish even if it killed us!Lies of Locke Lamora was not a bad book. I just know now that I am not the intended audience. This was a quiet sort of fantasy. There were no dragons, no wide array of alternate races, no multi-faceted magic system (although there was some magic), and no major epic battles (don't get me started on that anti-climactic showdown of an ending).Who this book would appeal to :If you're the type of person who likes intrigue, politics, blackmail, low-key world building (descriptive yet somehow not large in scale) and such, you will probably enjoy this book. There was less of an emphasis on character building. Instead, the focus was shifted to the inner workings of this society. If you're the type of person who likes scams, cons, plotting, scheming, etc. you'll dig on this book. In fact, the cons were my favorite parts of the book. The tricks that this group of gentlemen bastards pulled off were impressive.Why it didn't work for me :It took me a couple of chapters to even figure out what genre I was reading. Never have I been so confused by reading a book. Was it fantasy? Was it alternate history? I think I settled on fantasy but it doesn't read like high fantasy. Again, I want to go back to that word quiet. Perhaps someone else might use the word crafty. That could potentially be an apt word but it wasn't crafty enough for me.The biggest hurdle for me was that I need to attach to the characters in my books, and I never felt an attachment to any one person, which means I didn't much care who lived or died. That's not good.Why I felt the book worthy of 3 stars and not a lower rating :I recognized that the style just didn't suit my personal preferences but this doesn't mean that I didn't appreciate some things about the book. There were several moments of humor, as well as a few fun scenes (referencing the cons I mentioned above). The magic system wasn't as fleshed out as I'd like but some of the creatures were interesting or scary. The huge spider scene was actually amusing.Final thoughts :The first few pages were interesting. The last few pages were interesting. A few scenes scattered throughout the book were interesting. The rest of the book dragged. It felt like the longest book I'd ever read, even though I'm pretty sure I've read quite a few books that were much longer.You know you're in trouble when you're having to consult with your buddy reading partner to get encouragement to continue!I said in an earlier comment that I might continue eventually but the more I think about it, the more I think that this is the end of the line. There are too many books out there and several other fantasy series I'd rather be reading. I love the genre but this book didn't work for what I want and expect out of a fantasy. Maybe I'm just not as analytically minded as the intended audience. Who knows?
Do You like book The Lies Of Locke Lamora (2006)?
It’s seems the most common way of describing this is that it’s like Ocean’s Eleven set in a fantasy world. That’s accurate enough for the first part of the book that tells how Locke Lamora and his group of Gentlemen Bastards run elaborate cons on the upper class population of the city of Camorr while pretending to be simple petty thieves to the criminal underworld. This early phase certainly resembles the kind of zany schemes that the Ocean’s Eleven crew pull in their movies in which they’re always a step ahead, no one really gets hurt, and the worst crime is rich jerks losing money.However, I think a much closer crime movie comparison would probably be The Usual Suspects because there comes a point when Locke and his friends are forced to do the bidding of a mysterious villain who wields tremendous power. Things take a darker turn from there with the kind of violence and body count that George Clooney and his pals never had to deal with.There’s a lot to love in this remarkably strong debut novel. The world building is excellent in the way that Camorr is fully realized in almost every detail including its politics, social classes, and religion as well as how its criminal underworld functions within a complicated set of rules. Characterization is particularly strong with Locke and his friends well developed via flashbacks that explains their history as well as giving readers the sense of the strong bond among them. Locke in particular is a great main character as a cocky con man, but I also liked that he’s not your typical dashing rogue. He’s small, not a big manly man, and he’s not much good in a fight so having him have to use his wits rather than a sword is part of what makes him interesting. Author Scott Lynch also does a superior job of managing tone. While this starts out as a kind of bawdy romp, he doesn’t hesitate to make things bloody and doesn’t hedge the cost of these events, but he’s able to keep the novel’s original boastful spirit alive even as everything is going to hell without it feeling too jarring. The witty dialogue helps keep things from getting too dark, and it is so profane that it would make the characters in Deadwood blush. (Which is an extra bonus for me because I love colorful cursing.) Plus, Lynch balances the weird elements extremely well by doling out just enough magic and strange creatures to make this a fantasy novel without letting those things overwhelm or distract a reader.While it’s a serious story filled with violence and deadly consequences, it never gets so bogged down in those aspects that it forgets to be entertaining.
—Kemper
Hello, distinguished review reader. What a nice coincidence stumbling into you here on this expression of thought.Odd chance, you say? Well, I have to be honest with you. I actually planned this for quite a while. I'm playing the long con game with this review.I set up a profile on this site, joined some groups and build a network of friends. And all leads up to today's review.So, I kind of tricked you to lay eyes on these lines of lies.All that I learned from my days with the Gentleman Bastards and their leader, Locke Lamorra. Do you happen to know him?You've probably met him already, but didn't recognize him, cause he was in costume. Maybe he already tricked you into giving him money.He's from the city of Camorr, a beautiful Venice like metropolis, where alchemical lights of all colors are reflected by the famous glass towers in the center of the city.Locke and his friends work their operation from a secret hideout in the bowels of an old temple. But don't bother trying to find it, you would never be able to enter it uninvited.A while back, Locke told me about the Salvara game he and the boys had planned. This would bring in a huge amount of money for the gang, but it wouldn't be the helluva story it is, if all the plans would just work out perfectly. Complications arise everywhere and the Gentleman Bastards are suddenly in all kinds of troubles.What I like about Locke is that, when he tells a story, he tells the whole story. After every part, he illustrates some aspect of the story by giving you a relevant glimpse into his past or Camorr's history. So, long story short, I decided to sign up with the bastards to trick more readers into visting their world.See how they reacted:"I write reviews, cause my train of thoughts after reading a novel can't stay in the station," said Calo."Liar!""I write reviews to impress the ladies with my insight and cleverness!" said Galdo."Liar!""I write reviews to get children to read again," said Jean."Liar!""I write reviews to trick readers into spending money on books," said Locke."Liar!""I write reviews, cause I want people to hit the Like button," I said."Bastard!"
—Mpauli
It took me over a month to read this, not because it was a bad book, but because I had a couple of tough classes to get through. Still, it was a very enjoyable and much needed break and maybe one of these days I’ll read it again. Oh, how I hate those real-life intrusions that keep me from getting immersed in a story!Many comparisons have been made to the film, Oceans Eleven. While I enjoyed the film when I saw it a few years ago, I cannot remember a single detail now. I have a feeling that this book will be eventually forgotten as well. It was highly entertaining, fast-paced for its 719 pages, humorous, and full of characters I grew to really care about. And I love ballsy criminals and clever schemes. It just lacked a certain depth that makes books stay with me a long time. I don’t know what else to say. So many good reviews have been written and I can’t think of much to add here. mark's review sums up my feelings nicely.
—Nancy
