The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard, #1) in The Alternative Worlds

Feb 17, 2011 mark monday rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy-modern

this was a wonderful, wonderful experience. it is hard to give a specific rationale for why i loved this book - there are so many reasons! it has adventure, flair, great characters, a robust narrative, a satisfying conclusion, is exceedingly clever and well-written, and just heaps of fun. it is a good-hearted book. terrible things do happen, but the book has at its core a love of humanity, of life, of loyalty, of kindness, of the ways that family can be created, of the ways that children can sur this was a wonderful, wonderful experience. it is hard to give a specific rationale for why i loved this book - there are so many reasons! it has adventure, flair, great characters, a robust narrative, a satisfying conclusion, is exceedingly clever and well-written, and just heaps of fun. it is a good-hearted book. terrible things do happen, but the book has at its core a love of humanity, of life, of loyalty, of kindness, of the ways that family can be created, of the ways that children can survive terrible things, of the ways that adults can live with their own kind of honor, even as thieves.

strangely enough, there was no romance whatsoever. this was a pleasure to discover! i don't mind romance, when it is done well, but so often it bogs down books that are built on pure narrative - books like this one. no such bogging down occurs.

although pretty dark at times, this is also a humorous novel, and i laughed out loud at a lot of the clever moments and at many of the one-liners. maybe not the most subtle use of humor, but i'll take a real laugh when i can get it. as a cynical old man, usually when i laugh out loud at a book, it is in derision.

the world-building does not take precedence but it is there, and clearly thought out. i was slightly reminded of both tanith lee's Veniss (Venice by another name) and, strangely, Makkathran from the latest peter hamilton mega-opus. the city really comes alive at certain points. the novel is rich with details of the strangeness of Camorr.

the parallels with Ocean's 11 have been made repeatedly, and i suppose it is there. there are also many obvious uses of mafia culture, venice as noted, and italy in general. but put all together, it felt original to me, less derivative and more of a pastiche than a parody. and really, confidence games are timeless.

in my misguided excitement after finishing the last page, i started reading reviews on amazon and here in GR. i noticed something very irritating: people complaining about the frequent cursing and dropping of f-bombs. okay, now i can understand this if you are normally a fan of Regency romance or, say, classic adventure along the lines of rafael sabatini. or less violent fantasy in general. then i can understand the complaints and even respect them. but if you are a fan of rowdy modern adventure & fantasy, genres that frequently include blood & guts & murder & mutilation & slaughter....THEN GET A FUCKING GRIP ALREADY AND GET YOUR FUCKING PRIORITIES IN ORDER! my gosh, reading that kind of almost insanely unbalanced perspective really gets me agitated - you can read about humans being bloodily killed or tortured and yet the word FUCK gets your panties in a bunch? in a novel that depicts a city that hangs child thieves in public, it is swear words that really bother you?

i hate to end a review of a book i loved on such a negative note, but i had to get that off of my chest. so i'll end the review like this: if you like adventure, read this book! it's awesome. ...more

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Jan 26, 2009 Danielle The Book Huntress rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: owned-copy, criminal, 2011-reading, favorites, hero-to-die-for, very-dark-read, antihero, recommended-to-me, thief, epic-fantasy

I have to say that I was very impressed with this story. The worldbuilding was excellent and distinct to me. The setting of this book was like Pre-Renaissance Italy, with Faerie architectural elements and fantastical magic thrown in, but never overwhelming. I especially appreciated that Mr. Lynch went with a group of characters who were admittedly seedy, but utterly lovable, The Gentlemen Bastards. This whole world is very much on the edge of unpalatability. You can see and smell the filthy and I have to say that I was very impressed with this story. The worldbuilding was excellent and distinct to me. The setting of this book was like Pre-Renaissance Italy, with Faerie architectural elements and fantastical magic thrown in, but never overwhelming. I especially appreciated that Mr. Lynch went with a group of characters who were admittedly seedy, but utterly lovable, The Gentlemen Bastards. This whole world is very much on the edge of unpalatability. You can see and smell the filthy and unsavory environments. This story is full of cutthroats and unscrupulous criminals of all kinds. And there is the mafia element. I give the Yakuza (Japanese mafia) and the Russia mafia a free pass, because there is something very fascinating about them to me. But I really dislike the Italian mafia. Maybe this book was therapy for me, because I had to deal with the whole “Made Man” vibe, but it wasn’t the eyesore that I expected. Probably because the Gentleman Bastards are mainly swindlers and thieves, not blood-thirsty murderers with no code. But they walk in this dangerous world, and often face the nasty aspects (and characters) that end up with people dying painfully and in very bloody ways.

I’m touchy-feely when it comes to characters when I read books. I read for pleasure, and I need to have that connection to the characters in books that will end up being favorites. I totally had that with this book. From the beginning, Locke won me over. He’s one of those characters that literally steal their way into my heart. He had this ability to be a thorn in people’s sides, but it’s not from a mean spirited/cruel standpoint. It’s just like he’s a little imp and he can’t help himself. He wasn’t perfect, and I loved him for it. Locke is the planner of the operation. He’s not the muscle, and he’s not even the most book smart. In fact, he’s scrawny and small, and a terrible fighter. Funny, how his personality is so larger than life. Each member of his gang plays an important role, and that’s outside of the fact that they are his friends, his adopted brothers. Locke has to learn a lesson about loyalty as a very young man, lessons that he never forgets.

I do love a good coming of age story, and so I liked how Mr. Lynch starts this story with Locke as a very young boy, and shows him growing up, and how he ends up being the leader of the Gentleman Bastards. He also shows how Locke’s relationships with his boys develop. By the time the story gets to present day, I have already established a bond to these guys. I like how everything ties together in this story, from the flashbacks of Locke and the other Gentlemen Bastards as a boy, the anecdotes about the lands in this book, their beliefs, the way that the criminal and societal structures develop, everything. This is definitely a book where no parts are just throwaway filler. It all ties together, and I appreciated that my attention when I reading was rewarded with a ‘payoff.’

The Lies of Locke Lamora is not a genteel or gentle read. The language and talk is often quite vulgar and rough. It didn’t bother me, because this is the world that Locke lives in. He might inhabit a dukedom full of rich nobles, but they live up in the clouds, and he lives down in the dirty, rough streets of Camorr. It’s the real world, not the pretty one. This book is about criminals; and while the main character are lovable, admirable men with a highly-developed sense of ethics, they are thieves, swindlers, and liars. However, there is no question that they won my loyalty. This is a book where there are shades of gray, and bonds between the characters are complex. It’s not always just about friendship and loyalty. It’s as much about least cost differential, and do it or die kind of relationships. The people you have to ‘deal with’ because you don’t have much of a choice. You don’t have to like them. Heck, you might hate their guts even. Kind of real life, but ramped up for those of us who are fortunate to live in a saner, safer everyday world. The suspense inherent in this world made for an exciting read. There were also very welcome humorous moments that had me cracking up; and the bonding between Locke and his friends, the sage advice given to him, in a very earthy way by his mentor and leader Chains, and the family they formed was heart-warming.

If you are like me, and you don’t normally like the whole wiseguys/mafia thing, don’t pass this book by just for those reasons. Yes, there are some violent, cruel elements in this story. However, Locke and his boys always had my loyalty, and their actions never made me lose faith in them. On the other hand, if you do like the caper stories where the small guys work together to get their piece of the pie, and you are rooting for them the whole time, you should read this book. This one is going on my favorites list, and I am excited read more of the Gentleman Bastards’ capers.
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Aug 23, 2008 Kara Babcock rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: own, favourites, urban-fantasy, 2008-read, fantasy, 2009-read, 2015-read

Third review: February 28, 2015

I was a bad boy and only recently purchased Republic of Thieves. Instead of starting it immediately, I decided to delay the pleasure. It feels strange to think that the last time I read The Lies of Locke Lamora was five years ago. As I suspected, I had forgotten almost all of the actual plot details. I’m glad I decided to re-read this, and to read Red Seas Under Red Skies again, before I start the third book. Why read one great book when you can read three?

My appre ...more

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Sep 12, 2007 Wealhtheow rated it really liked it

Shelves: battle-of-wits, mannerpunk, fantasy

Locke Lamora and his fellow "Gentlemen Bastards" seek to steal, connive and otherwise inviegle wealth from the nobility in the most outrageous ways possible. All is going according to his wildly elaborate plan...until he gets the secret police and the serial killing, possibly otherworldly Gray King on his tail. Locke is a fabulous character--far from the strongest, quickest or prettiest of the thieves, he leads through sheer cleverness and verve.

The play of language and wit throughout is fabulo ...more

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Oct 10, 2008 Nicky rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

I loved The Lies of Locke Lamora. It ripped my heart out in places, and it's full of incredibly rich world-building. I'd happily recommend it to anyone who enjoys fantasy. There's thievery, magic, an amazing amount of historical background sat around not (yet) doing anything, really frickin' clever thievery, so many characters to love... and it's the first book of a series.

I loved the dual timeline, although it also annoyed me somewhat: we're told the story of Locke Lamora's childhood alongside I loved The Lies of Locke Lamora. It ripped my heart out in places, and it's full of incredibly rich world-building. I'd happily recommend it to anyone who enjoys fantasy. There's thievery, magic, an amazing amount of historical background sat around not (yet) doing anything, really frickin' clever thievery, so many characters to love... and it's the first book of a series.

I loved the dual timeline, although it also annoyed me somewhat: we're told the story of Locke Lamora's childhood alongside the story of his adulthood, which would appear to be the main story. I love the story of his childhood and coming of age, but I'd probably rather have had it in a single book -- have the story of his childhood as the first book, and keep having things linearly from there on. Nonetheless, it doesn't work badly; it might be interesting to people because of the non-conventional timeline.

It's pretty ambitious, for the first novel of a series by a new writer. I love that: I think it paid off. I was surprised at how much I cared about certain of the deaths, given how little time the characters had to be built up in, and I loved the way you had to be on the ball to keep up with what Locke was doing (e.g. I was reading in a hurry, because I should totally be doing schoolwork tonight, and I didn't really realise what Locke was doing when he made the death sacrifice).

I do think that in some places Lynch tried to pack too much into the novel -- too much of the world-building. It's amazing and I appreciated it, but I think some people would probably class it as going over the top, as it isn't all directly relevant to the plot of this book. Personally, I hold out in hopes of it all becoming very important in the later books.

I also liked the realism of this novel. -- Yeah, I know, realism in a fantasy novel, what? But it's not so much the plot or anything that's realistic as the setting, and not so much that as the dirt. The city the whole book is based in is a rich city -- in parts. It also has its mucky underside.

I'm glad I have the second book in the series out of the library too, and I'm contemplating getting my own copies. I'm certainly buying some people The Lies of Locke Lamora for Christmas. ...more

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Apr 27, 2008 Sandi rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2008, fantasy

I am completely ambivalent about "The Lies of Locke Lamora" by Scott Lynch. On the one hand, I liked the characters and really got caught up in their adventure. On the other hand, I hated how Lynch told us several times about a character who never once makes an appearance. I hated how he just dropped the storyline of Locke and the Gentleman Bastard's youth without completing it. I like how he wrapped up the main storyline and gave it a sense of finality, but left it open for more adventures. I l ...more

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Dec 22, 2010 Kevin Xu rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: re-read, favorites

I felt that this book and author is very similar to The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss other than the fact the book is harder to get into, and not as big of a hype. ...more

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Jul 13, 2008 Lori rated it it was ok

I am so excited to finally read this.

Well I've finished, and at the risk of ire from all my great friends here at GR who loved this book, I'm giving it a 3. The characters were well developed and I liked all the ones I'm supposed to like; the world was beautifully realized and very interesting; the author can clearly write BUT it just didn't grab me. In fact I skimmed the end.

Once again, I think alot had to do with timing - all I want to do is get back to this intense series I'm in the middle o ...more

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May 15, 2011 Hirondelle (not getting notifications) rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy

There is a set of fantasy books that I mentally assign to personally defined subgenre, the post-GRRM dude "gritty" multivolume epic fantasy. And I while I love GRRM´s writing and that particular series, I have had no luck with the subgenre it seemed to have spawned (or at least encouraged to publication and popularity) - with Erikson (gameish fantasy wishfulfillment stuff disguised as a novel), with Abercrombie (meh, do not care for any of his characters), with Scott Bakker (do not care for anyt There is a set of fantasy books that I mentally assign to personally defined subgenre, the post-GRRM dude "gritty" multivolume epic fantasy. And I while I love GRRM´s writing and that particular series, I have had no luck with the subgenre it seemed to have spawned (or at least encouraged to publication and popularity) - with Erikson (gameish fantasy wishfulfillment stuff disguised as a novel), with Abercrombie (meh, do not care for any of his characters), with Scott Bakker (do not care for anything. Though will give it another try), with the so acclaimed Rothfuss (21st century Terry Brooks. Mary Sue land totally).BTW those are all personal opinions, tastes vary and all that - but still, that is what I thought for your easy reference of what my taste is. Books usually highly rated (wonderful prose! compelling characters! Believable female characters whose "believability" consists of hot chicks just gagging for the probably foul smelling "gritty" male main character. Oh wait, believable female characters is not something they worry much about. YMMV) by a peculiar demographic, the dudes who can not have an ounce of respect for any fiction with any elements slightly ya-know-cooties-carrying girly.

Yes, I am bitter and I am picky (and if you got other recs, do let me know). But my mental image of this book was rather different, and worse, than what it turned out to be, so just explaining my misconception and So while I wanted to try this, just in case, it languished on my TBR pile for quite a few years.

And this is good, even very good, and dear dude post-GRRM "gritty" multivolume epic fantasy (maybe I need an acronym for this) genre, you are sort of redeemed in my eyes. Great atmospheric setting, interesting characters (including many of the secondary or tertiary characters), twisty plot details, nice writing.

Stopping it from being perfect, well I got some quibbles. Our main character is not, when his actions are analyzed, as smart as he is supposed to be (view spoiler). The plot sometimes feels a bit patched, for example some events on the buildup for the ending, as well as some of the bad dudes´s skills and motivations feels a bit contrived (view spoiler). The narrative style is not totally linear. A subjective, or even more subjective, complaint while very readable and a very fast read on points ( the flashbacks mostly), there was an occasional lull to the rhythm. But in all I liked it a lot AND respect it.

Some spoilerish questions, because google is failing me at finding discussions for these topics(view spoiler)
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Jun 20, 2012 Nicky rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

I worried that I wouldn't enjoy The Lies of Locke Lamora as much a second time. That all the years of waiting for Republic of Thieves (omg I have an ARC) hyped it up too much, or that knowing some of the key plot developments would blunt them. But that's not the case. Even now, with medication fragmenting my attention span, I devoured it in great big chunks: giggled and squirmed and bit my lip and teared up in all the right places.

I love the world Scott Lynch has built here: the city built on th ...more

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Jun 12, 2012 Daniel Roy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sf, fantasy

What a fun, exciting, bloody ride this book turned out to be. It's the perfect antidote to the dark, somber fantasy settings where people only crack a smile when it's vicious and fake. This is a fantasy setting with characters who know how to have a good time.

The idea of transposing a con artist into a fantasy setting is a simple and original one, and Lynch pulls it off pretty well. Locke Lamora and the Gentleman Bastards come across as conniving, clever, and sly. It's fun to watch them scheme t What a fun, exciting, bloody ride this book turned out to be. It's the perfect antidote to the dark, somber fantasy settings where people only crack a smile when it's vicious and fake. This is a fantasy setting with characters who know how to have a good time.

The idea of transposing a con artist into a fantasy setting is a simple and original one, and Lynch pulls it off pretty well. Locke Lamora and the Gentleman Bastards come across as conniving, clever, and sly. It's fun to watch them scheme to con a rich man out of his gold, moreso because they have fun doing it. Locke Lamora is a sympathetic character because of how happy he is in general, and because of how deeply he cares for his gang members.

The friendship between the Gentleman Bastards is what truly makes this book stand out. It shines off the pages, and the banter between old friends is funny and authentic. The way they worry for each other, and care for one another, gives a genuine emotional core to a story about duplicity and lies. It's a pleasure to watch evolve, and when this friendship is threatened, the result is a nail biting tale that engages the reader fully.

Another way in which The Lies of Locke Lamora breaks with tradition is in the manner it portrays its more clever characters. Locke Lamora himself is infinitely clever, but he makes mistakes, sometimes grievous ones. The same is true of both his allies and his enemies: they are smart, but not perfect geniuses with the prescience of the writer behind their every thought. This made the tale messier, in a positive way. Story con artists always seem to execute their plans like clockwork; but in so doing their tale trades dramatic tension and emotional resonance for the smoothness and emotional distance of a Rube Goldberg machine. Here, Lynch's choice of making even the smarter characters imperfect pays off in drama and emotion.

(view spoiler)

Overall, the fantasy setting is serviceable, if perhaps not that striking. But it's the characters that shine, especially Locke and his gang. They make me want to read the sequel, that's for sure. ...more

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Oct 03, 2009 Peregrine rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2009, fantasy

There is no peace in the city of Camorr. Just as sharks and devilfish prowl its waters, human predators prowl the land. The very poor band together in gangs to survive. The very rich hold themselves in fragile aloofness. Some questions, particularly for Locke Lamora and his gang, the Gentlemen Bastards, are: Can one survive in a predatory environment without becoming a predator oneself? Is the nature of humanity necessarily brutish? As the city, rich and poor, rocks in upheaval, intrigue, counte ...more

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Sep 25, 2008 This Is Not The Michael You're Looking For rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: own, fantasy, fiction, high-fantasy

An excellent fantasy novel, The Lies of Locke Lamora starts up with a not-quite-twisted version of a scene/situation from Oliver Twist (Fagin and the Artful Dodger), but quickly takes off into an exciting tale of deception and revenge. Both the story and the style had a unique feel and flow, making this another recent debut novel to buck the classic fantasy trend while weaving together an excellent and fascinating story (the other is The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss). Although another b ...more

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