The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard, #1) in Sword & Sorcery: "An earthier sort of fantasy"

Dec 25, 2014 Frank rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

No spoilers here.
This one, as well as, the other two volumes have been on my TBR for quite some time. Not sure that this is quite a fantasy, but there is a slight bit of magic present, in such ways that you find the George RR Martin's series.
Well, I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed this first volume. The setting was interesting, many say a fourteenth century Venice, which I can see. However, what really worked for me in the volume was the great characters that Lynch created along with all the ...more

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Sep 30, 2013 Thomas Cardin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

The Lies of Locke Lamora sat firmly at 3 stars until the last 30% which brough it up to 4 stars. Parts of the book are 5 star material, but some drop down to 2.

In the end it was a fine read and I hope the publisher will consider dropping the later volumes to a sale price for the ebook version--I just can't bring myself to pay trade prices any more when so much very fine reading is to be had at the $2.99 or less price point. I picked up this book on sale, otherwise I may never have read it.

For ac The Lies of Locke Lamora sat firmly at 3 stars until the last 30% which brough it up to 4 stars. Parts of the book are 5 star material, but some drop down to 2.

In the end it was a fine read and I hope the publisher will consider dropping the later volumes to a sale price for the ebook version--I just can't bring myself to pay trade prices any more when so much very fine reading is to be had at the $2.99 or less price point. I picked up this book on sale, otherwise I may never have read it.

For action and world building, The Lies of Locke Lamora is top-notch. I have some issues with how the world building was pulled off however. Everything stops (hammer time!) and the book has an expository interlude. These interludes typically happen just as the action or tension has reached a fever pitch and I suppose Scott Lynch, or his editor, figured that the reader's head would explode if they didn't bring everything to a screeching halt. My head was a long way from so much as oozing grey matter out my ears...not even a nosebleed.

Now, what we gained from these expository interludes was a historical and picturesque tour of a spectacular city of alien glass towers and weaving waterways, its people and its mood.

The action drove hot and heavy with pleasant visceral details. I love action like this. I probably felt closest to being present in the story while the fists were flying.

Ok, got all that good stuff? Good, because here is the bad stuff--bear in mind my final rating of four stars, I really enjoyed the book, but there are issues like the abovementioned 'interludes'. Language! Swear all you want, really, I can take it. What I can't take is the F-bomb used with every colorful, modern, western meaning when the story is taking place outside of Earth's history and geography. I am not saying Scott Lynch needs to invent his own swear words, but the usage here was so horribly modern it broke the fourth wall and kicked me out of being present in the story. Time jumping. I know he was trying to capture all the surprises of a caper film like Ocean's Eleven or The Thomas Crown Affair, but combined with the interludes, these time shifts with POV changes almost made me toss the book into the corner on several occasions. It got to where I lost track of where and when things were happening.

For whatever reason, my emotions never fully engaged. I want that to happen when I read. It is part of the magic that takes me away from the real world and into a virtual reality that can only exist within the conjurings of the written word. When horrible tragedy strikes, I was a bystander, slowing down to watch the carnage, but not stopping and falling to my knees to weep beside the hero. I think it was simply the many shifting points of the tale that distanced me, it may also be the characters. Locke and the other Gentleman Bastards are richly detailed, we know what they are wearing, what they are eating, where they are walking, but we never get inside them. It is as though there is a wall between us and them. I don't need to be told what a character is thinking or, heaven's forbid, what they are feeling --this is typically telling and filtering when it happens in most situations-- What I do need is a steady platform, a shoulder to hold onto while I am drawn into the bounds of the story. Here too many things worked to disrupt that platform and yank that shoulder out of my reach. I can't put it any better than that, I simply never got the chance to be emotionally engaged.

The last 30% of the book, I could not put down--though there were still the plethora of interludes--The action and plotting done here were superb. I literally was up half the night to finish.

Well, these have been my opinions, for whatever they are worth. This book is very enjoyable in the end, though it doesn't offer anything truly unique that I haven't seen somewhere before. Locke reminded me of countless other smart and devious characters: Slippery Jim DeGriz, Miles Vorkosigan, The Grey Mouser, Bean (from Ender's Game) to name a few

There is plenty to enjoy despite the emotional distancing I experienced. ...more

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May 24, 2013 Filip rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, 5-stars

In all honesty I should rate this book somewhere between 4 and 5 stars but the ending was real good and as it is the first volume of the series I'm willing to give it 5 stars.

First of all, let me say something. I HATE THIS BOOK.
I DO.
I've read better books, for certain - but it is the one book that I should have written.
Damn.

I've always liked caper/con stories and placing them in a fantasy setting is made of win for me. I loved the schemes, the plots, some of the characters - the other ones, incl ...more

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