The Lies of Locke Lamora: Scott Lynch || Review

"Gentleman Bastards do not abandon one another, and we do not run when we owe vengeance."

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

Release Date: June 27, 2006
Publisher: Bantam Spectra
Purchase: Amazon// Barnes and Noble// Book Depository

The Thorn of Camorr is said to be an unbeatable swordsman, a master thief, a ghost that walks through walls. Half the city believes him to be a legendary champion of the poor. The other half believe him to be a foolish myth. Nobody has it quite right.
Slightly built, unlucky in love, and barely competent with a sword, Locke Lamora is, much to his annoyance, the fabled Thorn. He certainly didn't invite the rumors that swirl around his exploits, which are actually confidence games of the most intricate sort. And while Locke does indeed steal from the rich (who else, pray tell, would be worth stealing from?), the poor never see a penny of it. All of Locke's gains are strictly for himself and his tight-knit band of thieves, the Gentlemen Bastards. Locke and company are con artists in an age where con artistry, as we understand it, is a new and unknown style of crime. The less attention anyone pays to them, the better! But a deadly mystery has begun to haunt the ancient city of Camorr, and a clandestine war is threatening to tear the city's underworld, the only home the Gentlemen Bastards have ever known, to bloody shreds. Caught up in a murderous game, Locke and his friends will find both their loyalty and their ingenuity tested to the breaking point as they struggle to stay alive...

Please excuse me while I go stick my head in the blender because if I can never be half as intelligent as this book was, then what's the point??

To be honest, I usually avoid adult fantasy like the plague because it scares me. Anything over 500 pages usually gets a solid "no," from me, unless it's from an author I know I love or a series I'm committed to. I'd heard Cait @ Paper Fury rave about this one, though, and I have a ginormous love of anything that has to do with heists and thieving gangs. And I am sO GLAD I went and picked this one up because holy shit. 

I just, I have to talk about the characters first because like. LOCKE. LAMORA. I haven't been this violently in love with a fictional character since Victor Vale. I could read a short story about Locke brushing his teeth and it would probably amuse the hell out of me, because he's just that kind of character. He's the sassiest little shit ever, but he's so cunning and intelligent at the same time. I adored his flair for the dramatic™ and how he was an absolute overachiever who created this whole kind of "theatre" style of thieving, with elaborate plots and costumes. 

"Good. Well. Shit." Locke rubbed his gloved hands together. "I guess that's that. I'm all out of rhetorical flourishes."

I adored his relationship with Jean (who was the purest cinnamon roll thief to ever exist) and the vulnerability they shared in their friendship was so refreshing and nice to see, especially in a fantasy book where I think most authors feel pressure to make their characters ultra-manly or something, which I'm so thankful Scott Lynch didn't play into. The boys are vicious, but there's a lot of softness to them, too, and for that I'm so thankful.

The rest of the Gentleman Bastards were also fantastic characters, and fleshed out so well. I don't typically like flashbacks interspersed within stories, but the ones done in Locke felt so fitting and really added so much depth to people and the world alike. 

There's also this fantastic thing about the book where female characters of all types are represented and are all genuinely badass in their own way?? Lynch presented characters that felt like they would fall into a stereotypical hole, only to flip them on their heads. You had the pretty blonde who was seemingly some kind of trophy-wife, until it was revealed that she was actually one of the most high-up scientists within the whole island and that she held as much respect as her businessman husband. There were ladies in high positions of power, ladies in gangs (!!) , and although not in this book, all I've heard about is a single mother woman pirate in the next book who rules the sea and who I would 10/10 let punch me in the face and thank afterward.

The plot itself was seriously mind-blowing, and it still boggles me that?? Scott Lynch actually sat down and?? Just thought the whole thing up??? Who does that? From the get-go of the introduction of this underground band of child thieves inhabiting the ground underneath a cemetery, I knew the book was going to be hella immersive and boy, was it ever. So like, not only did Scott Lynch create an amazingly faceted heist plot with several story-lines that tied together, but he also somehow had the ability to create a gigantic fantasy world that actually made sense and was so fleshed-out that I'm half contemplating the plausibility of it. I loved the Venetian inspiration, and the eerie vibe that came with these imposing towers of other that exist on the islands. There were all these neat things like floating gardens and mythical sharks in the water and I would almost wish I could go to Camorr, if I wasn't already sure that I would end up robbed or dead in 0.000002 seconds. 

Honestly, the whole thing was absolutely genius. There were a lot of Six of Crows vibes with the whole heist plotline, but I feel like that's where the similarities end, because The Lies of Locke Lamora was just so much more sophisticated and fast-paced. It had a roughness to it that I thought Six of Crows skimped out on (not bashing-- it's one of my favorite books, too !!), because it's a YA book. The Lies of Locke Lamora didn't have that boundary to stay within, so all the creative cursing and gritty fighting made the story seem so much more real and grounded. Nothing and no one was safe and while that may have caused some frustrated screaming and many tears on my part, it was terrific to have an author who wasn't afraid to toss his characters around, beat them up and put them in real danger. 

Overall, the writing was terrific, the humor was not only snort worthy but wheeze worthy too, and the ending caused me mass hysteria. It's a big book and such a commitment but I already feel like rereading it just so that I can relive it all again and try to catch more of the things I'm sure I missed the first time around. I'm utterly in love with the characters and world Scott introduced, and I'm already working my way through the second book. Here's to lady pirates and more of my dramatic boys! 

*5 out of 5 stars*

★★★★★

LET'S CHAT! Have you read The Lies of Locke Lamora? Thoughts? On a scale of 1 to 10, how scared are you of big books? Tell me all the things!!