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edenacadia's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
4.25
Boys doing things and they’re good at it. Good for them. I guess this is an exciting book. Technically it is pretty well written. I don’t know why it felt like a slog.
philly37898's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
trix_lyn's review against another edition
took me too long to read & library wanted it back, fun what I read tho!
sanjubee's review against another edition
5.0
so deserving of its status! and it was cool to realize how books published later, which I loved reading while growing up, were clearly influenced by Locke Lamora.
amycanread_'s review against another edition
4.0
4.25/5
“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.”
***
Equal parts hilarious and gory. Locke Lamora and the Gentleman Bastards commit their crimes so flamboyantly and made for an entertaining read despite the dark city underbelly setting. Loved the childhood flashback interludes which gave a lot more depth to the gang and worldbuilding.
“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.”
***
Equal parts hilarious and gory. Locke Lamora and the Gentleman Bastards commit their crimes so flamboyantly and made for an entertaining read despite the dark city underbelly setting. Loved the childhood flashback interludes which gave a lot more depth to the gang and worldbuilding.
jhoyes13's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
nptausch's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
aceinit's review against another edition
4.0
I suppose that since I’ve read this book twice now, I should endeavour to give it a proper review…or at least a stream of consciousness babbling semi-review thing.
If you are looking for a simple narrative, look elsewhere. If you are looking for high fantasy with orcs and elves and heroic quests to redeem the world, look elsewhere. If you are looking for a heist story set in a world that’s part Renaissance Venice, part abandoned alien civilization and part Eldritch horror, well, you’re found the perfect book.
Lynch’s debut novel is, above all things, a damned fun read. It’s central character, Locke Lamora, and his gang of fellow Gentlemen Bastards, are con-artists who take robbing the rich to a whole new level of artistry in a civilization where thieving is still primarily relegated to the common cutpurse. With Locke’s pathological love both for stealing anything and concocting the most elaborate lies possible in order to do so, he is a character who quickly finds himself in ever-increasing levels of shit. Complication after complication is heaped upon him until the reader is left wondering, repeatedly, “how on earth is he going to get out of that mess?"
And though Locke and his faithful sidekick Jean are without a doubt the spotlight of the story, the worldbuilding is where Lynch really shines. His Camorr is a world where mobsters rule the streets and wage wars with dangerous mages, where the nobility and their secret police mingle political intrigue and secret police with alchemical botany, and where a small gang seemingly inconsequential of thieves (who also happen to be ordained priests in half a dozen religions) have secretly bilked the richest of the rich out of fortunes. Where towering, indestructible glass structures are remnants of some long-departed alien race, repurposed by humans and where, despite having a city full of canals, you really, really don’t want to go in the water.
The Lies of Locke Lamora is a fun, highly improbable, occasionally disjoined narrative. A certain amount of suspension of disbelief is required, because Lynch has a fondness of heaping complication after complication onto his title character until the reader is kind of side-eyeing the narrative and thinking “really? All this? Really?” Or at least that was my experience. There is, quite honestly, enough plot complications here to give most other authors two or three novels. Lynch crams them all into one. There is a slightly disjointed feeling to the story, as Interludes appear between each chapter (often at cliffhanger points), that jump between Locke’s past, Jean’s past, and the history of Camorr. While a reader may be tempted to skip over some of the more inconsequential of these interludes (do we really need to know a brief history of the prostitutes of Camorr?), doing so is a bad idea. Everything Lynch inserts into the story is there for a reason, even if that reason doesn’t become clear until the end.
If you are looking for a simple narrative, look elsewhere. If you are looking for high fantasy with orcs and elves and heroic quests to redeem the world, look elsewhere. If you are looking for a heist story set in a world that’s part Renaissance Venice, part abandoned alien civilization and part Eldritch horror, well, you’re found the perfect book.
Lynch’s debut novel is, above all things, a damned fun read. It’s central character, Locke Lamora, and his gang of fellow Gentlemen Bastards, are con-artists who take robbing the rich to a whole new level of artistry in a civilization where thieving is still primarily relegated to the common cutpurse. With Locke’s pathological love both for stealing anything and concocting the most elaborate lies possible in order to do so, he is a character who quickly finds himself in ever-increasing levels of shit. Complication after complication is heaped upon him until the reader is left wondering, repeatedly, “how on earth is he going to get out of that mess?"
And though Locke and his faithful sidekick Jean are without a doubt the spotlight of the story, the worldbuilding is where Lynch really shines. His Camorr is a world where mobsters rule the streets and wage wars with dangerous mages, where the nobility and their secret police mingle political intrigue and secret police with alchemical botany, and where a small gang seemingly inconsequential of thieves (who also happen to be ordained priests in half a dozen religions) have secretly bilked the richest of the rich out of fortunes. Where towering, indestructible glass structures are remnants of some long-departed alien race, repurposed by humans and where, despite having a city full of canals, you really, really don’t want to go in the water.
The Lies of Locke Lamora is a fun, highly improbable, occasionally disjoined narrative. A certain amount of suspension of disbelief is required, because Lynch has a fondness of heaping complication after complication onto his title character until the reader is kind of side-eyeing the narrative and thinking “really? All this? Really?” Or at least that was my experience. There is, quite honestly, enough plot complications here to give most other authors two or three novels. Lynch crams them all into one. There is a slightly disjointed feeling to the story, as Interludes appear between each chapter (often at cliffhanger points), that jump between Locke’s past, Jean’s past, and the history of Camorr. While a reader may be tempted to skip over some of the more inconsequential of these interludes (do we really need to know a brief history of the prostitutes of Camorr?), doing so is a bad idea. Everything Lynch inserts into the story is there for a reason, even if that reason doesn’t become clear until the end.
catherine_dalton08's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0