Reviews with content warning for Animal cruelty - Die Lügen des Locke Lamora: Roman

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Die Lügen des Locke Lamora: Roman by Scott Lynch

32 reviews

vividpenguin's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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orionmerlin's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Oh, Lies of Locke Lamora, you chaotic little bastard of a book. You lured me in with promises of a slick, clever heist, and then blindsided me with a full-course meal of torture, maiming, and casual murder. Somewhere between the Ocean’s Eleven vibes and the “let’s remove this guy’s fingers one by one” energy, I had to ask myself: Am I enjoying this? The answer? Mostly.

📌 Characters - 8/10

Locke Lamora is an arrogant, overconfident con artist with a talent for thinking on his feet—and a terrible survival instinct. His best friend and right-hand man, Jean Tannen, is the brains and brawn that holds the entire operation together, delivering some of the book’s most satisfying moments (and best beatdowns). Their ride-or-die friendship is easily the strongest relationship in the book.

But the supporting cast? A mixed bag. The Sanza twins are entertaining but underdeveloped, Bug is mostly there to die tragically, and Capa Barsavi is a textbook example of a man who thinks he's in control when he absolutely isn’t. The Grey King and the Falconer make for decent villains, but their motivations are just functional—they work for the plot, but they don’t feel particularly deep.

And then there’s the glaring gender imbalance. Nazca Barsavi, the one woman who seems like she’ll play a major role, is killed off before she even gets a chance to be interesting. Vorchenza, the aging spymaster, is a great late-game addition, but she only enters the story near the end. And Sabetha? She’s referenced endlessly as Locke’s biggest regret, but she never appears, making her feel more like a plot device than a person.

📌 Atmosphere/Setting - 9/10

Camorr is Venetian fantasy meets brutal crime syndicate, dripping with grime, danger, and Elderglass towers that gleam like ancient relics of a long-dead civilization. The city breathes. From the floating black market of the Night Market to the shark-infested waters where debts are settled, Camorr feels alive in a way that many fantasy settings struggle to achieve.

That being said, Lynch sometimes falls into the Tolkien trap of describing everything in excruciating detail. The canals? Filthy. The nobles? Ridiculous. The torture? More detailed than it needed to be. At times, I felt like I was reading a guidebook instead of a novel.

📌 Writing Style - 8/10

Lynch’s prose is fast, witty, and loaded with personality—when it isn’t getting bogged down by its own indulgence. The dialogue crackles, and the humor genuinely lands, which is impressive given how dark the book gets.

But the structure? A bit of a mess. The book constantly jumps between Locke’s past (flashbacks with Father Chains and the early days of the Gentleman Bastards) and the present-day heist. Sometimes, this adds depth. Other times, it kills momentum right when things get interesting.

Also, every single plan Locke makes goes off without a hitch… until it suddenly explodes in the most catastrophic way possible. There’s no in-between.

📌 Plot - 7/10

The first half of the book delivers exactly what was promised: a high-stakes, well-crafted heist. Locke and his crew are conning Don Lorenzo Salvara and his wife Doña Sofia, posing as foreign merchants while stealing everything they can. It’s smart, it’s engaging, and it’s exactly what I wanted.

And then the Grey King shows up, and suddenly it’s less about a heist and more about Locke and Jean trying to survive a city-wide bloodbath.

Don’t get me wrong—the stakes escalate beautifully. But the shift from elaborate con artistry to full-scale revenge thriller is jarring. We go from charming deception to graphic torture scenes, and while that can work, the transition is too abrupt.

📌 Intrigue - 8/10

Even with the pacing issues, this book is incredibly engaging. I wanted to see how Locke would weasel his way out of certain death this time. The elaborate scams, the double-crosses, and the sheer audacity of the Gentleman Bastards kept me hooked.

That being said, the torture scenes killed my momentum. They’re long, brutal, and relentless, and they don’t add much beyond shock value. There were moments where I actively needed to put the book down.

📌 Logic/Relationships - 5.5/10

Locke’s scams are clever, but are they believable? Not really. He and his teenage friends are somehow running elite-level cons on the most powerful people in Camorr—and getting away with it. The idea that no one has caught onto them before now stretches credibility.

Also, the worldbuilding is excellent, but the gender imbalance is impossible to ignore. The lack of women is especially frustrating because the world itself doesn’t seem to have any built-in sexism. There’s no reason why there shouldn’t be more women in the underworld, but for some reason, there just… aren’t.

📌 Enjoyment - 7.5/10

There’s a lot to love here, but also a lot that wore me down. The heists? Fantastic. The cons? Brilliant. The action? Tense and well-paced. But the sheer brutality of the violence and the abrupt tonal shifts made this a more exhausting read than I expected.

I had fun, but I also needed a break.

📌 Final Verdict: 3.75 Stars (7.5/10 Final Score)

Is it a fun, immersive fantasy heist? Yes. Is it also way too violent for its own good? Also yes.

📌 What Worked:
✅ Fantastic setting & worldbuilding
✅ Clever cons & strong banter
✅ Locke & Jean’s dynamic was fun

📌 What Didn’t Work:
❌ Pacing whiplash (from fun heist to full horror movie)
❌ Over-the-top gore & torture scenes
❌ Glaring lack of gender diversity

🔥 Final Take: If you love elaborate heists, fast-talking criminals, and don’t mind extreme violence, you’ll probably enjoy this. If you prefer a bit more balance, chaos, and female characters that exist, you might find it frustrating. Still a solid read, but not without issues.

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ghost3_14159's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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silentquercus's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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pulcotinette's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A nice read but the story is soooo slowed downed by flash-back into the childhood of the characters that it is sometimes frustrating. The flash-backs also can serve as justifications and appeared like a nice way to introduce something that should have been gradually introduced in the main story. Overall, I had a nice time, but I had a really hard time getting to know the characters and grasping their personality. I think it would suit a reader who doesn't care about characters that much better.
I also felt like this book was very self-contained. The major plotline gets introduced rather late in the book, yet is over by the end of it. Which was kind of weird. To be honest, the pacing of the story in its entirety wasn't much to my liking (way too slow). But don't let this deter you from reading this book: you'll have a good time and you will be surprised by how out there some of the heists are.
Definitely check the warnings though, there are some harsh scenes in there.

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