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the_bee_abyss's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
tense
medium-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
Really enjoyed the humorous, Pratchett-esque tone straight from the start. The characters are immediately likeable and their various schemes draw you through the book and keep you wondering who really holds power over whom.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Trafficking
orionmerlin's review against another edition
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
✅ 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
❌ 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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Misogyny, Sexism, Slavery, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Drug use, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Excrement, Kidnapping, Alcohol, and Classism
The violence is pervasive and often quite brutal, with detailed descriptions of torture and murder. The book features themes of grief, revenge, and childhood trauma, particularly in Locke's backstory and the ruthless nature of Camorr’s criminal underworld. While there is no sexual violence, misogyny is present within the world’s structures, and female characters are notably absent from the main story except for a single major one late in the book.mattie's review against another edition
Toooooo much torture and gore, tyvm.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Torture
pixiemusings's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I have been meaning to read this for a while and FINALLY got around to it and...why did I not read it sooner?? The book was phenomenal! The world building was absolutely top notch. The characters were great and I actually found myself wanting to stay up to read it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Police brutality and Death of parent
Minor: Kidnapping
plotsandplants's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual violence and Death of parent
rowancaskey's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture and Murder
barry_x's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
tense
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? It's complicated
4.75
Okay, I just love this book.
I first read Scott Lynch in the anthology Rogues which contains his short story 'A Year and a Day in Old Theradane' and I loved it. I didn't know it at the time but it turns out Scott Lynch is a role-playing game designer and I certainly remember feeling the love for rpg's in the story. I'd heard of the 'Gentleman Bastards' series and was also pretty sure he also used to post on a sci-fi forum I frequent but I may be mistaken.
It was a shame I have waited so long to pick this up because 'The Lies of Locke Lamora' is superb. I really don't want to get too much into the plot here because the less you know the better but essentially the story of Locke Lamora is the story of the Gentleman Bastards, a group of thieves who delight in robbing the rich in elaborate scams, with Locke as the leader of the gang.
It's almost impossible not to fall in love with Locke and his gang, including his teacher Father Chains in the early part of the book. One can't help smile at their wittiness, their devil-may-care attitude and their love for each other. It's the kind of book where the characters have elaborate set-ups, don disguises and fake accents and lie through their teeth just to tap into the rich's greed and to extricate their wealth. What's not to like? Lynch's dialogue is great, and he develops a sense of love and camaraderie between the gang members which is hard not to adore.
The setting is brilliantly realised. The action focus's on the city of Camorr which is a series of interconnected islands with strange glass structures left by ancient inhabitants and deadly sharks in the sea nearby. Each island has it's own character, typically denoted by what they represent (industry, clerical, mercantile, crime, poverty) but the city as a whole feels like a wholly realised place. It is through the city that we understand the strata of society - the city is ruled by a nobility class but there are tensions with the mercantile class, who are supported in turn by clerical and government workers. There are people who would be considered working class, but there also victims of the 'establishment capitalism' of the city - the destitute and the downtrodden. On top of that is the criminal thief class who are ruled by a single 'capa' with hundreds of gangs below him.
What I loved about this, is how the city, nor the characters were ever 'info-dumped' - it felt very natural as we learn more about the city, it's histories and rules. The city felt very alive. One of the best strengths of the novel is seemingly how everything matters. I read a review which criticised the text as often being superfluous, and I get that, but there were so many times reading this that I realised an inconsequential detail earlier in the novel had significant relevance later.
One of the ways we learn about the city and the relationships between the characters are through little interludes in the story where there are little chapters describing something about the Bastards when they are children being trained by Father Chains. They are so rich and provide context to what is happening in the novel. I particularly loved how Father Chains story came together, and how things which may have seemed implausible came together beautifully.
The plot and pacing is mostly very good. I did feel a little lag here and there in the early part of the novel but the short chapters do drive the book along. I was having such fun with the book as a comedy heist book when the book took quite a stark tonal shift and it definitely jumped into the grimdark territory from then in. It gets pretty dark fast, with more than a few moments where you think the world of the book is unfair. The last fifty to hundred pages are electric in terms of pacing and I couldn't leave it alone. There is a section in the middle of the book where Lynch intentionally confuses the reader and you can't help but laugh when you realise you've been tricked. It suits the book well, since everyone is trying to get con everyone else. I sometimes thought in the book that things that happened where really tricks when they were not - the book isn't manipulative but I like being played tricks with in a book about tricksters.
Most people I suspect will identify with Locke and his gang in terms of liking characters. It's hard to not to care for these lovable rogues but the supporting characters are great too. I adored Dona Sofia Salvara, the wife of a merchant Locke is ripping off. She really grows into the story and I loved how she took agency and acted throughout the book. In a book which is essentially about making fools of others, she is nobody's fool. I liked how my feelings as a reader towards her changed in the book, going from, 'ha ha, her and her husband are getting ripped off' to 'she's awesome how she's not taking this shit!' She will almost certainly be my 'unexpected fictional heroine of 2025'.
Finally, this book is about morally ambiguous characters, and in some cases genuinely evil characters. I won't even touch on the idea of stealing here, recognising that if you rip off the massively wealthy of half their fortune then they've still got more than enough, but there are characters who murder, abuse and harm others and they are the 'good ones'. Locke himself transforms from loveable confidence trickster to doing things that definitely cross a line of decency, but feels justified in the context of the novel. Where Lynch got me, was that aside from the bastards, there are the nobles, the 'secret police' who prop up the inequality, the crime boss and those that seek to dethrone him. These characters, or groups all act in ways that harm others to protect their status and that harm ranges from things relatively minor to unspeakably evil (trying to avoid spoilers!). And yet, for each of these groups their actions are at least understandable in the context they act - I was reflecting that I had an enormous degree of sympathy for everyone, even those I thought I wouldn't.
Brilliant novel and I hope I get round to reading more in the series soon.
I first read Scott Lynch in the anthology Rogues which contains his short story 'A Year and a Day in Old Theradane' and I loved it. I didn't know it at the time but it turns out Scott Lynch is a role-playing game designer and I certainly remember feeling the love for rpg's in the story. I'd heard of the 'Gentleman Bastards' series and was also pretty sure he also used to post on a sci-fi forum I frequent but I may be mistaken.
It was a shame I have waited so long to pick this up because 'The Lies of Locke Lamora' is superb. I really don't want to get too much into the plot here because the less you know the better but essentially the story of Locke Lamora is the story of the Gentleman Bastards, a group of thieves who delight in robbing the rich in elaborate scams, with Locke as the leader of the gang.
It's almost impossible not to fall in love with Locke and his gang, including his teacher Father Chains in the early part of the book. One can't help smile at their wittiness, their devil-may-care attitude and their love for each other. It's the kind of book where the characters have elaborate set-ups, don disguises and fake accents and lie through their teeth just to tap into the rich's greed and to extricate their wealth. What's not to like? Lynch's dialogue is great, and he develops a sense of love and camaraderie between the gang members which is hard not to adore.
The setting is brilliantly realised. The action focus's on the city of Camorr which is a series of interconnected islands with strange glass structures left by ancient inhabitants and deadly sharks in the sea nearby. Each island has it's own character, typically denoted by what they represent (industry, clerical, mercantile, crime, poverty) but the city as a whole feels like a wholly realised place. It is through the city that we understand the strata of society - the city is ruled by a nobility class but there are tensions with the mercantile class, who are supported in turn by clerical and government workers. There are people who would be considered working class, but there also victims of the 'establishment capitalism' of the city - the destitute and the downtrodden. On top of that is the criminal thief class who are ruled by a single 'capa' with hundreds of gangs below him.
What I loved about this, is how the city, nor the characters were ever 'info-dumped' - it felt very natural as we learn more about the city, it's histories and rules. The city felt very alive. One of the best strengths of the novel is seemingly how everything matters. I read a review which criticised the text as often being superfluous, and I get that, but there were so many times reading this that I realised an inconsequential detail earlier in the novel had significant relevance later.
One of the ways we learn about the city and the relationships between the characters are through little interludes in the story where there are little chapters describing something about the Bastards when they are children being trained by Father Chains. They are so rich and provide context to what is happening in the novel. I particularly loved how Father Chains story came together, and how things which may have seemed implausible came together beautifully.
The plot and pacing is mostly very good. I did feel a little lag here and there in the early part of the novel but the short chapters do drive the book along. I was having such fun with the book as a comedy heist book when the book took quite a stark tonal shift and it definitely jumped into the grimdark territory from then in. It gets pretty dark fast, with more than a few moments where you think the world of the book is unfair. The last fifty to hundred pages are electric in terms of pacing and I couldn't leave it alone. There is a section in the middle of the book where Lynch intentionally confuses the reader and you can't help but laugh when you realise you've been tricked. It suits the book well, since everyone is trying to get con everyone else. I sometimes thought in the book that things that happened where really tricks when they were not - the book isn't manipulative but I like being played tricks with in a book about tricksters.
Most people I suspect will identify with Locke and his gang in terms of liking characters. It's hard to not to care for these lovable rogues but the supporting characters are great too. I adored Dona Sofia Salvara, the wife of a merchant Locke is ripping off. She really grows into the story and I loved how she took agency and acted throughout the book. In a book which is essentially about making fools of others, she is nobody's fool. I liked how my feelings as a reader towards her changed in the book, going from, 'ha ha, her and her husband are getting ripped off' to 'she's awesome how she's not taking this shit!' She will almost certainly be my 'unexpected fictional heroine of 2025'.
Finally, this book is about morally ambiguous characters, and in some cases genuinely evil characters. I won't even touch on the idea of stealing here, recognising that if you rip off the massively wealthy of half their fortune then they've still got more than enough, but there are characters who murder, abuse and harm others and they are the 'good ones'. Locke himself transforms from loveable confidence trickster to doing things that definitely cross a line of decency, but feels justified in the context of the novel. Where Lynch got me, was that aside from the bastards, there are the nobles, the 'secret police' who prop up the inequality, the crime boss and those that seek to dethrone him. These characters, or groups all act in ways that harm others to protect their status and that harm ranges from things relatively minor to unspeakably evil (trying to avoid spoilers!). And yet, for each of these groups their actions are at least understandable in the context they act - I was reflecting that I had an enormous degree of sympathy for everyone, even those I thought I wouldn't.
Brilliant novel and I hope I get round to reading more in the series soon.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture and Murder
natilly's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Drug use, Gore, Torture, Vomit, and Grief
arcticjinx's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
medium-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
This is my favorite book. That said, I can't stand here and tell you it is flawless. As some other reviews have stated, there is a distinct lack of characters that are both women and are either alive or have any agency, despite the author making it clear that the devilish underground of Camorr is very evenly split among genders. The main cast is loveable, and in my opinion, believably flawed. I won't say their luck isn't a bit unbelievable, but I suppose that when you have the god of thieves on your side, anything is possible. I would recommend this to people who enjoy worldbuilding, lengthy descriptions of clothing, heists, being sad, alchemy, and a sprinkle of magic.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Vomit, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Trafficking, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Pedophilia
lilsneakybandit's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Torture