Reviews with content warning for Murder - The Lies of Locke Lamora

Dark and violent but consistently funny and compelling as well. An intriguing world, subtle grounded magic, and lovable thieves. Scenes from different timelines woven together at just the right times to reveal information and character development.

Content Warnings

kiwij96's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

It took a moment for me to get used to the structure of the book: chapters written in parts with an interlude at the end of each chapter which is like a flashback. Once I got used to this stule of stroytelling, it became easier to engage with, however, there were times when the story was engaging and I couldn't put it down for like 100-150 pages, and other times where I struggled to get to the next part. It also felt like some of the paragraphs had been very heavily attacked by a thesaurus which meant I had to reread sections just to understand what was going on.

Criticisms aside, the story was full of twists and turns and more deaths that a season of Grey's Anatomy. The worldbuilding was full of description and even had its own calendar system. The characters were fantastically written, both good and bad characters. They brought me joy, anger, and heartbreak at times. Locke is an interesting character to me because as someone who is supposed to be the brains of the operation, he sure does make a whole bunch of mistakes and then continues acting like he is the cleverest being known to man.

I am unsure if I will continue the trilogy as this one felt like it could be a standalone, but we shall see.

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maidofbees's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny medium-paced

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

4.0

This was actually my third attempt at reading this book, and I finally did it! The content is a lot darker than my usual fantasy reads, which I think is why I struggled. That said, it was also funny and had a lot of heart. It's a shame there weren't many female characters- those that were in this book were minor.

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itsdaytime's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring 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

5.0

The Lies of Locke Lamora pulled me in with an interesting premise and wonderfully describe settings, then held me through the mystery and crude jokes. It had engaging characters, plot twists and murder, and a lot of suspension of disbelief. If you liked the Netflix show Lupin, (and can handle darker books), The Lies of Locke Lamora is right up your alley.

I really liked the interludes that Lynch included. It gave the reader more information on the world without needed a blatant explanation. The interludes were either stories from the Locke's or his brothers' childhood or stories from their city-state.

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jcsnow's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

Content Warnings

abhss's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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