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wank 's review for:
The Lies of Locke Lamora
by Scott Lynch
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The relationship and dialogue between all the Gentlemen Bastards were so good, although we never learned too much about Bug and only a bit more about the twins. Locke and Jean were much better fleshed out.
Locke is such a fun character to read about; his convoluted, theatrical plans are always entertaining. The 3rd person perspective gives you the opportunity to guess at Locke’s plans as they were happening which was fun. Although I think sometimes they were a bit too much, I struggle to believe there wasn’t an easier, safer way to get a set of clothes towards the end with Locke’s skills.
The frequent POV switches were interesting for the most part, especially the ones about Locke’s past where he built his relationships with the other Gentlemen Bastards and his skills as a thief. The way they were used to justify character’s capabilities and choices while expanding on the world was good. However, some of the timings made me much less willing to read them. Sometimes the POV switched from a very tense moment to a much more relaxed one, killing the momentum.
Although not much of the world has been explored yet, some interesting mysteries have already been set up and some of the unknowns were used effectively to make characters more intimidating. Some of the locations were very cool and creative too.
The two main antagonists weren’t interesting at all to me, their motivations were weak and it felt like the author made their plans more complicated than they needed to be just to involve the protagonists in their scheme. The spider having no subordinates with them when they cornered Locke so he could easily escape was also a bit strange. I think Barsavi was much more intimidating and his connection to Locke would have made him a better antagonist along with the spider who was already hunting Locke. A story about the Gentlemen Bastards trying to pull off their heist with Barsavi and the spider on their trail would have been better for me.