A review by lindzboots
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

adventurous challenging emotional funny inspiring tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

Absolute perfection. 

The atmosphere - so unique and immersive, the world - so complex and riveting, the characters - so horrible and wonderful; I fell in love with it all. 

And the storytelling, my gosh, the storytelling - beautiful and hilarious and eloquent and descriptive down to the tiniest, most delectable detail. I was there in this fascinating and unique (I know I’ve used the word twice but I can’t think of a better way to express how I’ve never seen anything like it!) world; I felt it, saw it, heard it, smelled it. 

I laughed and I sobbed and I felt terror and horror and pride and vindication. 

Genuinely one of my new favorites, by far. I can’t say enough. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Gore, Torture, Excrement, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Animal death is one of my biggest triggers; I will say that this particular animal death did not affect me the way it usually would. For more detail, see the spoiler:

A main villain has a pet mutant bird. She is incredibly intelligent and actively malicious. She is killed quite violently and it is described in detail (though not more than necessary) toward the latter fourth of the book; later, her body is delivered to someone in a burlap sack. While any pet death is usually enough to turn me off of a book entirely, I will say that she is painted throughout the book as MORE than knowing what she's doing; she is treated more like a villainous character than a pet that's been "taught to be bad." She's Malificent's-Crow-Level-Evil.