I now blog over at The Eyre Guide! This blog is an archive of my past posts.


Showing posts with label scott lynch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label scott lynch. Show all posts
Friday, January 9, 2015

Review: The Lies of Locke Lamora

Posted by Charlene // Tags: , ,
The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentlemen Bastards #1)
by Scott Lynch
Fantasy
Amazon  /  Goodreads

Plot Summary:


The Thorn of Camorr is said to be an unbeatable swordsman, a master thief, a ghost that walks through walls. Half the city believes him to be a legendary champion of the poor. The other half believe him to be a foolish myth. Nobody has it quite right. Slightly built, unlucky in love, and barely competent with a sword, Locke Lamora is, much to his annoyance, the fabled Thorn. He certainly didn't invite the rumors that swirl around his exploits, which are actually confidence games of the most intricate sort. And while Locke does indeed steal from the rich (who else, pray tell, would be worth stealing from?), the poor never see a penny of it. All of Locke's gains are strictly for himself and his tight-knit band of thieves, the Gentlemen Bastards.

Locke and company are con artists in an age where con artistry, as we understand it, is a new and unknown style of crime. The less attention anyone pays to them, the better! But a deadly mystery has begun to haunt the ancient city of Camorr, and a clandestine war is threatening to tear the city's underworld, the only home the Gentlemen Bastards have ever known, to bloody shreds. Caught up in a murderous game, Locke and his friends will find both their loyalty and their ingenuity tested to the breaking point as they struggle to stay alive...

Review:

Before I start on my proper review of this book, I want to talk about the reason why I picked this up.  I've come to realize that I love characters who play by their wits, and almost always get away with something audacious.  They are extremely clever, sarcastic and often motivated by honorable intentions.  These are characters like Gen from the Queen's Thief series, Falcio from Traitor's Blade and The Scarlet Pimpernel.  I had heard Locke Lamora might be like this, but that really wasn't the case and I was disappointed by that.  Unfortunately I felt like that colored my feelings about this book, but I did try to keep my review as unbiased by that aspect as possible.