The Lies of Locke Lamora (The Gentleman Bastard Sequence, Band 1)

A lengthy fantasy epic that certainly had its moments.

I had a hard time getting into this book, probably due to the old-timey writing style and the many throwbacks into Locke‘s early life, but after around 200 pages things finally began picking up, but unfortunately never really left the ground. I did enjoy the intricate world building, as well a the band of brothers bullshitting their way through Camorra and robbing rich people blind without them realizing it. I respect Lynch for never taking the easy way out and putting his characters through hardships and trauma, but in combination with lots of profanity, blood and gore the book felt bleak and depressing at times. Last but not least, the lack of relevant female characters was disconcerting and made me, a female reader, feel somewhat excluded. Given The Lies Of Locke Lamora is his debut, Lynch did a great job, but for me personally, the 700-and-odd pages left a lot to be desired.

This book is beautifully written, made me laugh out loud and sob like a baby, kept me engaged the whole way through and had me entirely fall in love with the world and the characters, especially the protagonist. Like, seriously, I’d die for Locke. What a lovable a-hole. From now on The Lies of Locke Lamora is definitely up there as one of my favorite books of all time!

Welch ein Geniestreich! Geschichten über Diebe gibt es ja viele, aber selten sind sie so intelligent und gewitzt, dass es eine wahre Freude ist ihrem Weg zu folgen. Die Welt entfaltet sich langsam, die Charaktere wachsen schnell ans Herz und dann überschlagen sich die Ereignisse. Man muss mit Köpfchen dabeibleiben, um allem folgen zu können. Aber es lohnt sich! Und man freut sich als hätte man ihn selbst ausgeheckt, wenn mal wieder ein Plan funktioniert :-) Teil 1 einer Reihe, kann aber bedenkenlos als stand-alone gelesen werden.

I'm kinda conflicted. Did I only not love it because I'm in a weird headspace or is it really just not the perfect story for me? There is so much I should love in theory but I kept unintentionally skimming pages. It took about 100p to get into the story at all. It was really hard for me to get focus and be engaged, although I very much enjoyed all the interludes, throughout the whole book, really. The book was easier to follow later on, but the writing didn't click with me, except the dialogs, they flow quite nicely. The less was going on in a scene, the easier it was for me to enjoy the details of it. I think you have to like the characters to fully enjoy the story. Sorry, but I really didn't. The concept of morally grey characters is great, but was it fully embraced or did they just switch from nice to really bad from time to time? Locke especially was framed as extremely good and loyal to an almost laughable point at times, just to go full ashole again mode later? The story and world had a lot of fascinating elements and while I loved some scenes and chapters, the whole plot didn't always keep my attention. I enjoyed the book more than this review would make it seem, but for books that I didn't quite love it's more interesting for me to analyze why, than to name all the things everyone already says is great about it but being less convinced than others. But I liked the Oliver Twist vibes of the flashbacks, the atmosphere of the town it is set in, that it's a story about friendship and some of the scenes that really stood out to me.

Low Fantasy, venetian flavoured mafia Story.

I absolutely loved it. - but it might be a somewhat male audience oriented, with few female important characters. The story wouldn't let me off the hook, it was witty and smart and funny. The stakes were raised to the skies and it payed off awesomely. The characters didn't seem to deep or evolving, but Locke was very consistent and all were enjoyable. The world is athmospherically really dense- but doesn't seem to desperate to explain itself, or only in so far as necessary for the plot at hand. Plot 5/5 Characters 3/5 Worldbuilding 5/5

Really enjoyable Slice of life esque low fantasy thief story

Very Good Story. Unfortunately, I had a hard time staying focused and wasn’t that invested in it. It was difficult to see what the story was even about for the majority of the book.

Obwohl noch ein Monat vor mir liegt, kann ich schon jetzt sagen: Dies ist mein persönliches Lieblingsbuch des Jahres. Warum habe ich diese Perle nicht schon vielfrüher entdeckt? Die Lügen des Locke Lamora hat alles, was es für mich zu einem All-Time Favoriten macht. Unerwartete Wendungen, gerissene Dialoge, komplexe Figuren und gut ausgetüfftelte Handlungsstränge machen dieses Fantasy-Abenteuer zu einem unterhaltsamen Gesamtpaket. Besonders angetan war ich von der geschaffenen Welt, in der Diebesbanden und Haie (tierische wie menschliche) dominieren. Auf einen Cliffhanger folgen meist Zwischenspiele, in denen die Geschichte der Stadt beleuchtet wird. Obwohl ich manches mal weiter blättern wollte um zu erfahren, wie der Protagonist seinem beinahe sicheren Tod entflieht, geben diese kleinen Intermezzos interessante Hintergrundinformationen und Einblicke in die Motive mancher Nebencharaktere. Wer Bardugos Lied der Krähen mochte, wird sich in Locke und die Gentleman Bastards verlieben.

So. This was mediocre. It wasn't all bad, but it also wasn't good. The characters were hard to imagine visually for me because there weren't that much descriptive words given (in summary, one's short and lithe, one's tall and fat, two look the same as each other, and the last is a teen) and their behaviour was often inconclusive age-wise - and they also were not too facetted concerning character. The only character I got a better idea of and therefore favoured greatly was the one who was already dead in the story's present-day world. Also, it took the book about 200 pages to actually qualify as a fantasy novel in the way that "fantastic" things happened on page - before that it was basically a variety of Robin Hood and his Merry Men, thiefing about in an imaginary Venice instead of Sherwood Forest and not sharing with the poor that much. At page 350, the actual story started. Having read a lot of fantasy, I can't say the author managed to surprise me though he seems to be a fan of "unexpected twists" and trying to "gotcha" the reader a lot. What he did manage was to put in the worst and most corny final dialogue in a death scene obviously meant to be touching that I've read in a long time (i.e. Bug's death scene). What I liked about the book were the "flashbacks" to the younger years of the Gentlemen Bastards - I would have enjoyed a whole book about that very much, I think. Also, I would have liked the architecture of a previous people populating the world to be more than just a backdrop because the idea behind this was quite intriguing. And I'm also somewhat partial to the idea of "true names" as the basis of magic systems. Last not least, let me say I enjoyed the fact that basically all female (secondary) characters were interesting and independent beings in their own right, as far as could be seen. So, three stars and a quarter, I'd say. The author was kind enough not to end this book on a cliff-hanger, and so I feel completely at peace to let the surviving characters sail off to whatever they'll be up to next - and not find out what that might be.

"The Lies of Locke Lamora" is told in two time planes. The past, where young Locke Lamora is bought by the the old priest of the order of the thief-god Perelando and taught to be a thief; and the present, where adult Locke and his friends are applying the knowledge they were taught and get caught in a war between the powers of their hometown Camorr. This book captivates through the intricate worldbuilding which paints a rich picture of Camorr, its society, its customs and its neighbors. The author also does a good job at rounding off his characters and making them interesting. I had plenty of people I rooted for, some of those sympathies conflicting with each other. At points I wished for more present female characters that were important, but on the whole, between Sofia, Vorchenza, and Nazca, it doesn't seem so bad on that point. I believe I might just be used to reading more female-centered stories usually. Overall a great story with multiple great overlapping conflicts that I can recommend, with rich characters and world-building.