The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
(Book #1 of the Gentleman Bastard series)
Rating: 🍁🍁🍁🍁
I came across The Lies of Locke Lamora almost by accident, picking it up from the bookstore shelf randomly while waiting for my mother to finish spoiling my son rotten in the children's section. (Hint to grandparents: if you're going to spoil your grandkids, books are definitely the way to go!) I sat down and started reading and was immediately drawn in by the world and its inhabitants. I ended up buying it despite the fact that I'd already spent my book budget for this month, and I'm so glad that I did.
What a great story! It took a while to get off the ground, burdened as it was with the requirements of world-building and stage-setting, but there was always enough to keep my interest and make me come back for more. I thought I'd found the perfect before bed book - a good read, but nothing that would keep me up too late. Then, about half-way through, all the stars aligned and I was so engaged in the story that the next time I looked at the clock I had finished the book and it was 4am. Damn you, Scott Lynch!
It's not a perfect book - even in the latter half I did a fair bit of skimming through the flashbacks and somewhat unnecessary interjections about Camorrian history (was there a point to the section on how the working girls of Camorr ended up organized the way they did?). A more thorough editing would have taken care of much of this, but overall it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book.
What can I say about the story itself without giving things away? It's dark, but the darkness is balanced by a quick sense of humour and the real human-ness of the characters. Those characters, by the way, are by far the strongest part of the book. Each one feels real - there are no caricatures or people who exist solely to prop up the plot. Instead we're given a fascinating place filled with complex people engaged in...well...happenings. I really don't want to tell you anything about the plot. Part of the reason I enjoyed it so much was that I had no idea what to expect, and I want you to be able to experience the same yourself. Suffice it to say that by the end I was both cackling madly and looking for kleenex.
No comments:
Post a Comment