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The Lies of Locke Lamora | 
 enlarge | Author: Scott Lynch
Publisher: Spectra
Category: EBooks
List Price: $6.99
Buy New: $5.59
You Save: $1.40 (20%)
Rating:  140 reviews
Sales Rank: 1906
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 752
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
ASIN: B000JMKNJ2
Publication Date: June 27, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
In this stunning debut, author Scott Lynch delivers the wonderfully thrilling tale of an audacious criminal and his band of confidence tricksters. Set in a fantastic city pulsing with the lives of decadent nobles and daring thieves, here is a story of adventure, loyalty, and survival that is one part Robin Hood, one part Ocean's Eleven, and entirely enthralling.
An orphan's life is harsh - and often short - in the island city of Camorr, built on the ruins of a mysterious alien race. But born with a quick wit and a gift for thieving, Locke Lamora has dodged both death and slavery, only to fall into the hands of an eyeless priest known as Chains - a man who is neither blind nor a priest. A con artist of extraordinary talent, Chains passes his skills on to his carefully selected "family" of orphans - a group known as the Gentlemen Bastards. Under his tutelage, Locke grows to lead the Bastards, delightedly pulling off one outrageous confidence game after another. Soon he is infamous as the Thorn of Camorr, and no wealthy noble is safe from his sting.
Passing themselves off as petty thieves, the brilliant Locke and his tightly knit band of light-fingered brothers have fooled even the criminal underworld's most feared ruler, Capa Barsavi. But there is someone in the shadows more powerful - and more ambitious - than Locke has yet imagined.
Known as the Gray King, he is slowly killing Capa Barsavi's most trusted men - and using Locke as a pawn in his plot to take control of Camorr's underworld. With a bloody coup under way threatening to destroy everyone and everything that holds meaning in his mercenary life, Locke vows to beat the Gray King at his own brutal game - or die trying.
From the Hardcover edition.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 135 more reviews...
 Entertaining November 21, 2008
This book was really entertaining but felt kind of shallow. It's more of an event based story than one driven by character development. You'll care more about what happens next than how what happens next will effect the main characters.
The main point I want to make about this story is that I read it and I liked it. But I don't want to and won't be ordering the sequels. Why? Mainly because I didn't really connect to anything in the book. I should have been sad when people died but I wasn't. The Lies of Locke Lamora is a page-turner that I didn't regret reading but won't be reading again.
 Potential Galore And Hype To Match November 19, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
The Lies of Locke Lamora is surprisingly interesting, if not overly hyped, fantasy entry by a debut author who shows flashes of brilliance in his prose. Perhaps the book's greatest strength is the way in which Lynch interweaves both the current exploits of the characters with the history of the land he's describing through well-placed interludes.
Surprisingly, I wasn't hooked on the tale until around the 185 page mark where the scheming, lying, and just general conniving of the lead cast becomes more than just a novelty and instead an integral part of the plot. I particularly enjoyed Lynch's ability of painting Locke and company into corners that even the most thorough reader cannot conceivably overcome.
Also noteworthy is the author's commitment to realism in the form of lead character deaths. Not to give any spoilers, let's just say that not everyone you'll come to know makes it to the end. Additionally, his references to alien technology are certainly interesting and play a consistent role in the environment itself.
It appears Lynch's use of modern slang/ profanity in Locke's dialog has been met with mixed reaction. On the one hand he does an admirable job of creating a character with a nice dose of attitude in a world where only the strong survive. On the other, there's little in terms of character maturity save for physical growth.
The overall pacing is impressive thanks in no small part to the historical interludes mentioned above fitting neatly between chapters, which, themselves, are broken into multiple parts. It's always easy to put off sleep, work, or other responsibilities with the logic "just one more section."
All in all, a fun read that does a commendable job steering clear of the more common fantasy genre cliches with enough intrigue and personality to warrant some attention. Based on what I've heard about the sequel, it's yet to be determined whether Lynch represents the next big thing in fantasy or happened to get lucky with The Lies of LL.
 Fritz Lieber meets Glen Cook November 1, 2008
Imagine Fritz Lieber working with Glen Cook, and Harry Turtledove as a contributing consultant... I'm very impressed. This has massive amounts of imagination in a world-system that often surprises, as fantasy with SF overtones. Certainly this follows Clarke's Law, stuff in here presented as 'magic' sure feels like 'sufficiently advanced technology' from a prior civilization :-) Sure, as a first novel there is probably room for improvement, but I ripped through this in one reading, something I have not been able to do with lesser works of this length.
Tomorrow I'll start on the sequel. And another reviewer mentioned this has been optioned for a movie, this has real potential in that direction as a very visual book with lots of dialog.
Engrossing, Swashbuckling Tale - Can't Wait for Sequel October 23, 2008
Locke Lamora is the leader of The Gentlemen Bastards, perhaps the most successful group of thieves in the city of Camorr. They are in the midst of a devious and convoluted plan to fleece a noble when all hell breaks loose. Enter The Grey King, a sinister mystery wrapped within an enigma - who seems determined to take absolutely everything from Locke Lamora. But he underestimates Locke...
This is the very best kind of fantasy novel, where great character development and plot drive the story, instead of the author relying on elves, dragons, trolls or the other boring old cliches. This is quite simply the best fantasy tale I have read in a long while, and I eagerly await Mr. Lynch's next offering.
Very Well Done October 23, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I just finished reading this novel and I am happy to report it was better than I expected it to be. I had purchased this one a while ago and it sat on my "to be read" shelf for some time. At least its turn came and almost immediately I was drawn into the complex but beautifully laid out world of Locke Lamora. The overall premise is very basic, as several other reviewers have already noted. It has an air of Oliver Twist to it, with some good old fashioned betrayal and revenge mixed in. I fully enjoyed the mix of plots and characters which I think were all well drawn by the author. Some of which I thought were so well done they could carry a story of their own (I can only hope). I also liked how the story would allude to a long forgotten "alien" civilization but did not delve too deep and take away the momentum of the story. Which brings me to my next point, pacing. The story was very well paced which is to say it moved along at warp speed, the pages will fly by if you give this one a chance. I read that this is the first of a projected series and I hope that all of the successive novels in this series are as good as this one was.
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