Meet New Books
Meet New Books
Book Cover

The Lies of Locke Lamora

Book 1 in the series:Gentleman Bastards

Save:
Find on Amazon

The Lies of Locke Lamora is an epic fantasy novel that follows the adventures of Locke Lamora and his band of thieves, the Gentlemen Bastards, in the city of Camorr. The plot twists and turns with surprises at every corner, leading to an edge-of-your-seat experience for readers. The book seamlessly combines elements of crime heist fiction with a flawlessly executed fantasy setting, creating a unique and engaging story that keeps readers hooked until the very end.

Characters:

The characters, especially Locke Lamora and Jean Tannen, are well-developed, each with unique personalities and skills, contributing to the story's complexity and emotional resonance.

Writing/Prose:

Scott Lynch employs a sharp and witty writing style, filled with clever dialogue and vivid descriptions, punctuated by interludes that reveal character backstory and enhance the main plot.

Plot/Storyline:

The narrative follows Locke Lamora, an orphan turned master thief, and his crew of con artists as they navigate the dangers of their city, Camorr, while plotting elaborate scams against the nobility amidst the threat of a powerful antagonist.

Setting:

The setting of Camorr, reminiscent of Renaissance Venice, is filled with unique architecture, canals, and crime, creating a richly detailed backdrop for the story.

Pacing:

The pacing begins slowly with world-building but accelerates as the plot unfolds, maintaining a gripping pace despite occasional disruptions from interludes.
LOCKE LAMORA’S RULE of thumb was this: a good confidence game took three months to plan, three weeks to rehearse, and three seconds to win or lose the victim’s trust forever. This time around, he plan...

Notes:

The Lies of Locke Lamora is often described as a blend of Ocean's Eleven and Robin Hood.
The story is set in a fantasy version of Venice called Camorr, which is filled with canals and a rich cultural background.
Locke Lamora, the protagonist, is a thief and con artist, who leads a gang called the Gentleman Bastards.
The book is known for its witty dialogue and clever banter between characters, making it enjoyable and engaging.
It was Scott Lynch's debut novel, and he has received significant praise from authors like George R.R. Martin and Patrick Rothfuss.
The book features intricate plots with numerous twists and double-crosses, highlighting themes of friendship and loyalty.
The narrative structure alternates between the present and flashbacks, revealing Locke's childhood and how he became a thief.
Despite having some violence and dark themes, the tone is often humorous and light-hearted.
The series has a planned total of seven books, but only three have been published so far, leading to some frustration among fans.
Many readers appreciate the strong character development and the moral ambiguity of the main characters.

Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings

Content warnings include graphic violence, torture, and explicit language, which are present throughout the story.

From The Publisher:

"Remarkable . . . Scott Lynch's first novel, The Lies of Locke Lamora, exports the suspense and wit of a cleverly constructed crime caper into an exotic realm of fantasy, and the result is engagingly entertaining."-The Times (London)

An orphan's life is harsh-and often short-in the mysterious island city of Camorr. But young Locke Lamora dodges death and slavery, becoming a thief under the tutelage of a gifted con artist. As leader of the band of light-fingered brothers known as the Gentleman Bastards, Locke is soon infamous, fooling even the underworld's most feared ruler. But in the shadows lurks someone still more ambitious and deadly. Faced with a bloody coup that threatens to destroy everyone and everything that holds meaning in his mercenary life, Locke vows to beat the enemy at his own brutal game-or die trying.

Praise for The Lies of Locke Lamora

"Fresh, original, and engrossing . . . gorgeously realized."-George R. R. Martin

"Right now, in the full flush of a second reading, I think The Lies of Locke Lamora is probably in my top ten favorite books ever. Maybe my top five. If you haven't read it, you should. If you have read it, you should probably read it again."-Patrick Rothfuss, New York Times bestselling author of The Name of the Wind

"A unique fantasy milieu peopled by absorbing, colorful characters . . . Locke's wit and audacity endear him to victims and bystanders alike."-The Seattle Times

"A true genre bender, at home on almost any kind of fiction shelf . . . Lynch immediately establishes himself as a gifted and fearless storyteller, unafraid of comparisons to Silverberg and Jordan, not to mention David Liss and even Dickens."-Booklist (starred review)

"High-octane fantasy . . . a great swashbuckling yarn of a novel."-Richard Morgan

Ratings (359)

Incredible (87)
Loved It (133)
Liked It (71)
It Was OK (28)
Did Not Like (24)
Hated It (16)

Reader Stats (776):

Read It (351)
Currently Reading (12)
Want To Read (315)
Did Not Finish (29)
Not Interested (69)

13 comment(s)

Loved It
1 month

Very nice. I loved the storyline and adored the characters. My only reservation is the unnesasary amount of violence. if it wasn't so good I would dnf because of it.

 
Hated It
1 month

When I watch a movie, if I am not into it by 20 or 30 minutes into a 2 hour film, I turn it off - if I am not into a book at the 20-25% mark, I also quit reading - this happened to me on this novel.

It is not the style, because I have reads books with time jumps, and flashbacks to tell the story.

It is not the anti-hero Thief character - I have read a hundred of those.

and, it is not the Fantasy setting, because I read and write in the Fantasy genre.

My issue with this story is Locke Lamora - I don't care about him. I have no reason to care about him - I don't even like him, not even a little - the concept of this book sounded great, and positive reviews made me invest in it, but seriously, I have very little time in my life to waste on a book that has as much substance as eating sugar packets -

I will not say that I wanted to like this, because I want to enjoy every book I read, and I will put away the ones that I do not enjoy - this has been added to the list of wasted days.

 
2 months

This was more complex and confusing than I was prepared to follow at the time.

 
Hated It
3 months

1 star

DNF @60%

Over explaining ruined the story. Multiple angles of the same story, going back and forth between the past and present ruined it for me. It feels the author tried very hard to make the characters cool as well as deadly. Low fantasy, God knows who does the genre tagging to the books.

A brag and a drag story.

Happy Reading!!

 
Did Not Like
3 months

It felt slow to me

 
Loved It
3 months

Okay, I have been reading a lot of really awful (but popular) fantasy since Harry Potter, and hated them all, and then this amazing book comes out.

Okay let's mix a solid Oliver Twist kiddie orphan gang tale with The Godfather with Ocean's 11 and set it all in some fantasy Renaissance type world that reminds me of Venice?! What?! And this works?!

Oh it works. AND it's not ridiculously sexist like a lot of the new fantasy I have tried to read.

Characters are great. Plot is great. I wanted to stay up all night finishing it instead of going to work! It is funny and doesnt take itself seriously or try to be epic.

Seriously, do yourself a favor, stop reading that crappy Game of Thrones, and read this!

 
Loved It
3 months

Debatiendome entre 3 y 4 estrellas.

Por un lado el mundo es increible, muy creible y detallado, religion, sociedad, etc.

Por otro lado aunque al principio son interesantes despues de un libro entero los interludios entre capitulos se hacen muy pesados.

Ademas Locke tira mas a tonto que a listo por mucho que se diga de el. Se equivoca muchisimo y eso es practicamente lo que hace avanzar el drama y conflicto. En cambio Jean lo hace todo perfecto, no se por que Locke es el jefe.

 
Incredible
5 months

Dark and humorous tone. Great story and characters. Fun world building.

 
Loved It
6 months

It took me quite a while to become immersed in this book, but once I did, I found the overall story and characters incredibly compelling and engaging. Even the secondary characters are well developed and feel real. If I don't like the protagonist of a book, I will not like the book overall. Luckily, I liked Locke and cared about what happened to him.

I'm looking forward to reading the second book whenever my library has it available!

 
Incredible
11 months

I've read the whole series and I'm impatiently waiting for the next installment!

 
More Comments...

About the Author:

Scott Lynch is the author of The Lies of Locke Lamora, Red Seas Under Red Skies, and The Republic of Thieves. He lives in Wisconsin and frequently visits Massachusetts, the home of his partner, SF/F writer Elizabeth Bear. He moonlights…

 
Meet New Books is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a way for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to products and services on amazon.com and its subsidiaries.
When you click the Amazon link and make a purchase, we may receive a small commision, at no cost to you.