Book Review — The Lies of Locke Lamora

Available for some reason in 22 different formats here, The Lies of Locke Lamora is the first book in the Gentlemen Bastards series by author Scott Lynch — and it is a hell of a read.

Sold to me as “a book to rediscover the love of reading” by Tim Ferriss (on this podcast with AngelList founder Naval), it was one over 20 books recommended that caught my eye, and it certainly delivered.

The story of Locke Lamora follows an orphan boy-turned-thief, in a town roughly mirroring Venice, who proves to be too much trouble — in a house full of troublemakers. From meek beginnings, we follow Locke as he ascends to the highest levels of thievery and general mischief.

I would best describe this book as the Mad Max of 2015. (Apparently it came out in 2006, not important). One of the outstanding features of Mad Max was the impeccable pacing throughout the 2 hours of action, and this book receives my same praise, if not higher. By interleaving the main story with interludes chronicling the earlier days of the Gentlemen Bastards, their training, their hardships, it provides a great pace to the story — rather than smashing all the pretext in first and then following with plot. (Nothing shiny or chrome in here, sorry! Unless you count the elderglass towers.)

The best example of this comes in the middle of the book, where Locke Lamora has gotten himself into a bit of trouble with a Bondsmage. The story takes a short break to outline the traits of the Bondsmagi, including their proclivity to murder pretty much anything that crosses them, and the lengths to which reasonable people go in order to appease them. The very next line as we hop back to the venerable Locke Lamora is?

Nice bird, asshole!

At this point, an audible giggle escaped, without any chance of being stopped.

I’m not sure what other adjectives I want to throw out here, but the book is hilarious, well-paced, and incredibly immersive. The character of Locke Lamora and those who surround him are all quite vivid, and the descriptions of character are often supplemented with such colourful language as above.

Decision

The Lies of Locke Lamora is a must-read if you want to (pick one, or many):

• “rediscover the joy of reading”
• laugh out loud in a coffee shop
• debate whether or not reading this in one shot until 5am is worth it
• just enjoy a great piece of fiction

I personally look forward to the remaining books in the series — will have to pace myself this time!

PS:

Want to apologize to everyone (and myself!) for the lack of content. Have no fear, it was not for lack of reading — just lack of writing. I’ve read 18 books since the review of Night School, and plan to write at least a bit on all of them, probably mostly in a big clump.

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