Review Day: The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

There are no major spoilers in this review.

The Lies of Locke Lamora is the first book in The Gentlemen Bastards series, by Scott Lynch. (The series is planned out as 7 books but only three have been written in the last 17 years). The book tells the story of a small group of grifters who pull a long con on a member of the nobility before getting swept up in the larger backdrop of unrest in the island city of Camorr.

Although Camorr is a violent, bloody city, the camaraderie and witty dialogue of the main characters grounds the story and offers characters worth rooting for. The book sometimes reminded me of Cate Glass' Illusion of Thieves but with more darkness, testosterone, and backstabbing.

The pacing of the book is excellent, with flashbacks used extensively to bring new perspectives or humor to the scenes in current times. Though the thread of the narrative can initially be hard to follow because of the time jumps, it all comes together satisfyingly and in surprising ways. By about the 60% mark in the Kindle edition, I could no longer predict what was going to happen to the protagonists, as rugs upon rugs kept getting pulled out from underneath them.

The book is a little long-winded -- there's plenty of epic background information that seems like it will get unpacked in future books (like the fact that the entire city was built by an alien race). By the end of the book, though, you really get a sense of Camorr that serves to deepen the twisty power plays described on the page.

I liked this book enough to go straight on to the second book, Red Seas Under Red Skies, but it also functions very well as a one-and-done.

Final Grade: A-