The lies of Locke Lamora

I've thought about this for a while and what was so disappointing about this book. The reviews are great, and the story if very intriguing. Honestly, Scott Lynch is an excellent writer when it comes to prose. He's not overly advanced and tedious, but definitely not juvenile. The problem comes with the way the story was constructed.

I liken the style to a speech by a great orator. Imaging you were listening to Martin Luther King, Jr. and his great speech went like this "I have a dream...but wait, I forgot to mention this happened a while back...the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners, oh yeah, there's this story about slaves and slave owners I want to mention...will be able to sit together..."

Flashbacks are hard to get right in books. Movies have the advantage of visual queuing, but in books it's hard to help the reader understand it is a flash back. And this book is full of flashback. Due to the heavy integration of characters, there is never a clear delineation of time save a chapter change. The first 2/3rd of this book is disorienting and difficult to follow. But does get much better after that.

The story it great, you have the appropriate level of empathy for those intended, excellent writing and prose, great characters, and fun twists. Just bad storytelling. And that aspect completely clouds the good in this book.

Going from Deadhouse Gates to The Lies of Locke Lamora was like going from a harsh, arctic country to a balmy beach on the Mediterranean. The writing of the one book is so harsh, and the writing of Scott Lynch's debut is so lovely, full of colorful descriptions of its world. I loved this book, probably more than I should have. In fact, I haven't enjoyed a fantasy book this much since Name of the Wind, even though fantasy as an element is used very sparingly.

Locke Lamora is an orphan in the city of Camorr, this world's equivalent of Renaissance Venice, with pseudo-Italian names, canals, crime bosses and nobility. As a young boy he is sold off to the Temple of Perelando when he turned out to be just a touch too clever to be a normal young thief. At the temple, he is trained to join the Gentlemen Bastards, a group of extremely skilled scam artists, who rob the nobility, mostly just because they can.

My mental association immediately went to a crazy mix of Ocean's Eleven, The Godfather and Assassin's Creed. Everytime an elderglass tower was described, I thought 'Ezio Auditore would climb those towers!'. Needless to say, I love Assassin's Creed's setting very much, and I loved it here in the book as well. It just worked for me. There are no Borgias as enemy, no Templars, but Capa Raza makes for an interesting nemesis.

As I mentioned, fantasy is only used in the form of two elements: the Camorri citizens work the art of alchemy, creating such wondrous fruit as the orange that grows filled with brandy, light globes and similar. There's multiple mentions of a race called Eldren that left wondrous buildings of elderglass behind a thousand years ago. And there are the bondmages of Karthain, powerful mages that go out of their way to punish any transgressions against them. I have a feeling they will be important in the next book.

The Lies of Locke Lamora is full of twists and turns, foul language and foul events (like being drowned alive in horse piss), and people die. But it also made me laugh and be moved by Locke, especially at the end of the book. I am looking forward to the next book, which promises more of the same plus PIRATES. This should be good.