A First Class Lynching?
Since starting this website, I’ve navigated the pages of four books, I’ve enjoyed each of them and I’m now worrying that I’m only writing positive reviews. This is unfortunate as I’m looking forward to writing a coruscating take down of a mediocre novel. Instead I’ve had to direct my ire at sycophantic prize giving’s and book cover continuity. Luckily I’ve read a few less enjoyable books in my time, I’ve even managed to not connect with a few books that other people consider classics, and so once I’ve stopped creating the actual website itself, I can dedicate some time to revisiting and reviewing all the books I’ve read previously.
Of course every cloud has a silver lining (except the ones which have dark grey, angry linings) and in this case it’s the reassurance that there is a lot of very well crafted fantasy out there. A case in point, book number five since I started the website, The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. Like an awful lot of other books, I purchased this over a year ago, it’s since been knocking around on my kindle awaiting the purchase of the remainder of the series. It would probably sit there still if I hadn’t started this website (based purely on previous releases, it might well have sat there for another twenty or so years, waiting for the final four books in what the author has stated will be a seven part series), but I’m trying to read a lot of the books that have hefty reputations to see if they live up to them.
Similarly to my previous read (Patrick Rothfuss’ The Name of the Wind, another author with protracted book release syndrome), The Lies of Locke Lamora is focused on a central protagonist (the aforementioned Locke Lamora, AKA The Thorn of Camorr), there’s an occasional chapter here and there which follows some of the other major characters where required for the purposes of the story. A further similarity is the division of the narrative between the present as depicted in the book and Locke’s misspent youth, unlike The Name of the Wind the backstory takes place via flashback and the main story occurs in the present.
The story takes place in the port city of Camorr (think Venice on steroids), a sprawling warren of canals and alleys, populated with a motley crew of cut throats, cut purses and other assorted mischief makers, all of whom pay tribute to Capa Barsavi, ruler of the Camorri underworld. Locke Lamora has risen up from humble beginnings to become the head of the Gentleman Bastards, a small, relatively insignificant gang of thieves. The Gentlemen Bastards though are con artists and not just of the nobility on whom they prey. Locke and his fellow thieves are all relatively content going about their nefarious activities and paying tribute to Capa Barsavi, when the Grey King appears on the scene to challenge the Capa and upsets the delicate balance.
I didn’t find this book to be as immediately enjoyable as The Name of the Wind, it wasn’t as easy to read and it certainly took me longer to finish, however on reflection this novel offers a more complex, challenging and ultimately rewarding read. Where The Name of the Wind related the story in an uncomplicated fashion (which is not to suggest that it is without mystery), The Lies of Locke Lamora is more byzantine, there are plots within plots, the motives and morals of the lead character are ambiguous at best but all the more believable for that. In fact the author has done an incredible job of creating a living, breathing world, every facet of Camorr is rooted to an imperfect reality, from the city itself to the people who populate it, there are no miracle cures, no sudden uncovering of mystical abilities, nothing occurs which feels farfetched, out of character or previously unthinkable. While this is the first book in The Gentlemen Bastards sequence, I think that it also works as a standalone novel, so don’t let the interminable wait between episodes put you off, read it now and then in twenty years’ time, buy the rest of the series and re-enjoy this one.