It’s not often that I will gush about a 719 page book. I’m not even going to complain about the length this time. The Lies of Locke Lamora is just that awesome.
This is a caper book. The copy on the back of the book claims it has much in common with Ocean’s 11, but I think it has much more in common with The Italian Job. In Ocean’s 11, nothing ever really goes wrong. We think it does, but at the end everything is cleverly revealed to be part of the plan. Like The Italian Job, in Scott Lynch’s fantasy novel, things go badly awry. Frequently. Most of the time Locke Lamora gets to use his silver tongue to worm his way out of trouble. He counts on it. It doesn’t always work, but often it does.
Let’s go over the set-up. Camorra is a Venice-like city-state in the former empire of Therin. A city of islands interspersed with canals, much of the commerce is actually given over to crime. Locke Lamora is the garrista, or boss, of the Gentleman Bastards. It’s the city’s smallest criminal gang. They are con men, but they pose as burglars for the benefit of the boss of bosses, Capa Barsavi. The Capa has engineered a secret peace between the underworld and the nobles; only merchants and commoners are to be robbed. In return, the constabulary leave the underworld alone for the most part.
This is a fantasy world. There isn’t an over-abundance of magic, though. There’s three items: alchemy, a very small but powerful guild of mages, and a race lost to the world that left behind Elderglass. Elderglass is the most permanent substance known to man. It also radiates light for about an hour after sundown.
So, the plot is this: the Gentleman Bastards are breaking the Secret Peace by conning nobles. It’s going swimmingly even. At first we are treated to the gang’s staging of the con. And interspersed are interludes that show the training and formation of the gang by its original garrista, Father Chains, a fake priest. Nothing better to hide a thieving group than a cloak of religiosity. You’ll think the book is about the con, and you’ll get to see if they get caught or get away with it. But partway through the book Lynch introduces the Grey King. He’s a shadowy figure unknown to anyone in the city, and he starts interfering in lots of things, including the Gentleman Bastards’ caper as well as other gangs. He appears to be untouchable and has the protection of a hired mage.
And that’s where I’m going to leave the plot summary. The book is long, but it reads as quickly as any John Grisham or Tom Clancy thriller. Despite its length, it isn’t ponderous at all. It’s incredibly fun. It’s urban, even if medieval. Things aren’t clean at all. This is not Tolkien here, and I’m glad. People die in this novel. Not just red-shirted crewman either. Characters I grew to like. Not all of them, though. And none of them just to inject melodrama. The twists and turns of the cons and the swerves of the characters aren’t always the most inventive. But, like in wrestling, just because we know something is going to happen a certain way doesn’t make it less entertaining. In the hands of a lesser-skilled writer, perhaps it would. But Scott Lynch is a talent. This book better win a bunch of awards.
Title: The lies of Locke Lamora
Author: Scott Lynch
Cover artist: Steve Stone
Series: The gentleman bastard sequence ; 1
Imprint / publisher: Bantam / Random House
Format: Mass market paperback
Length: 719 p.
Publication date: July 2007
ISBN-13: 978-0-553-58894-1
Subject: Swindlers and swindling — Fiction
Subject: Robbers and outlaws — Fiction
Subject: Orphans — Fiction
Subject: Gangsters — Fiction
LC classification: PS3612.Y5427 L54 2006
