The Lies of Locke Lamora

The Lies of Locke Lamora is the debut fantasy/adventure novel of Scott Lynch and is the first of a seven book cycle.
After finishing this novel, I give it a hearty 2 thumbs up and would recommend it to almost any reader of fantasy.

To be honest, I was a bit skeptical at first of all the hype surrounding this book. When I first became aware of it, on a forum dedicated to the discussion of George RR Martin’s works, many people were calling this work “genius” and “greatest of all time”. Superlatives such as this often lose their edge and veracity over time, so I began reading it with the expectation that I would probably notice every little mistake of comment and be overly critical (as I often tend to be). To be honest, I still haven't gotten over the shock of just how bad Steven Erikson's series is after hearing so many outstanding reviews of his work (something called the Marzipan Books of the Swollen or some such nonsense). The word "Genius" is getting bandied about a bit too liberally for my tastes these days. So, that is the mindset I was coming from when I began reading Lynch.

So, is the book really that good?

When I had read about 1/3 of the book, I had some doubts as to the overall quality and whether or not I would even get to page 100! Lynch lays out the story in the beginning with some odd chronological leaps hither and thither that are just a bit too cutesy for the good of the story. Not only does he tell the main story in the "present" but there are flashbacks to a time when the chief protagonist, Locke Lamora, was a child learning to make his way in the world. There are also flashbacks within both the present and past storylines, however, making for periods of awkward plot progression. In fact, one entire chapter is rendered irrelevant due to fact the reader already knows the outcome from the proceeding chapter which takes place chronologically after the chapter that follows it. Confusing aint it? There are also some freshman errors in comma placement and sentence structure that the editor should have picked up. Im also distressed that a learned man would use the term “two-tenths” instead of “one-fifth”, but I suppose that’s my little pet peeve. The characters kept me interested enough to continue reading and I journeyed onward (buoyed also by George RR Martin's recommendation). By the time I got halfway through the tome I was hooked.

Lynch settles down into a simple present and past layout that makes the prose read easier and the plot progress faster. I also stopped noticing any internal inconsistencies or editing problems, although I do not know why the first half should differ so much from the second. From there on out, the story is a real page turner. I had trouble putting the book down at times, wanting to see what happened next. There was actually a time I was late to work because I wanted to finish a chapter and couldnt put the book down. I dont want to give a lot away, because there are some twists that need to be experienced. This is not a typical "good guys always win" type of fantasy either, so be prepared to have things turn out perhaps not quite as you would have liked them to.

At times there is just a tad bit too much "power comparison" between characters and groups. By that I mean, Lynch sets up one character, lets say "element A" as being the "one you do not want to even look funny at" but then needs to up the ante with the next one that comes along. So "element B" becomes the one that "element A" is even frightened of crossing! After several levels of this go by you begin to wonder why anyone was worried about "A" to begin with! Lynch does this several times and it does standout as a Freshman error. Hopefully he'll learn the value of "showing" instead of "telling" and issues like this will be resolved.

This book has something for everyone, humor, action, good character development, sympathetic protagonists, believable antagonists etc. There are a few more negatives I could point out, but the positives really outweigh them in this case. One of the characters, Jean Tannen, is a real standout and one of my favorite characters in the genre. Locke's not bad either!

This is not a big-world, sprawling adventure like Jordan's Wheel of Time series or Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, but is a really fun adventure/crime tale in a fantasy world.

In summary, imagine Joss Whedon’s Firefly crossed with Robert Asprin’s Thieves Guild and Steven Brust’s Taltos series. Two thumbs up and 4.75 out of five stars!!!