The Lies Of Locke Lamora
written by Scott Lynch
www.ink2quill.com

”The Lies Of Locke Lamora” is a fantasy novel and the first book in The Gentlemen Bastards series set to expand beyond a trilogy series. The book rights have been bought by the entertainment giant Warner Bros. of Burbank, CA (aka Hollywood), so a film or even mini series might just be in the offing. The next books from The Gentlemen Bastard series are ”Red Seas Under Red Skies” and ”The Republic Of Thieves” with more novels to come. Other titles I´ve heard but cannot confirm are ”The Thorn Of Emberlain”, ”The Ministry Of Necessity” , ”The Mage And The Master Spy” and ”Inherit The Night”. This book is definitely a fun read.

You can visit Scott Lynch websites at:

http://www.scottlynch.us/index.html

http://www.scottlynch.us/books.html

Basically a group of orphans are taken in by a criminal priest named Father Chains and trained to be master thieves and con artisits. They worship the god of thieves and criminals, The Crooked Warden, and spend their childhoods learning all they need to know to be great deceivers and thieves. This includes accents, languages, etiquette and fashion of all the different subcultures of this world. Locke Lamora is the most talented of the group and becomes the head of The Gentlemen Bastard when Father Chains passes away.

The character dynamic of this story is what makes it such a good read. Instead of turning this into a tragic tale of orphans with no other option but a life of crime Scott Lynch shows us a group of thieves hard at work on the business of accumulating wealth, and they are very good at it. They work very well together and function more like a family than a criminal enterprise. Honestly, the character dynamic is alot like the boardroom of a large company run by close friends or family.

One part in the story that had me rolling was when the Gentlemen Bastards toasted to the completion of the first part of a big con against a noble named Don Lorenzo Salvara and his wife. The excerpt below gives a general idea of the wackiness in the story.

 

“I only steal because my dear old family needs the money to live!”

Locke Lamora made this proclamation with his wine glass held high; he and the other Gentleman Bastards were seated at the old witchwood table. . . . The others began to jeer.

“Liar!” they chorused

“I only steal because this wicked world won’t let me work an honest trade!” Calo cried, hoisting his own glass.

“LIAR!”

“I only steal,” said Jean, “because I’ve temporarily fallen in with bad company.”

“LIAR!”

At last the ritual came to Bug; the boy raised his glass a bit shakily and yelled, “I only steal because it’s heaps of fucking fun!” 

“BASTARD!”

― Scott Lynch, The Lies of Locke Lamora

 

The characters are smart and likeable and have us chuckling at their misdeeds and cheering for them, even though they´re outlaws. Scott Lynch weaves a tale of misfits running a successful business Enterprise with humor and clever world building. He makes us laugh with likeable characters. Sure, there is tragedy, gore and loss and the ending is a little overly simplistic but it is, on the whole, an enjoyable read.

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