Book Review: The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

[barbarienne]

The Lies of Locke Lamora, by Scott Lynch (or scott_lynch)
Grade: BThis book should have gotten an A out of me. I am absolutely the target audience. I love stories of clever people being clever, and if they’re rogues in a well-created fantasy setting, so much the better. However, it has several unforgivable flaws, which bring it from a great book to a merely

Comments

[stevenagy]

Good review. Pretty accurate, though I have to say that the energy in the story let my "writer" head gloss over the flashbacks and the Dr. Evil plot point. I actually welcomed the flashbacks, because I saw those as the "character building" portions of the story. As they relate to the coming chapter in almost all instances, I thought they worked as a thematic foundation for the action to come. I didn't need to analyze motivations and could just enjoy the ride.

Apparently the third book will use the flashback device. Lynch did a reading from the book at WFC that was quite entertaining. Locke and company are sent to another city to assist a playwright/theater manager and learn how to become actors.

[barbarienne]

I agree, and I should have said so in the review: I loved the flashbacks. I think I liked them better than that main story, actually. But I had to be honest in describing my reaction.

I was less frustrated by the interruption itself than by the feeling that I was being manipulated. I really have a hard time reading as a reader, not writer.

[stevenagy]

I really have a hard time reading as a reader, not writer.

Same here. Even when I like a book and get captured by it I'll still come acrosss bits and pieces where the writer chirps up from the cheap seats. I think in this particular case you either have to start out saying ... OK, you're going to do this, so I'll go with it, but you better deliver by the end (and I felt he did, especially in the climax) or you just set it aside and wonder what all the fuss was because you didn't get it.

I held off on getting the book, despite all the praise, until the mass market came out. It's always hard for me to drop hardcover money on a first novel. I liked this so much after only 50-100 pages when I finally sat down to read it, though, that I knew I was going to want to read the next one, which is only out in hardcover right now, and that I needed to read it ASAP. I've since given my mass market copy to a friend and bought the first one in hard cover. That doesn't happen often with me anymore because of the writer head.

[retrobabble]

Nice. I really enjoyed the book (some of the dialogue was great fun) but I got thrown out at the same point as you did: "Aw, c'mon, someone who gets to the level of Capa Barsavi isn't going to assume Locke is dead until he's cut up into Locke bits."

Still, I forgave him in as the hand-waving and magic tricks carried on.

[stevenagy]

Very true, but what I put it off to was the grief Barsavi had to feel, and the detailed explanation of what was done to criminals punished at the Old Citadel. The hangings occurred over water so the souls of the dead taveled on the current out to sea, so they were less likely to haunt those who killed them. I thought of this the same way.

[shadefell]

I didn't notice any overuse of adjectives, and I really liked the flashbacks. They weren't too jarring, and kept things jumping. Lynch very definitly throws a lot at the reader. He's got a lot of balls in the air, and there's an almost manic sense to his books. I've really REALLY enjoyed the first two books in the series and am eagerly awaiting the next... four? five? It's a long series. Which may well be why the Sabetha gun hasn't been fired yet.

[amy34]

I enjoyed the book, and was not bothered at all by the author's style. I did, however, find that when it came to deciding whether to read book 2, I opted not to. Reason is, it was just too dark and unpleasant a world for me to want to spend more time in it. And while I was sympathetic to Locke, his mercilessness in a scene late in the book made it hard for me to attach to him and want to continue reading his story.

[barbarienne]

I confess, that's the sort of stuff that makes me want to read more! But I can totally understand how it could put people off. That's the sort of thing that works well for me in a book, but which is likely to put me off a movie. (Dismemberment is a particular squick of mine.)