I always wondered if I should read this. I've just been put off by the bothersome alliteration in the title. I had no idea it was grimdark--for some reason I was worried it would be too... cute? I guess, again, it's the title.
It's a caper story which is mostly light, comedic swash-buckling and derring-do, with some solemn flashbacks to Locke's childhood, and a couple of moments of grief and loss to push the plot along.
It's a fun book, no need to avoid it. I was slightly annoyed when I first read it but only because there was a lot of hype around it.
I suspect the reason the third volume has been pushed back is because foreshadowed elements of the overall arc - including a mysterious love interest called Sabetha - don't so easily fit the Ocean's Eleven style formula. I'd agree with everyone else that the sequel was weaker as well.
It's not exactly "grimdark" compared to, say, Brent Weeks or GRRM, but I wouldn't call a story that includes maiming, dismemberment, torture, and rape, and an awful lot of "motherfuckers" and "cocksuckers," light, comedic swash-buckling.
For me it was tonally light. Bearing in mind swash-buckler par excellence The Three Musketeers includes rape, illegal execution, and other sexual brutality I find the two fairly comparable. Partly, I think, because I can't recall it inviting the reader into the perpetrator's eye view or dwelling on violence and sexual assault the way much fantasy fiction (e.g. GRRM's latest) does.
The maiming and dismemberment etc. in Locke Lamora to me bears comparison to the depiction of violence in gangster films such as The Godfather. I'd suggest among Lynch's main points of reference are gangster cinema, heist cinema (the two are related of course) and real world Venice, the Borgias etc. Again, I don't find it 'grimdark' but perhaps I'm simply inured to the content, or choose to understand the term 'grimdark' differently from you :-)
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It's a caper story which is mostly light, comedic swash-buckling and derring-do, with some solemn flashbacks to Locke's childhood, and a couple of moments of grief and loss to push the plot along.
It's a fun book, no need to avoid it. I was slightly annoyed when I first read it but only because there was a lot of hype around it.
I suspect the reason the third volume has been pushed back is because foreshadowed elements of the overall arc - including a mysterious love interest called Sabetha - don't so easily fit the Ocean's Eleven style formula. I'd agree with everyone else that the sequel was weaker as well.
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The maiming and dismemberment etc. in Locke Lamora to me bears comparison to the depiction of violence in gangster films such as The Godfather. I'd suggest among Lynch's main points of reference are gangster cinema, heist cinema (the two are related of course) and real world Venice, the Borgias etc. Again, I don't find it 'grimdark' but perhaps I'm simply inured to the content, or choose to understand the term 'grimdark' differently from you :-)
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