The Lies of Locke Lamora - by Scott Lynch

I had to reread The Lies of Locke Lamora to participate in the Little Red Reviewer's read along.

LIAR!

I had to reread The Lies of Locke Lamora to refamiliarise myself with it before Republic of Thieves is released hopefully later this year.

LIAR!

I had to reread The Lies of Locke Lamora because I'd forgotten so much of it since the last time I read it.

LIAR!

I had to reread The Lies of Locke Lamora because it's so much fucking fun!

BASTARD!

If you've read Scott Lynch's stunning debut novel The Lies of Locke Lamora you will recognise that rather unconventional start to the review as the Gentleman Bastards little comedy sketch that they do a couple of times throughout the book. It's one of my favourite sequences in any book I've ever read and just had to do a little homage to it there.

I'm normally a fairly early adopter with epic fantasy series, but The Lies of Locke Lamora was out for a couple of years before I picked it up and read it. Why was this? It received mostly positive reviews and it was a caper novel, something I love. At the time I was in the middle of a couple of epic fantasies and getting pretty hacked off at the waits between novels to find out what the resolution to the most recent installment's cliffhanger was. I heard rumours that The Lies of Locke Lamora was the first of seven planned novels in the series. Yikes! Then the positive reviews kept coming and the second book (Red Seas Under Red Skies) came out pretty promptly, so I took the plunge.

From the opening page I was plunged into Scott Lynch's vision of Renaissance Venice crossed with Dickensian London in Camorr. I roamed it's streets with Locke Lamora and his fellow Gentleman Bastards. I watched as he pulled a huge con job on everyone, the residents of Camorr, it's criminal overlord Capa Barsavi and the unsuspecting Don Salvara and his gorgeous wife Dona Sofia.

I shouldn't have really liked Locke. He's a cocky little bastard. There's a quote from his mentor Father Chains that sums him up perfectly: 'Someday Locke Lamora, someday you're going to fuck up so magnificently, so ambitiously, so overwhelmingly that the sky will light up and the moons will spin and the gods themselves will shit comets with glee. And I just hope I'm around to see it.'
The young Locke's response is: 'Oh please. It'll never happen.'
However it does happen and The Lies of Locke Lamora is largely the story of it.

I was so totally drawn in by this novel. I laughed and cried, I raged at the Grey King and I cheered Jean Tannen when he cut the Berangias sisters up with his twin hatchets so delightfully named the Wicked Sisters.

I loved The Lies of Locke Lamora so much that I reread it IMMEDIATELY after reading it the first time, and I NEVER do that. I cannot recommend it highly enough and I can't think that anyone would read it and not get something out of it.

The Lies of Locke Lamora - the final read along

All good things must come to an end and so it is with Little Red Reviewers read along of Scott Lynch's stunning debut The Lies of Locke Lamora. The questions have been provided this week by Lynn of Lynn's Book Blog. For all the 'virgins' out there I hope this has inspired you to read the second Gentleman Bastards adventure Red Seas Under Red Skies and maybe even reread The Lies of Locke Lamora like the rest of us have.

1. The Thorn of Camorr is renowned - he can beat anyone in a fight and he steals from the rich to give to the poor. Except of course that clearly most of the myths surrounding him are based on fantasy and not fact. Now that the book is finished how do you feel the man himself compares to his legend. Did you feel that he changed as the story progressed and, if so, how did this make you feel about him by the time the conclusion was reached?

The man behind the myth is very different to the legend. He shares some things in common, but I think the Locke readers see at the start of the book has grown as a man and learned some hard lessons by the end of it. I'd like to know when and how he created the Thorn, I think the Thorn embodies a lot of things Locke wishes he was. In some ways he's an idealised version of Locke.

2. Scott Lynch certainly likes to give his leading ladies some entertaining and strong roles to play. We have the Berangia sisters – and I definitely wouldn’t like to get on the wrong side of them or their blades plus Dona Vorchenza who is the Spider and played a very cool character – even play acting to catch the Thorn. How did you feel about the treatment the sisters and Dona received at the hands of Jean and Locke – were you surprised, did it seem out of character at all or justified?

What happened to the Berangias' sisters was totally justified, especially after what they did to Calo and Galdo and the obvious enjoyment they took in killing them and arranging them in a certain way. Every time I read that section of the book and Jean produces his wicked sisters and says "Wicked Sisters meet the Wicked Sisters." I get chills. Dona Vorchenza is a little different, she's probably even harder than the Berangias' girls in many ways. She got conned by a master conman, although I do confess to wincing when Locke punches her in the face. One female character I'd like to see more of is Dona Sofia, something very interesting about her.


3. Towards the end we saw a little more of the magic and the history of the Bondsmagi. The magic, particularly with the use of true names, reminds me a little of old fashioned witchcraft or even voodoo. But, more than that I was fascinated after reading the interlude headed ‘The Throne in Ashes’ about the Elderglass and the Elders and why their structures were able to survive even against the full might of the Bondsmagi – do you have any theories about this do you think it’s based on one of our ancient civilisations or maybe similar to a myth??

The Elders are interesting, they definitely had magic or technology that was extraordinarily resistent. They may have come from the old stories about alien civilisations being involved in certain happenings in our ancient history. I think I read somewhere that even Scott Lynch hasn't yet worked out a lot about the Elders and will hopefuilly work more of it out as he continues through the series.


4. We have previously discussed Scott Lynch’s use of description and whether it’s too much or just spot on. Having got into the last quarter of the book where the level of tension was seriously cranked up – did you still find, the breaks for interludes and the descriptions useful or, under the circumstances did it feel more like a distraction?

I've always loved the interludes. I thought the way they were used later in the book were excellent ways to give the readers more information about the city of Camorr was brilliant. The little fable about the game and how two men held a grudge throughout the years for one contentious umpiring decision was classic stuff. They gave the readers a chance to relax a little during the breakneck, high octane last section of the book.


5. Now that the book has finished how did you feel about the conclusion and the eventual reveal about the Grey King and more to the point the motivations he declared for such revenge – does it seem credible, were you expecting much worse or something completely different altogether?

It was understandable, and I never saw it coming. I did wonder about timing and ages and how the three of them survived and built their reputations, but they're minor quibbles and they may also be answered to an extent later on. The Grey King and his sisters may be dead, but I don't think it's the last time what they did will impact on Locke's life.


6. Were you surprised that Locke, being given two possible choices (one of which could possibly mean he would miss his chance for revenge on the Grey King) chose to go back to the Tower – especially given that (1) he would have difficulty in getting into the building (2) he would have difficulty in convincing them about the situation and (3) he would have difficulty in remaining free afterwards? Did anyone else nearly pee their pants when Locke and the rest were carrying the sculptures up to the roof garden?

It didn't really surprise me what Locke did. Locke is essentially a good bloke. He's as his title suggests a Gentleman Bastard. Honour is important to him, it was something instilled in him and his 'brothers' and 'sister' by Chains and something that he was trying to pass onto Bug as his protege. The scene with the sculptures is very tense, but I love the way that Dona Sofia breaks it up a little when one of the guards asks what happens if they drop one of them: "First we'd burn our hands, then we'd fall over senseless before we could take six steps, and then we'd be Gentled.And then we'd all feel very silly, wouldn't we?' Love the line and the character. Seriously I'd read a book about Sofia.



7. Finally, the other question I would chuck in here is that, following the end of the book I was intrigued to check out some of the reviews of LOLL and noticed that the negative reviews mentioned the use of profanity. How did you feel about this – was it excessive? Just enough? Not enough?

I read some of those and thought what? Most of the characters are essentially fantasy's version of the Goodfellas. They're a criminal underclass, of course they're going to swear and they're going to do it a lot. Swearing, even swearing a lot, is fine in a book if it fits the characters and the situation, it did in The Lies of Locke Lamora. I did feel it was out of place with the nobles, though. Fortunately with them it was kept to a minimum.



8. Okay one further, and probably most important but very quick question – having finished, will you pick up the sequel, Red Seas Under Red Skies?

I picked up Red Seas Under Red Skies as soon as I'd reread The Lies of Locke Lamora the first time, and that was immediately after reading it the first time. I haven't reread it as much as The Lies of Locke Lamora, but only one less time. So the answer from me is a resounding YES.

The Lies of Locke Lamora read along - week 4

Welcome to week 4 of Travels Through Iest's read along of The Lies of Locke Lamora, this week our questions come from SF Signal.
The action really heats up in this section of the book, so the questions become very intriguing. Please read on to see my impressions from the 4th part of The Lies of Locke Lamora.

1. In the chapter “A Curious Tale for Countess Amberglass” we
learn of the tradition of the night tea in Camorr. I found that not so
much fantastical as realistic – how about you?

The tea was in many ways to me reminiscent of the British custom of high tea. This was another example of 19th century Britain meeting Renaissance Venice, which was how I felt about the rather Faginesque character of the Thiefmaker at the start of the book. Having seen the marvellous Dame Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess in Downton Abbey I can’t help but picture her as Dona Vorchenza whenever I read this scene.

2. When Jean meets with what will become the Wicked Sisters for
the first time, the meeting is described very much like how people
feel when they find their true work or home. Agree? Disagree? Some of
both?

Oh yes, Jean’s first encounter with the Wicked Sisters was a real water shed moment for the character. This is where Jean realises exactly what his role with the Gentleman Bastards and Locke specifically will become. Some people are good at talking (Locke) and other people are good at hitting/killing things to make them shut up (Jean). There’s a quote from Jean at some point in the book (not sure if it’s been passed or not, so don’t want to spoil anyone by using it) which sums him up perfectly.

3. Salt devils. Bug. Jean. The description is intense. Do you
find that description a help in visualizing the scene? Do you find
yourself wishing the description was occasionally – well – a little
less descriptive?

Scott describes these scenes so viscerally and so well. I’m right in there with his description. I love the rawness of it. I’m also an arachnophobe, so my skin crawls when reading about the salt devils. I still love it. Less descriptive? Hell no! Admittedly I don’t think he could be more descriptive.

4. This section has so much action in it, it’s hard to find a
place to pause. But…but.. oh, Locke. Oh, Jean. On their return to the
House of Perelandro, their world is turned upside down. Did you see it
coming?

No, I never saw it coming. It hit me so hard. It hits me every time I reread the book, even though I know it’s coming. I couldn’t say it earlier, but that scene where they do their Liar/Bastard schtick before Locke impersonates the Grey King, it makes me cry. It’s the last time they’re ever all together as a group. It’s the last time they see each other alive. I hurt for Calo, Galdo and Bug…oh God especially Bug.

5. Tavrin Callas’s service to the House of Aza Guilla is recalled
at an opportune moment, and may have something to do with saving a
life or three. Do you believe Chains knew what he set in motion? Why
or why not?

Chains routinely taught all his ‘apprentices’ how to operate as various holy men. He may have felt Jean of them was best suited for Aza Guilla, but I don’t think he ever anticipated exactly how the service would be used. No one ever saw the Grey King coming. Even Chains, if he had seen it coming he would have warned them, and not cryptically. He knew he was going to make them damned good conmen, possibly the best even Camorr had ever seen, but this fight with the Grey King, he never saw that.

6. As Locke and Jean prepare for Capa Raza, Dona Vorchenza’s
remark that the Thorn of Camorr has never been violent – only greedy
and resorting to trickery – comes to mind again. Will this pattern
continue?

The Thorn of Camorr has never had to fight for his very existence before. Locke has the capacity for violence within him, but he generally doesn’t have the ability or the need to commit it. Locke is a cornered rat and cornered rats bite.

7. Does Locke Lamora or the Thorn of Camorr enter Meraggio’s
Countinghouse that day? Is there a difference?

The Thorn and Locke were separate entities when he was running the game. Locke kept them separate in his head, but there’s a lot of Locke in the Thorn and vice versa. By the time he has to go into Meraggio’s the Thorn and Locke are one and the same.

That was what I thought, I'll be intrigued to see what other people have to say.

The Lies of Locke Lamora - read along Part 2

This is the second part of the Lies of Locke Lamora read along. This week the questions have been provided by Dark Cargo. I think I may actually be on time this week!

1) Do you think Locke can pull off his scheme of playing a Midnighter who is working with Don Salvara to capture the Thorn of Camorr? I mean, he is now playing two roles in this game - and thank goodness for that costume room the Gentlemen Bastards have!

We’re talking about Locke Lamora here. THE Locke Lamora! His entire life that readers have seen so far is one big elaborate lie. He can pull off dual roles with his eyes shut.

2) Are you digging the detail the author has put into the alcoholic drinks in this story?


I’d never really thought about this before, but yes I love the sound of some of the Camorri cocktails and wonder if Scott Lynch lists bartending somewhere on his CV.

3) Who is this mysterious lady Gentlemen Bastard Sabetha and what does she mean to Locke?

You get the impression that Sabetha and Locke were once an item and would like to hear more about her. I found a comment about wanting her back a little less crazy, which was said by one of the Sanza’s at dinner one night during an interlude to be rather telling and highly amusing.

4) Are you as creeped out over the use of Wraithstone to create Gentled animals as I am?

Oh, yes the Gentling is really creepy, not just that, but the effect Wraithstone has on humans, too, turning them into mindless addicts.

5) I got a kick out of child Locke's first meeting with Capa Barsavi and his daughter Nazca, which was shortly followed up in the story by Barsavi granting adult Locke permission to court his daughter! Where do you think that will lead? Can you see these two together?

Nazca comes across as not dissimilar to Sabetha in personality, a good friend, but a dangerous enemy. I could never see her and Locke together, they’re friends, but that’s all, she was as horrified by her father’s idea as Locke was.

6) Capa Barsavi is freaked out over rumors of The Gray King and, in fact, us readers are privy to a gruesome torture scene. The Gray King is knocking garristas off left and right. What do you think that means? Barsavi is scared and paranoid.

The Gray King has an agenda, he’s killing garristas and the biggest garrista of the lot is Barsavi himself. The Gray King whoever he is, is announcing his presence and killing off Barsavi’s people to draw the big fish out.

7) In the Interlude: The Boy Who Cried for a Corpse, we learn that Father Chains owes an alchemist a favor, and that favor is a fresh corpse. He sets the boys to figuring out how to provide one, and they can't 'create' the corpse themselves. How did you like Locke's solution to this conundrum?

I loved that we got to see some of Locke’s boyhood escapades. If you were going to make a sitcom out of The Lies of Locke Lamora, this would be an excellent episode. I did wonder how Locke was going to get a corpse, I knew he could do it, he’d already proven that with some of the things he’d done even before the Thiefmaker sold him to Chains, but then when Chains put certain conditions in place Locke had to get creative. The funniest thing of the lot was not only did they get the corpse, thus fulfilling Chains’ brief they ended up making a profit out of it and Chains had all these people giving him extra offerings for what happened in the marketplace. I was in tears of laughter!

The Lies of Locke Lamora - read along Part 1

Before I get into this I need to explain a couple of things. I've never done a read along before, so I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. I'm not actually sure that I'm even really officially involved in this, I seem to be ignored by most other bloggers, so I could be talking to myself, but no matter. The questions are provided by Little Red Reviewer and she is hosting this first part of the read along. It covers from the beginning to the interlude Locke Stays for Dinner.

Here are the questions and my responses:

1. If this is your first time reading The Lies of Locke Lamora, what do you think of it so far? If this is a re-read for you, how does the book stand up to rereading?

It's a reread for me. I actually think this may be the seventh time I've read it. I can remember reading the opening on the way back to work on the tram, I bought the book on my lunch break and started reading it straight away. I was enraptured right from the beginning and until the last page. That first time I couldn't wait for work to finish so I could keep reading. It's been the same every time since, and even in the early stages I find things that are new to me or alter on a reread.

2. At last count, I found three time lines: Locke as as a 20-something adult, Locke meeting Father Chains for the first time, and Locke as a younger child in Shades Hill. How are you doing with the Flashback within a flashback style of introducing characters and the world?

I love the flashback idea. It doesn't alway work, but with The Lies of Locke Lamora it does. The opening is a flashback of sorts and then you cut to Locke and the rest of the Gentleman Bastards pulling off their latest game, the interludes are important as they link to current situations in the older Lock's life and in fact that of some of the other Gentleman Bastards as well.

3. Speaking of the world, what do you think of Camorr and Lynch’s world building?

I've said it before, so I'll repeat it here. Camorr is like this extra character in the book, the city and it's history are that well developed that it takes on a life and personality of it's own. I've seen some say that Scott Lynch doesn't build worlds that well, because he only deals with one city in The Lies of Locke Lamora. That's true, but it's such a wonderfully realised city, it feels real, it's got a history, so for me Scott Lynch gets a 10 out of 10 for world building with The Lies of Locke Lamora.

4. Father Chains and the death offering. . . quite the code of honor for thieves, isn’t it? What kind of person do you think Chains is going to mold Locke into?

I get the impression that Father Chains and Locke aren't that dissimilar. Locke is the one in a million kid Chains has spent most of his career looking for. Locke is the archetypal Gentleman Bastard and that's what Chains is going to turn Locke into.

5. It’s been a while since I read this, and I’d forgotten how much of the beginning of the book is pure set up, for the characters, the plot, and the world. Generally speaking, do you prefer set up and world building done this way, or do you prefer to be thrown into the deep end with what’s happening?

It kind of depends on the book really. I can't imagine The Lies of Locke Lamora be anything other than what it is. When you think about it, it kind of does both. The opening introduces readers to Locke, Chains, Camorr and the concept, but then readers get dropped right into the middle of the Don Salvara game in chapter one, entitled The Don Salvara Game, and have to connect that to the opening and have all these new ideas and characters thrown at them.

6. If you’ve already started attempting to pick the pockets of your family members (or even thought about it!) raise your hand.

I have to say no. I love stories about capers and thieves, but as I have absolutely no manual dexterity I could never entertain the thought of doing it to someone else.

Hopefully next week I'll have a less busy weekend and be able to get to this closer to the correct day.

Scott Lynch

I know this has nothing to do with Cerebus, but occasionally the space between my ears is occupied with things over than the avaricious aardvark, and this is one of them. I’m a long term fantophile (probably an obsession that began when I first picked up The Wishing Chair by Enid Blyton when I was but a small child) and always on the look out for something new and interesting to excite my synapses. For fantophiles 2006 was a great year.

3 (count them! 3!) new authors burst onto the scene with stunning debuts (I've been advised by none other than Joe Abercrombie that Pat Rothfuss was actually 2007, so there were 2 stunning debuts in 2006, thanks for making me look stupid Joe. I can do that all on my own, thanks very much!), one was Joe Abercrombie with The Blade Itself (the man is a machine, 3 years later and he’s completed that trilogy, written one standalone set in the same world and already embarked on another standalone, which he believes will be published early in 2011. A machine I tell you! A machine!), Patrick Rothfuss put out The Name of the Wind (I personally wasn’t that excited by this, it was competent enough, he uses words well and I’d like to see how it all turns out, but I won’t be waiting on the doorstep of the bookstore when he finally produces the sequel: Wise Man’s Fear. The publishers don’t seem to be concerned about how long a new author is taking to do this, I guess they know what they’re doing, I hope for Rothfuss’ career they’ve read the market right) and the subject of this post; Scott Lynch published The Lies of Locke Lamora. Now we can argue long and loud, and believe me people have, about who was the best debut, but for mine it was Lies. I loved this book! It’s hard to express in words why and why it had the effect it did. Happily for everyone concerned Scott soon followed up with Red Seas Under Red Skies, it wasn’t quite as good as Lies, but then again his debut was a hard act to follow. Unfortunately that was the last we saw as personal issues affected the author and he took a break from public life, this has delayed the publication of the 3^rd of the adventures of his gentleman thief; Locke Lamora Republic of Thieves.

In about 2 years Scott updated his previously active LiveJournal twice and people began to wonder if he would ever return, then suddenly about a month ago he was back! Back with a vengeance as it turned out. Regular updates started appearing on his LiveJournal, he got a Twitter account, and then marvel of marvels the long dormant webpage was updated. There was a prologue to Republic of Thieves (in this humble blogger’s opinion Scott had lost nothing, the prologue was every bit as enchanting as anything in Lies or Red Seas) and some notes or author’s musings about writing the early chapters of Red Seas.

The 3^rd bit is what got me excited and why I’m doing this, and publishing the link here. Somewhere in his long sojourn Scott revisited an old idea he’d had about a pulp style novel or serial which he called Queen of the Iron Sands. It’s in the style of the old stories published in such esteemed journals as Amazing Stories, and in some ways it seems reminiscent of Edgar Rice Burroughs Carter of Mars series, although the main protagonist is a woman. Scott intends to publish it all online chapter by chapter and for free. It’s good stuff, no really it is, and I am not at all biased *cough* *cough*

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

Thanks for listening, normal transmission will soon resume.