It's
hard not to be too effusive about this novel, Scott Lynch's debut. It
is a great read that stands out moreso for being the author's first
published effort and became an immediate favourite of mine.
The strength of this novel, I think, is based on a
very detailed, fully-realized world that Lynch has built, although that
worldbuilding, ironically, is also one of this novel's weak points
(more on that later). Through the novel, there
are intricately fleshed out details about the economy, art, cuisine and
sport and leisure interests of the world's inhabitants. There is always
a sense that the characters live in a real world. Lynch takes this one
step further and imbues even minor characters
with personalities and interesting histories. Different characters take
on roles of hero or villain at different times and are driven
by rational motivations.
The story itself revolves around the fantasy
trope of a loveable rogue, the eponymous Locke Lamora, but refreshingly,
in spite of his irrational confidence, Locke is fallible and, as events
escalate, often feels like he's in over his
head. Any smugness on his part is a defense mechanism, rather than an
annoying trait. Locke's story is an imaginative caper and often made me
feel I was reading the stylish con artist show Hu$tle in a fantasy
setting. Though punctuated with instances of
brutality so common in fantasy these days, it never loses its sense of
lightness and fun.
All this praise is not to say that I didn't feel there were flaws in the work. The worldbuilding and backstory is not wholly integrated with the narrative. For most of the book, Lynch uses interlude chapters, a method that loses its effectiveness later on in story, and ends a bit too late, having already stripped plot of some momentum. There was also one example where the author revisited a scene to show how one of Locke's tricks was pulled off which felt very superfluous. It was as if the author didn't want to cut out the scene even when rest of story had evolved.
I also felt that some of relationships between
the major characters, in contrast to minor characters, were not explored
fully. There were characters that we were told Locke cared about, and
it was explained in why they were important
to each other, yet in the actual narrative, this sense of care was not
really shown beyond the standard witty camaraderie. I understand that
often such relationships are understated, but it also lessened the
impact when the relationships were threatened.
Also, as I've stated elsewhere in this blog, I'm not a fan of
all-powerful mage characters, though to be fair, the place of mages in
this fantasy world is developed further in later books.
Overall, these are minor quibbles to a fantastic
debut novel. My experience reading it was entirely woven through with a
sense of fun. Quite simply, The Lies of Locke Lamora put a smile on my
face the whole time.
(out of 5)
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