The Lies of Locke Lamora
I am all over this book like my cat on clean laundry. Read: rolling and stretching and generally basking with a smirk. The reviews I'd read of it said it was... well, not light, per se, but a fun page-turner. Not amazingly deep, but a good ride. I am loving it so far, but I find myself reading quite slowly, taking long breaks. Like tonight I haven't read any of it yet. (I currently sit about 3/5 of the way through.) It seems this is going to be one I will NEED the sequel to immediately, yet the sequel won't be out till next summer. Rats. I don't suppose I can hold off on finishing it for more than one more day. And then it'll be on to Robin Hobb's Forest Mage, I expect.
But. Lies of Locke Lamora. It is about thieves. Gangs of thieves. Think The Sting in pseudo-renaissance Venice, with cons and scams and a well-thought out underworld with its own rituals and slang. I say pseudo because there is some magic involved, making it plain that we are not in alternate history: we are "somewhere else." (Also, I believe I caught a throwaway reference to there being three moons.) There's a lot of really bad language, and really fun characters. Though the love interest that we never actually see onscreen is a bit annoying... I do love a good love interest. Anyway, these thieves are in the middle of pulling a scam on an unsuspecting noble, involving many disguises, when a new enemy appears in their little underworld and makes a play for power that puts them all in extreme danger. There is a blurb from GRRM on the cover, which means I was not surprised that Scott Lunch doesn't seem to have any qualms about killing off characters. At the moment, Locke and his friends seem like they're pretty much fucked, and I am not sure how they'll get out of this mess. But I'm sure they do, because it is the first of a projected seven adventure novels. And the next one has pirates! (Dies of joy... I probably do not need to profess for the seven millionth time my desire for nautical fantasy to become a valid and popular sub-genre.)
4 comments:
I've been circling this book at Borders (a torturous event in which I've promised myself until school and grading student papers is over I can not, nay, WILL NOT, buy another book to read instead, I masochistically visit the bookstore on a near daily basis and admire the pretties. *ucked up, I'm aware). I'd read the jacket description but couldn't decide if I should pick it up or not... sounds good though! Maybe, now that I'll have free time and I think I'm going to add a weekly book review to my blog (cause I'll actually have time to read a book a week--HA! I crack myself up) this'll be the first...
It is a pretty fun book.
Yes, Lynch's TLOLL is one fun ride! I'm glad you're enjoying it!
Don't want to rub it in, but I should be receiving my ARC of RED SEAS UNDER RED SKIES in the next couple of weeks!;-)
But don't you sweat it! You still have a few Malazan novels to read, after all. That should keep you occupied until next spring.:-)
I suppose many other people are already offering $$$ for that ARC...
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