I read this book a couple of days ago based on Philly Homer's post over in the Name of the wind thread. I finished it damn fast and hurried over to see if there was a thread. Well, now here it is.

The series is actually called the Gentlemen Bastards, but the first book is the Lies of Locke Lamora. The main character is, surprise surprise, called Locke Lamora, who is a thief/conman in the city of Camorr, which is what renaissance Venice would have been like if it happened to be built upon the glass ruins of an eldritch race and possessed some really ridiculous arts like alchemy. The magical part of the books isn't really overt (to begin with), but more of a background thing. And don't worry, the protagonist never becomes an uber-mage, just a bastard of a thief.

Locke himself is an interesting guy. The story is threaded through with interludes from his childhood, so you get to learn more about his roots as the book goes on. Hes a part of a gang of professional conmen called the Gentlemen Bastards, who like to play out elaborate scenarios that lead to their marks handing over the cash. The events of the book are set during a turbulent period in Camorr, and Locke and Co. are caught right in the middle.

The book's charm for me was based on two things. First, the wit was excellent. The prologue, which is just basically two guys bargaining over the price of a child had me in stitches. The main cast are constantly verbally sparring, and it adds a little bit more flavour to the books that can go missing in favour of pompous seriousness in fantasy.

The other was the world itself. Lynch builds a fantastic view of a city that is alive with revelry, drunkenness and danger. I had an amazingly clear picture of Camorr and at no point did any of it feel like a cliche (another problem for fantasy). The city can be obvious and mysterious. the poor district, and the rich sector are fairly standard, but the strange towers of Elderglass - which cannot be broken by human arts - provide some more impossible settings that were definitely original.

Strong characterization and a likable cast round out the book.

There aren't many bad things about the books, but if I had to find something I'd say that Locke can sometimes be a bit of a gary-stu, but it wasn't ever bad enough for for me to stop reading and think 'hes a stu'.

So a resounding YES/5 from me, as well as a hearty recommendation for anyone who likes books.

 

Everything you just said, seconded.

Very enjoyable, hard to put down (I put Madness of Angels and Mistborn on hold to read this) and creates an interesting, largely original world, full of horrible yet lovable characters.

Also, Jean Tannen is my new hero.

 

I loved the first one; the second was good, but not quite as :awesome Best thing about the books is definitely the humour, with Locke's epic cons coming a close second (his enforced return to stealing in book 2 is amazing!) Shame Lynch seems to be coming down with Martin/Rothfuss syndrome - when was book 3 supposed to be out?

 

"It is possible," Locke said... "that I have been too bold."

Fell out of my fucking chair when i read that passage. Pure gold.

 

Damn it, I just creased from that single quote...I need to reread them!

 

Poor fellow's been undergoing some major life issues (divorce/depression etc). Its looking like book 3's might get pushed back to 3rd quarter 2011 if we're lucky. (Amazon release date aka tomorrow is dead wrong)

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/search?k...&index=books&linkCode=qs&tag=orionpublishi-21

 

Umm Nukular... he hasn't turned in a finalized manuscript yet. Nov 17 is the publisher being optimistic.

 

OCTOBER 8th

After 6 fucking years, we finally have a release date for Republic of Thieves. This year's winter is looking awesome.

 

"I pre-ordered the book because it complements my education."

"Liar!"

"I pre-ordered because I like romance."

"Liar!"

"I pre-ordered because Locke Lamora is my favorite series."

"BASTARD!"


I miss Bug and the twins.

 

Who would have thought that one day, winter coming would be a cause for celebration?

 

FUCK YEAH PRE-ORDERED ON KINDLE

This is glorious news. October 8th can't come soon enough.

On a somewhat unrelated note, I wish hardcovers were bundled with ebooks. As it is, I got the Kindle version because it'll "arrive" faster and because I generally don't want to accumulate physical copies, but I would have been sorely tempted to go for the hardcover if I could get both at once (I guess there's always the illegal way but I've slowly shifted to buying content).

 

I'm paying like 30 bucks for the hardcover novel, which doesn't arrive until December. You bet your ass I'm downloading a digital version as soon as a torrent is up.

 

So... I just finished the Republic of Thieves. It was fucking great. Not as good as the first one, but much better than Red Seas Under Red Skies imo.

I'm not sure whether to use spoilers since the book's been out for a while now, but I'll err on the side of caution.

Spoiler

Despite reservations at the beginning, I liked that the book was half prequel, half sequel, especially because it allowed us to see more of the twins.

In fact, I liked the sequel parts more than the Karthani parts. With all the build up in the past couple books, I found Sabetha to be lacking. I didn't dislike her character, but she is definitely not half as entertaining or interesting as the rest of the Gentlemen Bastards.

I did not like Locke being the incarnation of an evil necromancer, however. It's one of my pet peeves when protagonists are revealed to have some super secret awesome ancestory/reincarnation.

The information about the Bondsmagi was fascinating, and the Falconer's return/murder of his mother was fucking awesome. Looking forward to his further involvement in the plot.

Overall I enjoyed the book, but it reinforced my belief that none of the rest of the books in the series will be as good as the first. It remains my favorite fantasy novel of all time.

It was fun, I like that it was longer, and I'm looking forward to the next one.

 

Yes, it was fantastic. I agree with everything you said.

Spoiler

Locke's background is definitely kind of fucked up, but I trust Lynch to deliver a satisfying resolution. So I'm not really worried.

 

I have to say that I expected more... especially of Locke. For a criminal mastermind the whole Karthani scheme seemed very simple and the same is true of the drama one. No real planning, no surprises at the end (other than the Falcon thing but that had nothing to do with Locke), and the whole writing seemed (needlessly) crude. The whole Magi is was nice, sure, but not what I wanted to read about. Where are the interesting schemes, the doublecrossing, the underworld and all the other little things that made the first book so impressive?

 

I think that it could have been split into two books, with both being fleshed out much more.

As it was, nothing in either of the stories really struck me in the same as anything in the first book - not even close.

 

Hey guys, so got a question. How good are book 2 and 3?

I just finished Book 1, and while I found it was good, I didn't think it was amazing. A couple of people have mentioned Locke being a tad Gary Stu-ish, and I feel like that characterisation could of been a little stronger.

The end was a bit weak, but the middle was very good.

Anyway, peoples thoughts on book 2 and 3 seem to indicate that the first book was the best of the lot. If this is the case, I'll probably just start something else. If they maintained quality, I'd read them, but not if they get worse.

Is this an accurate summation?

 

If you didn't think the first one was amazing, I am truly sorry to inform you that you have no soul, and no, you don't need to keep reading them.