It seems every year a debut fantasy novels electrifies the speculative fiction community. Patrick Rothfuss’s The Name of the Wind, a traditional but brilliantly executed bildungsroman, combined sharp writing with the protagonist’s fascinating history. The Blade Itself, by Joe Abercrombie, employed black humor and gritty violence to devastating effect. Susanna Clarke worked wonders with the droll yet gripping Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. And Scott Lynch opened a planned seven volume series (The Gentleman Bastard Sequence) with The Lies of Locke Lamora, which arrived in a perfect storm of buzz, excitement, and positive reviews. So did Scott Lynch’s debut live up to the hype, and with the benefit of hindsight, does it compare favorably to other impressive fantasy debuts? I would say yes and no; unlike many reviewers, my reaction to The Lies of Locke Lamora was decidedly mixed. At his best, Scott Lynch conjures up a fascinating world and utilizes exciting action to dazzling effect. However, as might be expected from an author’s debut novel, there are a few frustrating missteps. That said, Scott Lynch’s first novel is flashy, fun, and worthy of excitement.
The Lies of Locke Lamora maintains a tight focus; all of the action transpires in the harbor city of Camorr, strongly reminiscent of Renaissance Venice’s shadowed back alleys, convoluted canals, and opulent displays of wealth. But whenever someone accumulates wealth, someone else lurks ready to misappropriate it. Hundreds of professional gangs populate Camorr, each with their own favored form of thievery, some bludgeoneers and thugs, some robbers or pickpockets, and even a few confidence men. Locke Lamora and his merry gang of thieves fall into the latter category, and this winding tale follows them as they attempt to pull off their most audacious fraud. Even as the story unfolds, Scott Lynch is exploring an entire world and history. Lynch amazes with his ability to create a unique and vibrant fantasy world without getting bogged down by unnecessary information dumping. The characters ignore the fantastic elements of Camorr, treating them much as any citizen going about their daily life would: simple facts of geography and history, rather than something worth paying undue attention to. Too many novels rely upon exposition awkwardly crammed into conversation, giving the characters a ludicrous and unrealistic tilt to their dialogue. In the Lies of Locke Lamora, other cultures are introduced through the false identities the protagonists assume as they work their con or the half-told stories mentioned in passing. The reader can’t help but wonder at missing information, and use their own imagination to fill in the details.
Scott Lynch expertly utilizes a nonlinear narrative to heighten the excitement and tension. The Lies of Locke Lamora tells two tales: the first is the story of Locke Lamora’s childhood, raised as an orphaned thief on the merciless streets of Camorr, and the second is the latest confidence game Locke’s gang is trying to pull off amidst an escalating feud between the mysterious villain known as the Gray King and the city’s underworld overlord. The asynchronous story lines allow Lynch to flesh out Locke’s upbringing and training while the danger and immediacy of the latest confidence game develops, and whenever one portion of the narrative dips into a lull, the other chronology picks up intensity, ensuring that the story never drags. Lynch uses this nonlinear technique very effectively, sometimes skipping to create humor or tension and at other times jumping to emphasize a point of character development or a detail about the world. However, for readers expecting a typical epic fantasy, be warned that this doesn’t fit that mold. The novel’s primary antagonist isn’t introduced in the first 400 pages; in fact, if the reader isn’t reading very carefully, the villain is almost unmentioned. The Gentleman Bastard Sequence looks a lot like epic fantasy (seven volumes, a world populated with wicked sorcerers, various unique countries and cultures, dangerous factions at war, features a troubled youth growing into greatness), but the novel’s unwillingness to introduce a villain may be frustrating for readers trying to comprehend the story’s arc as compared to other epic fantasy novels.
Most of my frustrations with The Lies of Locke Lamora stem from poor decisions Scott Lynch made concerning his characters. The most glaring failure must be the complete lack of female protagonists. Late in the novel, two females play minor roles, but other than that, the story belongs to men. This is an especially glaring omission given the fact that a female member of the gang is referred to several times throughout the novel, but specifically written out of the action. This brings me to my second major complaint: Locke Lamora spends the entire novel stuck in an obnoxious malaise over a woman never even introduced! It feels as if a vital character was removed during editing to trim word count , but Scott Lynch didn’t bother with changing Locke’s behavior to reflect that. I understand that the intent was to introduce this mysterious redhead later in the series, but I found it very frustrating to see a dozen references to a character I won’t meet until another book. That said, the relationship between Jean and Locke is executed in a flawless fashion, and the many pages spent observing their childhood lessons serves to strengthen the bond the reader feels with the protagonists. Some characters seem to have no purpose other than dying to provide motivation, but the characters that Scott Lynch devotes the bulk of the story to are exceptional.
In large part, The Lies of Locke Lamora is a fantastic debut by Scott Lynch and a promising start to what should be an entertaining series. While there are missteps, the novel has many strengths, among them exciting, well-written prose and an intriguing setting; these positives outweigh the negatives, my biggest complaints being the bewildering lack of female characters, unneeded romantic angst, and the uncertainty in regards to a villain or challenge for the protagonists to overcome. The novel spans the entire spectrum of fantasy imagery, from a wondrous but chilling garden of vampiric glass rose bushes to the frightening strength of the merciless Bondsmagi. Lynch has already released the sequel, Red Seas Under Red Skies, and another installment in The Gentleman Bastard Sequence is expected late in 2010. While not without flaws, The Lies of Locke Lamora is an enjoyable read that will have you staying up late to finish it; hopefully, Lynch continues to build upon the strengths of his debut novel and grows into a writer that fantasy readers can appreciate for many years to come.
Plot: 7
Characters: 6.5
Action: 8.5
Writing: 9
Overall (not an average): 7.5/10
Great review! I had also found this book to be a bit disappointing, but for different reasons. I felt that most of the characters lacked depth, including Locke Lamora, and the only character whose head we really get into is the Gray King, and that’s not until the end. The book was a lot like watching a movie where your only insight into the characters is from their actions and words. I also thought all the course language was unnecessary, particularly when he has noble women speaking this way. Book for all that, it was a fun book to read.