Books › The Lies of Locke Lamora
The Lies of Locke Lamora
722 pages
A wildly entertaining, foul-mouthed heist that starts as a clever con and escalates into a desperate, bloody fight for survival.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like stepping into a vibrant, sun-baked, and utterly ruthless Renaissance-inspired city where every shadow hides a cutthroat and every smile hides a con. It begins as a gleeful, high-stakes caper, inviting you to revel in the sheer audacity and razor-sharp banter of a tightly knit crew of thieves. The prose is famously profane, crackling with wit and rich, sensory details that make the canals and criminal underworld feel dangerously real. But beneath the swagger and the elaborate heists lies a deeply beating heart centered on found family and fierce loyalty. As the narrative tightens, the mood shifts from a swashbuckling romp to a tense, bloody struggle for survival, delivering an emotional gut-punch that will leave readers breathless. It is a perfect match for those who love morally gray underdogs, intricate schemes, and fantasy that does not pull its punches.
- Mood
- gritty
- vibrant
- tense
- cinematic
- Tone
- irreverent
- wry
- darkly comedic
- cynical
- Pace
- propulsive
- Themes
- found family · loyalty among thieves · the cost of ambition · vengeance · surviving a corrupt world
- The writing
- Sharp, incredibly profane, richly descriptive, and laced with razor-sharp wit.
- The arc
- Starts as a gleeful, high-stakes romp and descends into a desperate, bloody fight for survival and revenge.
- Who it's for
- Readers who love elaborate heists, morally gray but fiercely loyal protagonists, and fantasy worlds that feel lived-in and dangerous.
Content notes
- graphic violence
- profanity
- torture
- death of loved ones
- gore
About the book
"HIGH-OCTANE FANTASY...A CREAT SWASHBUCKLING YARN OF A NOVEL." -Richard Morgan
In this stunning debut, Scott Lynch delivers the thrilling tale of an audacious criminal and his tightly knit band of tricksters. Set in a fantastic city pulsing with the lives of decadent nobles and daring thieves, here is a story of adventure, loyalty, and survival that is one part "Robin Hood," one part Ocean's Eleven, and entirely enthralling....
An orphan's life is harsh-and often short-in the mysterious island city of Camorr. But young Locke Lamora dodges death and slavery, becoming a thief under the tutelage of a gifted con artist. As leader of the band of light-fingered brothers known as the Gentleman Bastards, Locke is soon infamous,fooling even the underworld's most feared ruler. But in the shadows lurks someone still more ambitious and deadly.
Faced with a bloody coup that threatens to destroy everyone and everything that holds meaning in his mercenary life, Locke vows to beat the enemy at his own brutal game-or die trying....
At the height of the long wet summer of the Seventy-seventh Year of Sendovani, the Thief-maker of Camorr paid a sudden and unannounced visit to the Eyeless Priest at the Temple of Perelandro, desperately hoping to sell him the Lamora boy.
Description from Open Library.
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