The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

Publisher: Gollancz

Price/Format: £7.99, paperback.

Bought from: Mr B's Emporium

ISBN 0575079754

I've read a fair bit of SF, but never dipped far into the Fantasy genre. I may be converted. I've read plenty of reviews before reading this story, and nearly all the good reviews have said it so much better than I can, so I'm going to try to sum-up this astonishingly good story.

Imagine (if you can) the love-child of Oceans Eleven and The Godfather, set in a Renaissance period Venice-like world full of mysterious glass architecture left behind by a long departed race. 

There are sword fights, murder, conmen, killer sharks, magic, trickery, sneak thievery, drownings in barrels of horse urine, double-crosses from all angles, honour and betrayal.

Locke Lamora is a master thief not because he needs the money, but because it's "so much f***ing fun!".  That's what reading it felt like. I Loved it, capital L and everything!  It had a slowish start (the first 150 pages or so took about 2 weeks to read, the last 400 pages took 3 days).  Once it gets going it's a rip-roaring rollicking tale. A fantastically flawed hero you can't help but care for, plot twists and turns so numerous they resemble a plate of spaghetti, moments of sadness and laugh out loud funny, and plenty of "How the [censored] is he going to get out of this?".  There are some minor annoyances, but they don't really detract from the overall enjoyment.

The highlight of this book is definitely the relationships between the members of the Gentlemen Bastards.  It's the heart and soul of the book, and well worth the investment of time and money.

At first I wasn't considering the possibility of reading the next two in the series, but the further I got the more I want to read about the Gentlemen Bastards' escapades.  I just learned as well that next year there will be two prequel stories to provide backstory and fill in the missing years between Locke joining the Gentlemen Bastards and leading them.  So I expect I will be busy for a while.