Wit and Roguery — A Fantasy Book Review of The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

Art by Jeff Brown

Delightful thieves. Brilliant dialogue. Skillful prose. Venice-like setting. My attention was captured. Or should I say... stolen.

Many years ago, one random evening, I found myself wandering a Barnes and Noble alongside my brother. As we were perusing the fantasy section—a favorite pass-time of mine—one of the workers struck up a conversation with us. He was very kind, and also very good at his job. We nerded out about fantasy books we'd both read, and then he introduced me to a book I had never heard of before: The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. His pitch worked, I bought the book.

Let's just get this out of the way first and foremost (if you want to save time/don't want to read an entire review of me gushing): this book is amazing. Here's the cliff notes review: It succeeds in pretty much every single aspect it sets out to do. The characters? Amazing. Prose? Perfection. Plot? Engaging. World? Enthralling. Dang. I loved this book.

It's very difficult to make morally grey characters likable—the line between too good and downright detestable is rarely well towed. Scott Lynch, however, pulled this off in spades. There's good, there's bad, and a whole lot of people just trying to survive. I was just so engaged. Locke Lamora and Jean Tannen immediately joined the pantheon of classic fantasy characters for me, but the whole cast was incredible—everyone from the most heartwarming thief and the stupidest nobleman, all the way down to the most despicable antagonist.

The dialogue is some of the best I've ever seen in a fantasy book. It is knife-edge sharp, delightfully witty, and crass as crap. The author accomplishes all of this without bogging the story down in cheap jokes or unnecessary edginess. It just works. This is the city of Camorr—this is what life is like, this is who lives there.

Lynch's phenomenal dialogue isn't the only standout here, but also his prose rivals some of the greats. I will note, this prose isn't pretty—at least, pretty per say. There's beauty in its bluntness. Lynch breathes the same life as his dialogue—with all it's muck, grime and charm—into his prose. It's just so dang clever. Here's an example:

"Let's start wobbling, shall we? said Locke's knees, but this offer was met by a counter-proposal from his better judgement to simply freeze up and do nothing, like a man treading water who sees a tall black fin coming straight at him."

See? It's just so... fun. Skillful, balanced, and brilliant.

Scott Lynch also has the miraculous ability to make lore dumps worthwhile. He weaves them deftly through the prose and plot to the point that world-building exposition doesn't make you pause, it's just part of the story itself.

And speaking of world-building and story, in many ways Locke Lamora isn't the sole protagonist. No, he shares center stage with the city of Camorr. It is living and breathing. There's history amongst its canals, but that doesn't matter as much as surviving to the next day. As a reader, you feel like you've lived there your whole life.

I don't walk to talk about plot too much because so much of it is contingent on twists and turns. It's a heist, there are double crosses, disguises, revenge, friendship, love, hatred, and more double crosses, disguises and so forth. It's a wild ride.

The Lies of Locke Lamora is a fantasy classic, simple as that. It's unique setting and style makes it stand tall amongst the greats. If you like great characters, settings, plot, prose, dialogue... pretty much everything that makes a great story, I'd highly recommend a trip to Camorr for a heist or two.

-H.