The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

Richard and AJ recommended this book to me on the drive back from Dragonsteel in Utah. I listened to it like most of my reading, and it came in at 22:36 so a pretty stout book. One thing that was really rare about it is that there’s nothing in it that bugged me. Its well written, everything makes sense, and there weren’t any inconsistencies. Nice!

The story follows Locke Lamora, an orphan that’s basically taken in by organized crime syndicate. He learns the lessons of a rouge, fighting, pickpocketing, thieves cant, you name it. When he gets older he is part of a gang called the Gentlemen Bastards. Their main focus is running cons but they have the skills for pretty much any illegal pursuit.

I was really impressed by this high fantasy story focused on the life of rouges. Its not something I see much and if I’m playing D&D Rouge is one of my favorite classes. It made me want to play a rouge focused campaign.

Fair warning, while there is some good humor in the book it is not light hearted. Characters die, characters you might like. There’s also some heavy stuff. I appreciated the creativity the author put into the book. There’s one scene that really caught me off guard because of its creativity and cruelty. Those of you that have ready it or will read it, the barrel scene. You’ll know it when you get to it.

If you like fantasy crime this is definitely the book for you. Check it out!