***100 Days of Summer Reading 2023***
Prompt: Book that is more than 500 pages in length.
Virtual 12 sided dice roll: 11
Does the beginning of this tale remind anyone else of Oliver Twist? The Thiefmaker taking orphaned children and teaching them how to pick pockets and run a solid deception. Locke Lamora also reminds me somewhat of the Stainless Steel Rat, Slippery Jim DiGriz, except that Lynch treats his character seriously instead of the slapstick of Harry Harrison's books. But Locke's cons are every bit as convoluted as Jim's. He runs into lots of snags, too, just like Mr. DiGriz.
If you don't care for foul language or violence, this is not the book you are looking for. But if you are looking for a book where women are treated fairly equally, you will be pleased. The crime boss of Camorr plans for his daughter, Nazca, to rule when he's gone. We don't get to spend any time with the lone female member of the Gentlemen Bastards, but there is no doubt that she's the equal of any of them.
I think the charm of the story results from the friendships. Locke and his Gentlemen Bastards have become each other's family, arguing like brothers but always having each other's backs. That's what Lynch is doing when he alternates between the present and the past. While it often feels like he is self-sabotaging the story's momentum, he is displaying the reasons that these men stick together. There can be honour among thieves. It was certainly an entertaining story and then in the last few chapters it became a fast and fabulous finale!
If you like a smart-ass antihero, amusing banter, and convoluted schemes, Locke Lamora is your man.
Book 483 of my Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading Project
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