The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch is a take on a picaresque set in a well-realized fantasy world.  Young orphan boy is taken in by a conniver who is a thief, yes, but a gentleman thief. Hijinks, convoluted plots, and very complete descriptions of alchemical foliage follow.

I spent the first third of this book wondering why there is so much love for this book and the second two thirds wondering why no one had ever told me that this book existed before 2018. There was a moment in the second novel of Stephen King's The Dark Tower series in which something happened to a character and I was shocked (SHOCKED) that the author had the fortitude to do that to one of his characters.There was a similar moment in this book (page 323 of 499) and when I read it, I gasped so loud that Dr. BB was concerned that I was suffering from an acute respiratory event. This book is wonderful.

I guess if you had asked me about 100 pages in what the end of the book would look like, I would have been mostly right (except about that thing on page 323), so the book isn't super duper original or anything in regard to plot or developing fantasy narratives, but it was so just well done. The setting was great, the characters were amazing, and while it did start off slowly, the payoff was totally worth it.

One of the things I greatly admire about this novel is that the author goes back and forth in time, but doesn't do the annoying "10 years ago" crap at the beginning of the chapter. He just lets the reader figure out when and who we're following through context clues. This allows for us to see how characters develop and how their relationships among one another change over time.  I was never lost, but I also didn't feel like the author was patronizing me.  I just really admired the structure and writing technique. I know this book is the first book in a series, but it's also a full standalone novel.

I'll definitely be putting the second book in this series on my reading list.