As Mentiras de Locke Lamora (edició 2014)

Lynch, Scott. The Lies of Locke Lamora. Gentleman Bastard No. 1. Spectra, 2006.
Patrick Rothfuss, the author of the Kingkiller Chronicle, used to be miffed when he was called the “new Scott Lynch,” but on rereading The Lies of Locke Lamora, he said he realized Lynch had a better title, a better opening, and better dialogue than he did in his first novel, The Name of the Wind (2007). Maybe so, but Rothfuss and Lynch are certainly two of the best twenty-first-century writers of epic fantasy. Writers of fantasy must often balance pre-industrial realism with plots dependent on magic. George R. R. Martin, Rothfuss, and Lynch lean more toward realism than Tolkien. There is some magic in The Lies of Locke Lamora, but one could almost imagine rewriting it without Bondsmages and magic potions. The world of Locke’s childhood reminds one of Fagin and the Artful Dodger from Oliver Twist, and the Gentleman Bastards have more in common with the Gangs of New York than they do with Tolkien’s band of hobbits, dwarves, and elves.
Rothfuss is right to praise Lynch’s prose. Paragraph by paragraph, and episode by episode, Lynch builds an original and credible world. His characters are sharply delineated and readers care about their fates. We get to know Locke and his whole circle of friends and enemies. Larger structures are more problematic. A reader is too aware that this is the first novel in a trilogy that is bound to leave some loose ends. Sabetha, a girl compared early to Locke and who becomes the presumable love of Locke’s life, exists for the reader only as a name and reputation. One hopes she gets a bigger part later in the series. A strong 4 stars. ( )

I do so love it when I'm wrong. See, I had sat this book aside as just not being for me, a while back. I'd just finished The First Law series so I just wasn't ready to visit another world.

But reddit claimed and claimed and claimed some more that I need to pick the book back up. Well I'm here to thank reddit.

I had stopped at page 80 and wouldn't you know that the excitement really picked up like 10 pages later! Suddenly I was engrossed. Suddenly I cared. And suddenly my opinion was set- this book is good.

If you like city fantasy- I've seen requests for such- this is for you. Oceans 11 meets fantasy. It's been a while since I cursed outlook at a situation or gasped in intrigued amusement. ( )

The Lies of Locke Lamora is a book that steadily gets better as it loses its dependance on a thesaurus and just settles into badass mode.

Badass mode, though, is too in-your-face. I love a good cocky line from characters in danger as much as the next girl, even when there are pages of nothing but that, but not when it's so constructed. I don't like to see the writing behind the story, I want to just be swept away by it!

Which I was, after a fashion. I feel like Lies, as Lynch's first novel, learns to crawl before it learns to walk, but then boy does it run.

The best thing about it is never a dull moment. At 700 thin pages, it's a normal sized book but you really feel like you got your money's worth.

Verdict: rocky beginning, then goes on to please!

Minor-ish spoiler: The whole time I thought Sabetha was going to be behind everything, or at least have an integral part in it, but she never showed up! Downright odd, is what it is. Maybe she's the bad guy in the sequel. ( )

Loved this book! It's like Oliver Twist combined with the mafia set in a Venice like city with a bit of sorcery thrown in for good measure ( )

A brilliant start to what promises to be a great series. Set in a pseudo Italian Renaissance type world, this time slip narrative deals with the development and subsequent maturation of a collection of thieves. With graphic depictions of torture, murder and language this isn’t a novel for children.

However there are some extremely amusing adult bouts of comedy and I look forward to attempting to read the second instalment. ( )