Started reading: The Lies of Locke Lamora

[Rhoderic]

Having heard a lot of praise about this book from numerous sources, I decided to start reading it the other day. The fact that it's more or less a swashbuckling story was an added motivator. So far I'm only some 120 pages in, but my preliminary judgment is that the praise is well-founded. The author weaves a good yarn, the world kind of clings to you, and the language feels quite witty.

It's a fantasy story, but I hope this won't convince my fellow (semi)historical swashbuckling gamers from dismissing it. It's a fairly low-fantasy world, though there are some things to remind the reader that it's not merely renaissance Europe transplanted to a different geography; mainly the existence of, not magic exactly, but some pretty wild alchemy. The book is set in a city that's akin to 17th century Venice - in the same way that a Belgian Blue is akin to a regular cow.

There are many aspects to swashbuckling. The Three Musketeers deals with court intrigue, and Treasure Island with pirates. This book illuminates another aspect: Thieves and other members of the underworld. The ambience is quite shitty-and-gritty, and it works wonderfully. That said, the main character (Locke) is not just any thief - he's a confidence man. This creates some great contrast as he moves in both the top and bottom rungs of society. The book reads like a swashbuckling version of The Sting or the BBC show "Hustle" (which is another gem in itself, but I digress). There are also other larger, more insidious plots going on in the background, that I'm sure will explode to the forefront towards the end of the book.

I can really see why the book has been talked about so much lately. The fact that the author (Scott Lynch) finished writing it at age 26 is just scary. Apparently there was even talk about making a movie. That would be SO cool if it happened. Oh, and I heard the second book is just being released, and this one will apparently include pirates!

Anyway, I must return to reading it now. As I said I'm only some 1/5 into it yet, so my comments might be a bit rash. I'll get back to you once I'm done.