The Lies of Locke Lamora | Review

"What thief does not fight to hold what he has?"

"One that has something better."

Normally I like to have a little quote here or there when I review books. But rarely does one stand out so impactfully, its as if I'm already imaging the movie trailer, and this line being said as the anthem of the song swells.
Locke was a pleasure to read about. This kind of character has always intrigued be, and I feel is exceptionally hard to write. It brings me memories of Robert Downy Jr in his Sherlock Movies. Of Wayne from Mistborn Second Era. Its top tier entertainment and excellent story making.

I struggled for the most part what I was going to rate this. There was something about the beginning that didnt immediately hook me and I worried I wasn't going to love it like I hoped I would. Eventually I really got in to the groove of it and began falling in love with these characters. So much so that when it started to get really bad for them I got so angry FOR them. I couldn't wait for them to retaliate and come out on top. Then it felt like it took a little TOO long for them to get back on their feet. At this point I was like...hmm I dont know, this may be a bit of 4 star I'm not absolutely loving it. The last hundred or so pages though really pulled it all together.

In essence it was a WILD ride, quite compelling, there were high and lows. Victories and Defeats. It was actually pretty extraordinary and Im looking forward to continuing this story. I hope to see this family of Gentlemen Bastards grow!

I didnt know quite where to put this in my review but I really wanted to talk about the world. It's basically Victorian Venice. But theres alchemy and a deep rooted magic history. What I found interesting though is it still isnt that different from our world. So it doesnt really hold your hand and present its world as if its a grand epic fantasy. It sort of feels like your studying abroad and where your studying just happens to have alchemical lights and unbreakable structures and you just think, "Oh, this is cool. We dont have this where im from. Neato." I hope this makes sense to those who have read it?
Side note Im Italian, so the Venice scenery plus the Italian inspiration of names was cool. I hope we see more of Camorra in the future!