Fiction is a Lie...

...but beautiful fiction is the truth hidden in the lie.





I CANNOT believe I haven't written a post gushing and gushing and maybe gushing some more, about  The Lies Of Locke Lamora. This is one of the most amazing, confusticating, absolutely insane books I have ever read. No, I am not being unreasonably weird. This book is a-w-e-s-o-m-e.

INCREDIBLE!

It's a debut novel by Scott Lynch, and I am amazed. If I ever write a debut novel this good, I don't care if everyone calls me a one-trick pony(Bob knows I've done it enough to authors in these blog posts of mine): I will die happy.

Now, I must pull back a little to give everyone in the audience some much-needed backstory. I was just going along, minding my own business, like, talking about ASOIAF to a friend who, incidentally, also likes to read, and then suddenly it hit me. A book rec to crown all book recs! Because I still remember the feelings I got when I read Locke Lamora for the second time--exactly the same feeling I got reading Wilde for the second time. My eyes were teary, my breath came in short gasps-I had touched greatness.(this second-time nonsense will be explained later)

I can't tell you much about the book itself without giving away a million things--for example, while I was talking to this particular friend, I accidentally let slip that the rest of the gentlemen bastards  ahem. Nevermind.

The basic story is a bunch of conmen(cool conmen: They call themselves Gentlemen Bastards. Yeah. I know, right?) are going about their business of swindling one of the nobility for everything they've got--and doing a half-decent(*cough*brilliant*cough*) job of it, too--but then they get involved in something much bigger, a war for the criminal network of the city of Camorr; and it's all downhill from there. You can see it, starting with a snowball and gathering momentum until it's an avalanche, and you're left wincing as it hits poor, poor Locke--and you have no idea what's going to happen next. And I'm not even going to put you out of your misery and tell you. Oh, no. You have to read this story.

Much love to Scott Lynch, and to Locke Lamora, but I must mention one thing--as invested as you are in the story by the end of the first book, you'll read the second(Red Seas Under Red Skies) with interest. Unfortunately, it's just not that good. It's a good book, but not great. I mean, I only cried once. (Don't blame me, you'd've cried too!) Waiting for the third is a good idea, but not even completely necessary. I am, desperately, but only because the cover is so superawesome.

LOOK: SEE?

Here's to hoping Scott pulls off another miracle like the first one. :)

BdK