Endless Bag of Games

I heard so much good of this book from my friends and the reviews I’ve seen about the book has been almost nothing but praise. So I finally took my time to read the book and see how my expectations from book were fullfilled.

“The Thorn of Camorr is said to be an unbeatable swordsman, a master thief, a ghost that walks through walls. Half the city believes him to be a legendary champion of the poor. The other half believe him to be a foolish myth. Nobody has it quite right.”

The Lies of Locke Lamora is the book one of the Gentleman Bastard series by Scott Lynch. Many books start of with a bang, but The Lies of Locke Lamora isn’t one of those books. The story builds up gradually and includes interesting ‘interludes’ just enough for you to know what has previously happened to explain events in the present. This way, the game only becomes clear when the pieces are assembled at the end of the chapter. A neat way keeping up the readers in the dark when the protagonists have all the information, and is used thorhough the book. As you progress through the book and things get really interesting the pace becomes faster until all the various plot threads come together in a frantic finale.

The “hero” of the tale is no other than the Thorn of Camorr, Locke Lamora. Locke has his own style, perpetrating elaborate and lucrative scams on the nobility of his home city Camorr. All the accumulated wealth however does not go for the poor, they never see a penny, but instead the gains go to himself and his band of thieves: The Gentleman Bastards.

There are many small gangs in the somewhat ancient city of Camorr and the Gentleman Bastards eventually find themselves caught in a mystery: The Grey King is murdering thieves which almost tears underworld apart with a clandestine war. As you can imagine, Locke and the Gentleman Bastards are unfortunately caught in the middle of it and their wits are truly tested in their struggle to stay alive.

The whole book is like a witty gangster film set in fantasy equivalent of old Venice. The atmosphere is interesting, almost tingling, and the book holds the reader with a tight grip from the beginning pages until the end.Lynch succeeds admirably by delivering a cinematic experience with interesting and somewhat unusual characters who really have depth in them; Especially Locke himself.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes fantasy novels. The Lies of Locke Lamora was colorful, cunning, humorous and really possessive book. A true “page-turner”.

I have not written book review in ages, but when I finished Joe Abercrombie’s Best Served Cold, I knew that I have to say a word or two, just to encourage people to familiarize themselves with Abercrombie’s work. Without further ado, here is my two cents.

The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie has earned notions being fast paced, gritty and full of interesting characters. Honestly speaking, when I started reading the First Law Trilogy, it was the first time I felt that I am watching a fast paced movie instead of reading a book. Best Served Cold makes no exception to those notions. It is still tense experience which takes you to take dangerous environment where actions always has consequences and revenge is a dish Best Served Cold.

I try not to reveal too much from the actual plot, so I describe everything very generally. The storys focus is revenge and in the middle is Monzcarro Murcatto, a mercenary who along with her brother strive from victor to victor. Soon things go awry and Murcatto soon finds herself broken and having a good deal of revenge to deliver. So begins the bloody quest for revenge in a setting full of would-be despots, criminals, soldiers and treachery; Styria. Best Served Cold is a Fantasy novel with strong absence of magic.

As you can imagine, the road for revenge is long and rough ride. As Murcatto continues her quest, it leaves marks to her and her companions affecting to the relationships between the characters. In fact, during the journey the attitudes of the characters transform from hopeful to somewhat fatalistic as the characters learn that they might have become ones they used to despise. All is handled with smooth and delicate touch.

The setting itself is described very vividly, making the cities feel somewhat more like characters with personalities rather than just places to dwell. Canals full of cutpurses, courtesans and a quite amount of architecture to deliver a feeling that Styria is long from its golden age. While I was reading the book, I really felt that everywhere there were some signs of violence and war. In fact, the violence of Best Served Cold is one of the things to remember; swords collide in way that it is remembered, the battles can be exhausting and last a good while, until other delivers something devastating and it always leaves scars. Honestly, I haven’t seen so good usage of scars for a good while. The violence in the book is not for the faint-hearted. Some of the scenes were really.. something. Even for my taste.

Best Served Cold is another fantasy novel that is highly recommended. The tale is engaging and it challenges the reader. The mood is refreshing and somewhat similar which could be found from the First Law trilogy; dark, somewhat depressing and bleak with just the right amount of humor and killer one-liners.