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 I just finished reading The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, and let's just say that I'm impressed! February in Canada is a great time to curl up under a blanket and lose yourself in a great book set in a warmer place. Lies, the first novel by Lynch, was more than capable of helping me escape February! I haven't been this excited about an author since I discovered George R. R. Martin, whose recommendation led me to discover Lynch.
The Lies of Locke Lamora is set in a fantasy city similar to Venice, except with a lot more sharks. Locke Lamora is a con artist, who robs from the rich and... well, has some good times afterwards. The story is a fast-paced series of cons, robberies, shark battles, fancy-dress parties, assassinations, sword fights, back-stabbing, and all kinds of swashbuckling goodness. Even though this is the first in a long series of forthcoming books, Lies isn't just setting things up for a future climax (*cough* Robert Jordan *cough*). It's a complete novel in every sense. All plot threads are concluded by the end. Lynch doesn't string the reader along. Instead, he does everything he can to delight and amaze! In a genre that has recently been encouraging bloated, aimless fantasy series of huge tomes (I'm looking at you, Steven Erikson!), it's refreshing to find a new fantasy author who writes a briskly paced story with the reader's enjoyment in mind. Check out the following interview with Scott Lynch to find out how his blog helped him get his book published and launched his career as a writer. Yes, his blog got him published! Crazy! I know! That's what I said! Crazy! Go get The Lies of Locke Lamora. Seriously, it's great. |
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NeilToronto, Canada I have been blogging since 2004. I've been working in the software industry since 1999, learning all kinds of computer geek skillz that I may share in this blog. I'm into computer games, especially role-playing games, simulations, and adventure games. I can't get enough fantasy, sci-fi, superhero, and steampunk fiction. I'm also an avid programmer, interested in databases, web site development, and occasionally game development.  Login |
Yes, I read all the way to the half-way point of The Bonehunters. That will probably be the end of Malazan for me. Not aimless? One word: Icarium! That story hasn't gone anywhere in the 5000+ pages that I read!
In my opinion, Midnight Tides was an excellent novel, and Deadhouse Gates was great too. On the other hand, Memories of Ice was 90% garbage, and Bonehunters was totally awful, as far as I could bear it.
Erikson's writing is wildly inconsistent, and my patience is low for thick doorstop books.
I actually just began reading The Bonehunters today, but I can agree with you that Midnight Tides and Deadhouse Gates are terrific novels. Yet I also think Memories of Ice is one of the best books I've read in over 20 years, being the first book I've reread since rereading LOTR, The Hobbit, and Huck Finn in the early 1980s.
And have you read the Erikson novella trilogy? It's an amazingly written - and fun - series, I highly recommend it.
You're obviously not alone in loving Erikson's writing, so let's just agree that our personal tastes differ. I think you've got to be a masochist to put yourself through something like Bonehunters.
Having defended ASOIF, I still cringe at sci-fi/fantasy series that are so epic that they never get finished, or they start to suck. Frank Herbert never finished Dune. Wheel of Time went to crap really early in the series. Malazan got Bonehunted. I hope that Locke Lamora's 7-book adventures stay entertaining, but I'm skeptical.
Can't authors just write one book at a time like they did back in the day? Why promise these ridiculous doorstopilogies?
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