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frith_in_thornsSo I've finished (after finally starting) The Lies of Locke Lamora. My thoughts are... mixed.
I loved the writing (although I thought the swearing was a little excessive for a fantasy novel - not that I'm against swearing, it was just a little jarring to hear 'fucking' so often, since it's what I think of as a more modern swear), and the worldbuilding was particularly well done. I really liked that there was no explaination ever of the Eldren creaters which were building indestructable beautiful cities long before humans and since have vanished - it was something which simply was.
Favourite parts by far were Locke's cons - wonderful plotting there. And I did care for the characters, enough to be really very horrified at some of the deaths. The fight scenes were also pretty good. Not really a book for people who don't like violence. Lots of violence.
What did irritate me more and more as the book went on: the women. Or complete and utter lack of them. Nazca had massive promise before being fridged on her second appearance. Sabetha never appeared at all or even had any information given about her other than that she and Locke were in love - although we did get told how wonderful she was within the first few pages, never to be followed up on. The sisters existed to be evil and get killed off dramatically by one of the heroes. Sofia and Dona V were easily played by Locke. Apart from some "whores", these are the only women to be mentioned in a rather thick book which has ample time to let the readers know about all of the quite large male cast. It was just so blatent that I really was being turned off the book by the end of it, which is a pity.
Anyway, I need to read more books. Sadly I don't have any more at LeachLAN with me, although it has taken me three days to read this one since I've been playing games for a lot of the time. So far this holiday I've read The Summer Tree, The Wandering Fire, The Darkest Road, Strong Poison, and now this one, which comes to a rather pathetic five. And I still need to finish my big bang story. Bah.
I loved the writing (although I thought the swearing was a little excessive for a fantasy novel - not that I'm against swearing, it was just a little jarring to hear 'fucking' so often, since it's what I think of as a more modern swear), and the worldbuilding was particularly well done. I really liked that there was no explaination ever of the Eldren creaters which were building indestructable beautiful cities long before humans and since have vanished - it was something which simply was.
Favourite parts by far were Locke's cons - wonderful plotting there. And I did care for the characters, enough to be really very horrified at some of the deaths. The fight scenes were also pretty good. Not really a book for people who don't like violence. Lots of violence.
What did irritate me more and more as the book went on: the women. Or complete and utter lack of them. Nazca had massive promise before being fridged on her second appearance. Sabetha never appeared at all or even had any information given about her other than that she and Locke were in love - although we did get told how wonderful she was within the first few pages, never to be followed up on. The sisters existed to be evil and get killed off dramatically by one of the heroes. Sofia and Dona V were easily played by Locke. Apart from some "whores", these are the only women to be mentioned in a rather thick book which has ample time to let the readers know about all of the quite large male cast. It was just so blatent that I really was being turned off the book by the end of it, which is a pity.
Anyway, I need to read more books. Sadly I don't have any more at LeachLAN with me, although it has taken me three days to read this one since I've been playing games for a lot of the time. So far this holiday I've read The Summer Tree, The Wandering Fire, The Darkest Road, Strong Poison, and now this one, which comes to a rather pathetic five. And I still need to finish my big bang story. Bah.
