Reviews with content warning for Blood - The Lies of Locke Lamora

Fun as hell. An excellent grimdark heist fantasy. The world felt immersive and despite it's crassness and dark themes it was funny and I enjoyed following along with the antics of all the characters.

I do think the book could have had better representation of women, but my hopes are that this first book will set the foundation for better stories to come.

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cassie7e's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Dark and violent but consistently funny and compelling as well. An intriguing world, subtle grounded magic, and lovable thieves. Scenes from different timelines woven together at just the right times to reveal information and character development.

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raincloud35's review

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adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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kiwij96's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

It took a moment for me to get used to the structure of the book: chapters written in parts with an interlude at the end of each chapter which is like a flashback. Once I got used to this stule of stroytelling, it became easier to engage with, however, there were times when the story was engaging and I couldn't put it down for like 100-150 pages, and other times where I struggled to get to the next part. It also felt like some of the paragraphs had been very heavily attacked by a thesaurus which meant I had to reread sections just to understand what was going on.

Criticisms aside, the story was full of twists and turns and more deaths that a season of Grey's Anatomy. The worldbuilding was full of description and even had its own calendar system. The characters were fantastically written, both good and bad characters. They brought me joy, anger, and heartbreak at times. Locke is an interesting character to me because as someone who is supposed to be the brains of the operation, he sure does make a whole bunch of mistakes and then continues acting like he is the cleverest being known to man.

I am unsure if I will continue the trilogy as this one felt like it could be a standalone, but we shall see.

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al_dahart's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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marvelmania's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Pros

THE CHARACTERS! I loved all of the Gentlemen Bastards, especially Locke. He is an interesting take on a thief main character. He's not your typical, handsome, strong, brooding thief. He is complex in his emotions and he's not afraid to show it. He has a lot of love for his friends but is also capable of causing some real destruction and death. I like that he is described as being "mid" in every physical way. It causes people to underestimate him and makes his thieving all the more rewarding.

The actually thieving itself. Although most of Locke's thieve comes from using disguises and not actual... heisting, the way it comes together is very satisfying. Locke's ability to deceive makes up for a lack of action packed stealing. The long con is done well.

Galdo, Calo and Bugs death legitimately shocked me. I actually sat there with a surprised Pikachu face. I was not expecting it even though it was totally foreshadowed earlier. I genuinely thought we were going to have a happy little thief found family for the entire of this series. The deaths were also impactfully written with the right amount of emotion.

This book balanced emotion very well. I found myself laughing at some parts and wanting to cry at others. The balance makes the book very entertaining.

Incredibly descriptive and immersive world building and writing. I was able to picture this book perfectly in my head as it was told.

Cons

World building. Yes it is a pro and con. It was amazingly descriptive but sometimes it was just too much. A slog to get through in some chapters.

Lack of female characters. It would've been nice if we actually got to see Sabetha in Locke's youth. She's mentioned a few times, even being said to have been around. But we never actually get to see her which is disappointing considering her and Locke have a romantic relationship. I'm sure the 2nd book will amend this.

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kazzerdam's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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