Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

19 reviews

davonysus's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Cursing, Murder, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Body shaming, Vomit, and Fatphobia

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Cursing, Excrement, Death of parent, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Drug use, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, and War

cassie7e's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Death

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Gore, Blood, Classism, and Murder

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Alcohol

marvelmania's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Violence, Cursing, Vomit, Gore, Death, and Alcohol

Minor: Slavery, Death of parent, and Sexual content

dragonaion's review

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book is brilliant, a wild ride, and I was delightfully surprised. I thought this would be a story of a petty thief who would get caught and end up escaping in a new Robin Hood retelling. What I got was something completely in a world of its own that has almost made me cry repeatedly. What can only be described as "grunge fantasy" (high fantasy 1,000 years post societal collapse in the slums of New York) this has more heart, love, and sheer brilliance than almost any other book I've read to date. Every moment, every interlude, weaves together in such a way that turns this from a story into art, following a batch of characters that are relatable, lovable, and wears no plot armor. I cannot gush more about how amazing and unique this book is- if you have fond memories of the concept of the brotherhood in Theives, this is just the story for you.
"Liar... Liar... Liar... Bastard!"

Edit: I've found another book that is a sibling-story to this. If you enjoyed The Lies of Locke Lamora, you will absolutely feel right at home with Nevernight by Jay Kristoff. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Blood

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Torture, Violence, Sexual content, and Gore

Minor: Gore, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Bullying, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Medical content, Slavery, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Alcohol, and Medical trauma

This is intended for adult readers, starting at the end of an epidemic sparing only children, contains sexual content, violence, gore, animal cruelty, graphic animal death (only at one point), and mentions slavery all in a realistic lense.

mgraceoliver's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcohol, Cursing, Death, Animal death, Gore, Murder, Abandonment, Blood, Classism, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Violence

seanml's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

The Lies of Locke Lamora excels in every aspect that most modern fantasy novels strive to perfect. The setting is intricate and lived-in; there are details and systems in the setting that take time to fully understand, and the author doesn't inundate you with all the exposition you're going to need at the start of the book. Magic exists, but enough questions are answered that we don't have to ask: if so-and-so is possible, why haven't these societal problems been fixed by now? Lynch's plot is also one that is completely original. Our protagonist is one of the classic fantasy archetypes: the scoundrel, but beyond that the narrative is always shifting organically. There are no points where I'm aware of the plot structure; where the story is simply going through the motions. This is a fantastic entry in modern fantasy, and I can understand why it's so well renowned. 9.5/10.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Violence, Murder, Animal death, Torture, Child death, Death, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Blood, Alcohol, Classism, Stalking, Kidnapping, Medical content, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Excrement, Misogyny, Sexism, and Abandonment

_fallinglight_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious slow-paced

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

2.75

This is a book you have to really want to be into to enjoy and that wasn't me. It's intolerably long and overly descriptive yet with unmoving writing. I mean, I love some good world building but this was too much. I hope I never see the word “interlude” again. And though I did eventually like Locke enough, for the most part the characters were underdeveloped to the point I was stone faced when serious things happened to them bc I couldn't connect with them at all. But I did like the Gray King's coup. It was violently ruthless and gory and one of the few moments here where things actually happened and you know what? The Gray King had some points. Also, I don't know about yall but I found this book so moralistic at points, like shut up. But I'll give credit to Mr. Lynch's writing in one regard. The way he writes prayers is actually so heartfelt and they're kinda beautiful. And I liked that there wasn't too much cynism in regards to religion here compared to other dark fantasy books that do that to show how gritty and irreverent the characters/world is and blah blah.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Sexism, Fatphobia, and Body shaming

veronika_kasardova's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Physical abuse, Blood, Murder, Torture, Abandonment, Alcohol, Child death, Animal death, Cursing, Death of parent, Bullying, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Kidnapping, and Violence

alexxxx's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Violence, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture

Minor: Alcohol and Vomit

grayscale08's review

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Grief, Murder, Child death, Blood, Death, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexism, Cursing, Kidnapping, Medical content, and Mental illness

Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Death of parent, Drug use, Abandonment, Ableism, Alcohol, Animal death, Excrement, Fatphobia, and Vomit