A quick warning, this book isn't for the faint of heart, it's fairly gory in parts and, not to spoil things, but don't get too attached to any given character. It was a rare treat in a genre so overstuffed with cliches and boring, predictable books! Scott Lynch has created an elaborate city-scape, stuffed it with neat characters and interesting histories, mixed alchemy, magic and crime, AND woven together several plot threads without ever being boring or getting weighed down by the need to explain unnecessary things. This is definitely one of my new favorite books, and one which I will be recommending to all my friends. But being an audiobook, it is easy enough to just sit through these parts until it gets back to the action. In particular the passages where Locke is dealing with the nobility go overboard in detailing all the social pleasantries and etiquette involved. My one minor criticism of the story is that there are patches where I feel the author gets bogged down in describing either the architecture of the city or the detailed dialogue involved in their cons. I especially loved the way he handled the dialogue, it is full of dry wit and sarcastic one-liners and he delivered them perfectly.

I find his voice very easy to listen to and he makes the characters feel so real. It is just the story of Locke and his friends and their (mis)adventures and it is brilliant. There is no dark lord rising, no coming apocalypse, no village boy who finds out he has magic powers and must save the world. I especially loved the fresh approach the author took compared to traditional fantasy writing. The story just grabs you in from the first moment.

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch