Category: Fantasy

The Lies of Locke Lamora 🙄

Why I had to DNF

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”Some day, Locke Lamora,” he said, “some day, you’re going to fuck up so magnificently, so ambitiously, so overwhelmingly that the sky will light up and the moons will spin and the gods themselves will shit comets with glee. And I just hope I’m still around to see it.”
“Oh please,” said Locke. “It’ll never happen.”

I am a huge reader. I read at least 2-3 books every month, and I always finish them, even the ones I don’t particularly enjoy. Fantasy is my favourite go-to genre, and with so many people throwing praise at The Lies of Locke Lamora, I was really excited to lose myself in this unique, sprawling world.

The Lies of Locke Lamora follows the story of a small orphan boy who is being trained by Father Chains to be a gentleman thief, or Gentleman Bastard. The story switches frequently between past and present, and the book is currently the first of three in the Gentleman Bastard series.

I won’t say too much about the plot, not only because of spoilers, but because I don’t feel qualified to speak about the plot in too much detail as I sadly did not finish this book.

Before I begin, I realise that my opinions are highly unpopular. Many people love this book, so I would never say that I don’t recommend it, in fact a quick glance on goodreads will show you just how popular this book is. This post is just my own personal opinions and experience with The Lies of Locke Lamora, and by no means represents the opinions of the masses. The beauty of books is that they are so diverse because we are so diverse. Nobody can be right or wrong for what they enjoy reading, it’s all down to personal taste, and this is mine.

Struggling through this book began to feel like a chore for me, and so eventually I stopped and thought… Why am I torturing myself? Reading is supposed to be fun and relaxing, not stressful! So many people love this book, so why did I find it so difficult to get through?

Well…

I didn’t have a great first impression of the book, which was not the fault of the story itself or the author. I immediately dived straight into it when it arrived, because I had heard such great things and was excited to see what all of the fuss was about, and the pages started coming loose and falling out. It really ruined my initial experience, so I complained to Amazon and they sent me another copy. The binding was just as bad with the second copy, sadly. I’m trying to separate my ordeal of trying to hold pages in place from my thoughts about the book itself, but I’m sure it still had a negative impact on my enjoyment, to a degree. 

I really enjoyed the parts of the book that were actually telling the story, and the writing was beautifully poetic, but there was too much of the latter for me. I am a huge lover of beautiful and descriptive language when it’s used sparingly, but when it’s filling up every other paragraph it detracts so much from what’s happening. It wasn’t making me feel more immersed, it had quite the opposite effect for me, in fact.

When I’m just getting to an interesting part in the story, I don’t need a lengthy paragraph explaining what the condensation looks like, it’s jarring and pulls me out of the story to the point where I had to occasionally backtrack to what was happening before the epic descriptions of seemingly random things. Don’t get me wrong, these descriptions were beautiful, but it became a bit much after a while, and because this gorgeous language was so frequent, the magic of it wore off quite fast and it became exhausting to traverse the minefield of pretty prose in order to get to the actual story. It took me so long to get through just half of the book, because I had to keep putting it down in frustration. I wanted to know what would happen next, but it was a chore to get to the parts I enjoyed, and when I felt myself groan internally at the thought of picking it up again, I decided to allow myself not to finish this one.

The leaning grey tenements of water-slick stone were spitting their inhabitants out into the sunlight and the rising summer warmth. The month was Parthis, meaning that the night-sweat of condensation already boiling off the buildings as a soupy mist would be greatly missed by the cloudless white heat of early afternoon.

So many people love this book, and although I don’t completely understand the hype around it, I do see why it would be to some peoples tastes. The story and the world are both intricate and unique. The world felt dark and fleshed out and the writing is almost poetic, but I suppose it just wasn’t my cup of tea. I never believed that I would put down a book for having too much detailed description (which I usually love!) but that was the reason I couldn’t finish this one. I was drowning in so much gorgeous prose to the point where it appeared to take precedence over the story and I quickly became bored. I may try to give this book another chance at some point, but for now it’s sadly a DNF for me.

So those were my thoughts after attempting to read The Lies of Locke Lamora! What did you think of this book? I would love to hear other peoples opinions on why they loved (or didn’t love) it!

I’m personally needing a short break from fantasy after my experience with it, so I picked up a random crime/thriller and am already further into it than I was with Locke Lamora after just one night… 😅👀

A Darker Shade of Magic 🤩

And why it’s one of my favourite series of all time!

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A few years ago I picked up A Darker Shade of Magic. I read it, and remember loving it, but somehow I forgot about it for quite some time. Then, one day I was browsing books on Amazon, when it was recommended to me, and the joy I felt whilst reading it came flooding back, so I purchased A Gathering of Shadows and A Conjuring of Light that day, and sat down to re-read A Darker Shade of Magic.

“I am Delilah Bard, she thought. Pirate, thief, magician.” Her fingertips began to thrum. “I have crossed worlds and taken ships. Fought queens and saved cities.” Her bones shuddered and her blood raced. “I am one of a kind.“

Somehow, I fell in love with Victoria Schwab’s beautiful writing style, the unique and stunning world and characters that she has created even more the second time around. I lost sleep because I couldn’t put these books down. I would start to read in the evening and the next thing I knew, it would be morning! 😂

A Darker Shade of Magic is set in a world of alternate realities, and in all four worlds, London exists by the same name. There is Grey London, which is (from my interpretation) our own world. The people of Grey London have forgotten the existence of magic, and The River Thames is even called The River Thames. It’s exactly what you would expect of early 19th Century London. Delilah Bard (who might just be my favourite fictional character of all time!) lives as a thief in Grey London.

Next, we have Red London, which is a world where magic is a normal and everyday thing. The people of Red London actually worship magic like people might worship a god. Kell, our other protagonist, lives in Red London with the royal family, and is like an adopted son to the king and queen. He is a special kind of magician named an Antari, which means that he is able to travel between worlds. Antari are very rare with only two known to still exist.

Then there is White London, which is a colourless place in which the people are aware of magic but are starved of it, and go to extreme lengths just to hang on to a small piece of it. The political system in White London is fascinating, the idea that to be a ruler, you must take over the fortress and murder the previous monarch was such an interesting and dark one to read about. I felt genuinely uneasy during the White London scenes, because the place felt so dangerous. Holland, the other Antari besides Kell, lives in White London, and is kept as a slave by Athos and Astrid Dane, the current rulers who take great pleasure in torture and murder.

Finally, there is Black London, which was destroyed and sealed away after magic took over.

I could go on and on about the worlds in this book because I love it so much, but I don’t want to give away too much because I really think that everybody should discover these amazing books for themselves!

Delilah Bard steals a magic stone from Kell, and without giving too much away, she convinces him to take her to another world because she is desperate for an adventure.

“Death comes for everyone,” she said simply. “I’m not afraid of dying. But I am afraid of dying here.” She swept her hand over the room, the tavern, the city. “I’d rather die on an adventure than live standing still.”

The characters, the world, the writing… This book is so wonderful, I felt a little sad when I finished the series, because it left me wanting more! I enjoy so many books, devouring several each month, but it’s rare for one to stick with me like A Darker Shade of Magic has. These books swept me away on an adventure with characters I grew to love and care about, and I honestly cannot praise it enough.

What were your thoughts on this series? Let me know in the comments!