Scott Lynch’s Gentleman Bastard Sequence is vivid, gripping and immersive, making for an incredibly detailed and compelling world. The Lies of Locke Lamora, the first in the trilogy, features an intriguing plot, an interesting and different narrative style, and characters that are complex and brimming with personality.

I shouldn’t have expected anything less in an adult fantasy, but the depth of Lynch’s world-building is a feat in its own right. It’s not only lush, utilising all the senses and playing into the reader’s emotions to get more out of the scenes, but it is believable and logical while simultaneously wild and complicated. This world-building is beyond anything I’ve read in YA, and even my go-to comparison, Six of Crows, fails to reach the depths of description and significance in place and space as Lynch’s Camorr. The shady, grimy areas of the city, the underbellies beneath sacred walls, and the canal-like routes of transport bringing merchants, nobles, thieves and deadly sea creatures through the city are written with such purpose and clarity that every part of this stinking city lives and breathes.

The narrative style isn’t necessarily unique, but it’s effective in many regards for its dual timeline, splitting the narrative into the present-day chapters and the flashback interludes. Spanning this twenty-year difference is no easy task. Still, Lynch achieves it with fluidity and strength, giving the readers the layers and backstory to these characters and the setting without coming across as tediously expository. There is always a point and a purpose to what Lynch includes and how he includes it, and it makes for a gripping plot with moments of fun and a few surprises. The chapters are also long, spanning between thirty and six pages, split by numbered scenes and the previously mentioned interludes. It works, giving the story structure in a way that draws out the juicy parts of the action, interactions and underlying plot, while also allotting significant space to the same task or objective. That is how it feels to me, at least, and with the intentions of the character plans and setups, the stages in these large endeavours are ticked off without coming across as repetitive to the reader.

These characters are something else. Locke Lamora is a complex man alone, but the Gentleman Bastards have such a deep understanding of each other, their capabilities, and a profound camaraderie that each of them feels like they could be hiding something. I write this at the halfway point of The Lies of Locke Lamora, and I’m really hoping that the Gentlemen Bastards stick together, but it would be very interesting if something were to happen and one of them peels off, secret ties to another gang or benefactor putting everyone and everything they’ve worked for in jeopardy. Locke is cunning, one of the most intriguing characters I’ve come across, and I want to know more. I want to know everything I can, but in order to do that I need to keep reading and I know that the slippery slope is getting trickier to traverse without falling down into it. I have uni work that needs to take precedence but my heart wants to get the rest of this book read before I do anything else.

If you are an adult fantasy fan and you haven’t read The Lies of Locke Lamora yet, I highly encourage you do pick up a copy where you can. Sourcing a copy might be a little difficult if your local library doesn’t have a few lying around as this series was published in the mid 2000s, but I’m sure your bank accounts will forgive you if you end up buying a copy. It will be worth every cent.