Slightly built, unlucky in love, and barely competent with a sword, Locke Lamora is, much to his annoyance, the fabled Thorn. The other half believe him to be a foolish myth. Half the city believes him to be a legendary champion of the poor. The Thorn of Camorr is said to be an unbeatable swordsman, a master thief, a ghost that walks through walls. This is because they take scam the richest citizens in defiance of the Secret Peace (an unspoken agreement between the criminal underground and nobility that establishes a toleration of thievery and mischief in Camorr as long as the nobility is not targeted).Īs head of the Gentlemen Bastards, Locke has earned a reputation and gained the label: the “Thorn of Camorr.” To draw upon the book’s blurb: He is a criminal mastermind who takes in a few orphans: Locke, Bug, Stanza twins and Jean – trains them in a number of disciplines and allows them to plan, plot and execute those elaborate plans that are by say of the criminal overlord, unpermitted. Without giving too much away, the blind priest isn’t a blind priest at all. It quickly becomes apparent that Chains uses this temple as a means to operate the Gentlemen Bastards. “His problem,” said the Thiefmaker, “is that if I can’t sell him to you, I’m going to have to slit his throat and throw him in the bay. He explains that Locke has a problem, or more specifically… So, the Thiefmaker approaches Father Chains, a blind priest at a local temple. Whereas the Thiefmaker just wants him to pick a few pockets and steal a few items from the market, Locke wants to plan elaborate thefts and push the limitations of rules that the criminal underworld have had set upon them by their superiors.

When Locke gets members of the orphanage killed in an attempt of revenge and steals from the wrong people, the Thiefmaker sees that Locke’s ambition far out does his intended role. It is the job of the Thiefmaker to…make thieves! I’m sure you guessed that concept! Very quickly Locke makes a name for himself and the Thiefmaker realises he is talented at his craft…however…there are boundaries. The basic story is that Locke, a young orphan, finds himself in the hands of the Theifmaker. I shouted out over Twitter for suggestions and through our forums and after a number of people said it, I went with The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. There were 10 days left of 2010 and I wanted to find a fantasy book that had me turning the pages quick enough to finish it in time for our book club on January 1, 2011. Well, I set myself a challenge just over a week ago.

The lies of locke lamora hardcover