I've read 68 books so far this year, and this is my favorite so far and it's easily in my top 5 of all time. The banter is witty and smart. The story moves right along and it's hard to put down. This is part of a series, but you can read it as a stand alone. ( )

This book was such a breath of fresh air! the voice was sarcastic and snarky; Locke was a total pissant and I loved it!

It's nice to see a layered criminal for a change. Someone who clearly knows right from wrong. How it differs from what is and isn't legal. The world building was fantastic. the only spot I had any trouble with was figuring out the years and dates. Once I got the hang of it, reading this was so smooth.

Will definitely be hunting after the rest of the books in this series. ( )

There's a lot of praise I could give this book. The writing is magnetic and witty, and only a few pages in, I was swept away into a world that is gritty, decadent, enchanting, and mysterious. The story is a lot of fun, and the characters are even more fun. Plus the setting of the book (like MANY other fantasy stories before it) is inspired by Medieval Venice, which means plenty of pages are dedicated to subtly--as well as not so subtly--critiquing early capitalism, and that's always a blast. ( )

really enjoyed this book- it has a great deal of profanity which got a little tiresome after a while but it did fit the characters alright. book 2 does not have whisper-sync yet or i’d be going on with the series- will definitely come back to it ( )

This is Scott Lynch's debut novel and the first in his Gentlemen Bastards sequence. We're introduced to the setting and characters fairly quickly, and slowly learn more about the city and the wider-world through various interludes interspersed throughout the book. The main storyline, the present-day as it were, is cut with interludes that introduce more about Locke's past, or other characters' pasts or that give pertinent information to upcoming plot points. I'm not a big fan of this mode of storytelling, but it is effective here, because each break in the main story crafts more of the world or gives more impetus to the plot.

The characters themselves are loveable scamps who steal like they breathe. They could be considered masters of their craft, and can't imagine an existence where they aren't scamming someone, stealing random trifles, or trying to pull of the greatest heists imaginable. This book is essentially a love-letter to heist stories, but set in a fantasy world, where a limited sort of magic exists, but is otherwise reminiscent of 17th century Venice. As the story unfolds, we realize that although the characters are deeply flawed criminals, they are still many times better than the rest of the criminal underworld when examining the scale of crimes, with murderers and ruthless killers on one end and thieves and con-artists at the other end. They gave themselves the name Gentlemen Bastards for a reason, after all. Locke becomes a sort of anti-hero by the end, putting himself into situations he never imagined he would be in, because he still has a form of a moral compass.

The story itself is a combination of heist/revenge fantasy. There were some shocking moments, but overall, I think this book had maybe been hyped up a bit too much in online communities, and I didn't quite reach those heights that other readers did. But that doesn't mean this isn't worth reading. The characters are very well-written and believable. The setting is unique and I wanted to learn more about the magic system. The story is very well crafted, with plenty of hooks and twists. It is a very good debut novel, but it didn't astound me as much as I hoped, which is on me for hyping it up too much. ( )