Lies of Locke Lamora read-along, week two!

Posted by: Redhead on: March 17, 2012

• In: read along | Scott Lynch
• 31 Comments

Hi Everyone, welcome to the second week of our The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch read along!  we’re starting to get into the meat of the story, and many games are afoot. People are starting to die, mob bosses are taking evasive actions, and even the Right People are running scared.  this section of our read along covers chapter three Imaginary Men through the interlude called The Boy Who Cried for a Corpse, and this week’s questions were provided by the lovely nrlymrtl over at Dark Cargo.  Be sure to be  a friendly blogger this weekend and head over to Dark Cargo and comment on her Lies of Locke Lamora post. Lots of other fun stuff over at DC as well.

Some folks mentioned last week their editions didn’t have a map. here ya go, bigger version available at Lynch’s website. while you’re there, check out his live journal. . .  he’s been posting some nifty behind the scenes goodies as well!

Be warned, there be spoilers ahead.  Those wishing to avoid said spoilers should probably not click the “more” button below, as my answers and some other fun stuff is below the jump.  Leave your link in the comments or e-mail or tweet it to me, and I’ll add you to the link list below.

just discovering this read along and want to get involved? no problem! just comment on this post that you want to be added to the sooper seekrit mailing list, and it shall be done. 😉

on twitter?  use #lynchmob.   but not @lynchmob.  that’s someone else.

here are this week’s discussion questions:

1) Do you think Locke can pull off his scheme of playing a Midnighter who is working with Don Salvara to capture the Thorn of Camorr? I mean, he is now playing two roles in this game – and thank goodness for that costume room the Gentlemen Bastards have!

2) Are you digging the detail the author has put into the alcoholic drinks in this story?

3) Who is this mysterious lady Gentlemen Bastard Sabetha and what does she mean to Locke?

4) Are you as creeped out over the use of Wraithstone to create Gentled animals as I am?

5) I got a kick out of child Locke’s first meeting with Capa Barsavi and his daughter Nazca, which was shortly followed up in the story by Barsavi granting adult Locke permission to court his daughter! Where do you think that will lead? Can you see these two together?

6) Capa Barsavi is freaked out over rumors of The Gray King and, in fact, us readers are privy to a gruesome torture scene. The Gray King is knocking garristas off left and right. What do you think that means?

7) In the Interlude: The Boy Who Cried for a Corpse, we learn that Father Chains owes an alchemist a favor, and that favor is a fresh corpse. He sets the boys to figuring out how to provide one, and they can’t ‘create’ the corpse themselves. How did you like Locke’s solution to this conundrum?

Make sure you visit these other wonderful conversations:
Nashville Bookworm
Rose’s Thingamajig
Dark Cargo
Tethyan Books
Kaitharshayr’s Musings
Paperless Reading
Scruffy Fiction
All I Am: A Redhead
Lynn’s Book Blog
Numbers, Words and Ramblings
Booky Pony
Books Without Any Pictures
Just Book Reading
My Awful Reviews
Coffee Cookies and Chili Peppers
Beware of the Froggies
Lisa Pizza / A Blog thinger
Realbooks4Ever
Genkinahito’s
Felix Pearce
the Hugo Endurance Project
The Bente Way of Life
SF Signal

NEW!!!

Updates to the Theory of Everything

1) Do you think Locke can pull off his scheme of playing a Midnighter who is working with Don Salvara to capture the Thorn of Camorr? I mean, he is now playing two roles in this game – and thank goodness for that costume room the Gentlemen Bastards have!

I love the costume room!  and the Midnighter scheme is brilliant.  How could Don Salvara not recognize Locke right away?  a ha, a dark room, a commanding tone of voice, and a badge tends to make people see what they want to see.  that Midnighter badge is almost better than psychic paper!  but if they are going to pull this off, they’re really going to have to be more careful of Conte, that guy is vicious dangerous. And they’re now running the risk that the Don and Dona Salvara will keep their mouths shut. But have you ever read a better con than that? I can’t get enough of this stuff!

2) Are you digging the detail the author has put into the alcoholic drinks in this story?

absolutely! Lynch sounds like a man that loves good drink and good food, and for me that adds yet another enjoyable layer to the world. however, I take a offense at Jean’s comment that Apricot tarts and beer is “A combination so disgusting I feel oddly compelled to actually try it”. From personal experience I can tell you that beer goes wonderfully with Apricot tarts. the bitter aftertaste of the beer perfectly balances the near cloyingness of the apricots nestled in buttery pastry. (recipe available upon request)  Are the Gentelmen Bastards drinking Bud Light with their apricot tarts or something? cuz that would be a disgusting combination.

3) Who is this mysterious lady Gentlemen Bastard Sabetha and what does she mean to Locke?

I wish I knew.  All I know about her is that Locke loved her once, and it seems like she left him. There have been a few fleeting hints dropped by Calo and Galdo, that they wish she would get better and such, but that’s really all I know. I wonder if she felt the same way about him that he felt/feels about her? Kudos to Lynch, again, for being willing to make Locke so heartbroken and flawed right from the beginning. And, since his heart belongs to someone else, I don’t have to worry about any epically cheesy romance scenes.  more beer and swearing please!

We do get to meet Sabetha in the soon to be published The Republic of Thieves, but meeting someone is so very different from knowing them.

4) Are you as creeped out over the use of Wraithstone to create Gentled animals as I am?

totally.  From a certain twisted standpoint, I can sort of understand – just like it’s described in the book, Camorr is very densely populated, with twisted alleys and dangerous bridges and wobbly boats. Animals are needed to carry goods, but you can’t risk the animal getting frightened or freaking out.  but there has got to be a better way that Gentling, because that’s just fucking sick.  can’t they give the donkeys some alcohol or catnip or something? just enough to chill them out so they don’t kick people?

5) I got a kick out of child Locke’s first meeting with Capa Barsavi and his daughter Nazca, which was shortly followed up in the story by Barsavi granting adult Locke permission to court his daughter! Where do you think that will lead? Can you see these two together?

ok, slightly off topic, those of you who are listening to this on audio, how is her name pronounced? Is it like Naja,with a very soft j? or more like a harder sh sound?  She’s great, even though I really can’t see the two of them together. they are close friends, but they don’t have romantic feelings for each other. I suppose it could be a marriage of convenience. . .   but can you imagine the two of them sharing their secrets? Nazca is the only person who knows all her father’s secrets, and Locke has quite a few secrets of his own.  they’d make a crappy couple, but a brilliant team.

6) Capa Barsavi is freaked out over rumors of The Gray King and, in fact, us readers are privy to a gruesome torture scene. The Gray King is knocking garristas off left and right. What do you think that means?

yeah, that’s one helluva torture scene, isn’t it? I know it makes me sound like a sick fucker, but that’s become the scene that I judge all other torture scenes against. Sorry, I totally should have warned people ahead of time about that. my bad. But it is to good effect, no?

I think the Grey King is sending Caa Barsavi a message, something along the lines of  “I can knock off your soldiers at the time of my choosing. Soon it will be your turn”.   that’s some scary shit, and we haven’t even met this Grey King yet!!

7) In the Interlude: The Boy Who Cried for a Corpse, we learn that Father Chains owes an alchemist a favor, and that favor is a fresh corpse. He sets the boys to figuring out how to provide one, and they can’t ‘create’ the corpse themselves. How did you like Locke’s solution to this conundrum?

oh I though it was hilarious!  instead of doing things the simple way by buying the corpse and being done with it, Locke has to turn it into this city sprawling production.  Smart kid, he’s accomplished more than just getting Chains a fresh body:  he’s learned how different types of people react to crying children, how to properly bribe clerks, and best of all he’s shows the Sanza twins exactly what he is capable of. I lost count of how many times I exclaimed “ha!” out loud while reading this section!

Tags: con art, fantasy, read-along, thieves, violence