Julia

4,5☆!!
Damn I really missed Locke and Jean! My boys!!
I definitely liked the first Gentleman Bastards more, but only ever so slightly so! This is still a fantastic fantasy book with charismatic lil crime bois coming up with ridiculously wonderful schemes and creative ways to save their own necks once it all eventually goes to shit!
These books are just so much fun. Even though so far they are 2 for 2 in making me sob like a baby. ;-;

Not quite 4 stars for me, but definitely a solid 3.5!
Anyways, I am really glad that I gave this book a second chance after dnf'ing it like 20 pages in in 2020 after thinking it ‘too dry' (pun intended).
Having seen the movies (and riding the hype train, ngl) really elevated the reading experience for me.
Reading the novel gave depth to the lore, the world and characters I had experienced on the big screen, while having seen the movies granted a sort of epicness and visual brilliance to the words on the page.
Sounds fucking pretentious, I know, but I really am in awe at how well the source material and the movie adaptation complement and complete each other in a way. Especially when in 90% of the cases I catch myself saying “the book was better”.
Can't wait to read Dune Messiah with this new-found appreciation for Herbert's work (and to bridge the waiting time for the next movie).

This book is beautifully written, made me laugh out loud and sob like a baby, kept me engaged the whole way through and had me entirely fall in love with the world and the characters, especially the protagonist.
Like, seriously, I'd die for Locke. What a lovable a-hole.
From now on The Lies of Locke Lamora is definitely up there as one of my favorite books of all time!