Anyone else disappointed with Lies of Locke Lamora/Ash?

[shadow9d9]

Just curious as to what the thoughts of others are... My wife and I both gave up on the book at pages 75 and 50 respectively. Way too much descripton and a story that is completely unoriginal-has been done wayyy too many times before.

I also gave Secret History of Ash book 1 a shot... got about 250 pages into it... felt most of the characters to be underdeveloped.. nothing much ever happened... just felt average too...

I try to read new series and authors after coming off of high books(so my patience will be higher).. just finished the amazing Lions of Al-Rassan : ). I have since started The Scar and am enjoying it at page 100. Perdido Street Station had a lot of potential, was slightly above average overall and I am hoping he has grown as an author for this one!

 

[Pyan]

Sorry to hear that - loved the book myself, and rushed out to get the sequel as soon as it was published. Loved Ash as well.
Perhaps you might try reading a little further into the Lies - it is a 500 page book, after all, and it seems a shame to give up after only a tenth of the story!

 

[HoopyFrood]

I really enjoyed The Lies of Locke Lamora as well. I kind of dawdled along with it for the first fifty pages or so, but then I found that I couldn't put it down after that and I think I read the last 150 pages or so in one sitting! I thought it was actually quite an original story, a nice move away from the usual epic fantasy. And I have to say that I have a soft spot for those kinds of 'good' con-people and who are quick and witty and can get themselves out of tight spots.

 

[shadow9d9]

I was considering giving it some more time but it just seemed like way too many descriptions and little story.. and in retrospect, as I said, the whole thief story has been done to death... I could give it 50 more pages I guess.

 

[HappyHippo]

Haven't read LIES but Ash is one of my life-changing books. It took me a long time to get into, and the first time I read it I skipped a lot of the 'real life' stuff, but when I finished it had shifted some of my perceptions on things out side the book.

I'm having trouble with her 'Orthe' book. It's taken me several goes to get 300 pages in, and I think I need to restart it.

Do try, unless it inspires the kind of dread I get from Tolkeins verse writing!

 

[Lucien21]

I found Lies to be a rollicking good read. One of those can't put it down books.

Currently reading the sequel "Red seas under Red skies"

 

[Finnien]

Personally, I loved Lies from front to back. However, I asked my mother to read it (who isn't an SF&F fan) and she was initially not very enthralled by it. However, when I checked with her about halfway through, she said it was definitely growing on her. By the end, she loved it.

 

[Culhwch]

I'm reading Lies right now, admittedly because of the big wraps it gets here. I'm a hundred pages in and while it isn't setting my world on fire, it's keeping me reading... slowly. That isn't to say that I haven't had the urge to put it down, but so far I've kept at it. I don't mind the descriptions so much, and the characterisation so far is probably what's kept me going. I'll probably stick with it.

 

[shadow9d9]

Haven't read LIES but Ash is one of my life-changing books. It took me a long time to get into, and the first time I read it I skipped a lot of the 'real life' stuff, but when I finished it had shifted some of my perceptions on things out side the book.

I'm having trouble with her 'Orthe' book. It's taken me several goes to get 300 pages in, and I think I need to restart it.

Do try, unless it inspires the kind of dread I get from Tolkeins verse writing!

I read her Rats and Gargoyles which had potential, but it fell apart near the end.


Why do people keep reading when a book doesn't draw them in within the first 50-100 pages? Do people enjoy punishment? You shouldn't have to TRY to enjoy something!

 

[HoopyFrood]

But if I had put down Locke Lamora at the beginning when I wasn't quite warming to it, then I would have missed out on an excellent book. New books or authors that I haven't tried before usually take a while to catch my interest, because it's a new style and plot and you've got to get your head around all the characters (especially with someone like Erikson!) It's only when I get halfway through a book and find that I'm really not enjoying it, that's about the only time I'll stop reading. And I've only done that with about three books, in all the years I've been reading.

 

[Connavar]

To me you cant give up on a book if you havent read atleast half of it.

Then it must suck totaly to give up. If its only slow start then you have read enough books like that you know it can get alot better.

If people was as quick to give on books as you we would have missed alot of great stories.


The latest book like that was for me was Gardens of the moon. So slow and not so good first half the second half was soo much better and i enjoyed it alot.

I kept thinking " i was totaly right not to give up on it earlier "!!!



50 pages are nothing really. No book i have ever read has been that quick to see what its about.

Its like watching a movie and give up on it after 5 mins, what do you see in 5 mins? One scene tops.

 

[HoopyFrood]

Heh, we think alike, it seems CR! And it was the Gardens of the Moon I had in mind when I mentioned Erikson. Took me a while to get into it but I've very glad I stuck with it!

 

[Connavar]

Me too!

Specially hard for me to get into it cause 90% of my fantasy before Erikson was heroic fantasy which is my preffered type of fantasy. Not a story with so many characters with gods and their schemes.

What made me dig through the hard and slow parts of the story was the interesting world,characters like Kruppe.

 

[Rothgar]

I read her Rats and Gargoyles which had potential, but it fell apart near the end.


Why do people keep reading when a book doesn't draw them in within the first 50-100 pages? Do people enjoy punishment? You shouldn't have to TRY to enjoy something!

For me I suppose it is the same reason I don't give up on movies I go to see or rent. If I spent money on it I would like to see it through. There is always that small whisper in the back of my mind saying- it has to get better! I'm either too much of an optimist or just plain stubborn.

These days I will give a book at least 100 pages for character and world building before I expect it to become a truly enthralling story. Sometimes those first hundred pages take a long time to get through.

I haven't read Lies yet but it's on my wish-list.

 

[Allegra]

While I enjoyed the Lies I did find it over described at some passages, also the dialogues seem a bit wordy sometimes, like, to be funny just for the sake of it. I wish his 2nd book is neater and tighter.

 

[shadow9d9]

It makes sense to give things a long time, but if I am not enjoying something, it is just not worth it to continue reading. I actually used to force myself to do more, but my wife has convinced me that if you aren't enjoying it, it isn't worth it.

I can't think of any book that started off poorly that got better. I mean, 20 or so pages, yes, but after 50, no... I could post a list of all the books I have read and the review score I have given them if that helps...

As for movies, if it sucks after 30 minutes, that's that for me... and again there, every movie that I have seen that has sucked for the first 30 minutes, continues to get worse and worse. I don't like wasting my time trying to force myself to like something... part of writing a great book is having it pull the reader in from the start.. or at least somewhere along the start!

Don't get me wrong, there have been books that I didn't know would get as good as they did from the start, but the start had enough to keep me going instead of turning me off completely.

Not to pick on the person but " If I spent money on it I would like to see it through." is something I hear fairly often, and it scares me. Isn't it bad enough that you wasted money on something bad? Why spend extra time on something bad to justify money spent on something bad? Time is more important that money!

 

[shadow9d9]

Books I have stopped reading-

Small Gods
Ilium-
Deed of Paksenarrion
City of Illusions
The Lathe Of Heaven
Wizard of Earthsea
Crystal Singer
Dark Tower book 2
Stranger in a Strange Land(halfway when the story stopped and monologues started)

I left out my notes for why I dropped the books as not to bore you.

 

[nixie]

Lies was one of my favourite reads last year. Ash I thought was brilliant.

 

[shadow9d9]

Lies was one of my favourite reads last year. Ash I thought was brilliant.

How do posts like this contribute anything to this thread? I asked if anyone else was disappointed... not if people liked it.

And if they felt that someone else being disappointed in something they loved and felt obligated to post despite being irrelevant, the least they could do is say why they loved it...

 

[nixie]

I enjoyed Lies because it was well written and humorous, with memorable characters and some nice twists. Ash was a mixture of history and fantasy. The characters were brung to life protrayed warts and all.