by Scott Lynch
Part of Gentleman Bastard, book 4
Locke Lamora has mastered the arts of theft, confidence games, and political manipulation. Now he faces his most unlikely role yet: soldier. War erupts across the Kingdom of the Marrows, pulling Locke and his partner Jean into a conflict that threatens to consume everything in its path. But Locke carries more than weapons into battle. The shocking revelations about his origins from their previous adventure still haunt him. He must fight enemies he can see while grappling with questions about his own identity. The moral complexities of war become even murkier when you cannot trust your own past. Locke discovers that wielding a sword proves far more difficult than picking locks or running elaborate schemes. As the flames of war spread, he must navigate both external battles and internal doubts about who he really is.
Genres: military-fiction, adventure, fantasy, dark-fantasy, epic-fantasy
Vibes: dark, fast-paced, gritty, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family, identity-revelation
Setting: Kingdom of the Marrows
512 pages · Hardcover · Gollancz
Content warnings: violence, war