GB Readalong: Week 4

The Lies of Locke Lamora Read-along continues...

We're just 100 pages away from finishing The Lies of Locke Lamora!   

If you're just joining in, check out the intro post for the schedule and other details!

What we're reading this week

Lies of Locke Lamora | Book 3 and Ch14-16, Epilogue

Recap from last week

Flashbacks: This week the Interludes aren't so much flashbacks as they are tidbits about Camorri culture. An interlude of note is one about waiting over 20 years for revenge. We also learn about Jean's stint as Tavrin Callas serving the Lady Most Kind.

Present Day: Jean and Bug take on giant spiders and save Locke, the Gray King's men kill Calo, Galdo, and Bug, Barsavi and everyone loyal to him are killed by the Berangia sisters, Locke and Jean swear revenge, and Locke takes on the Meraggio to keep the Lukas Fehrwight con going

Observations/Theories/Questions

Excuse me while I bawl my eyes out into a pile of kleenex:

Last week I told you, "you absolutely cannot count on the fact that your favorite characters are going to be okay."

Knowing what was going to happen to Calo, Galdo, and Bug didn't make it any easier to deal with the blow. If anything, it made it so much worse! I'm not much of a crier, but I was definitely crying over the fallen Gentleman Bastards.

The nice thing about this book is that even if you've gone through something traumatic, Locke and Jean always pull through to make you smile. The Meraggio's sequence was almost cinematic the first time I read it, and even more so this time around. It's hilarious and very impressive how Locke manages to improvise his way through the bank of Meraggio's and walk out wearing the wardrobe of the Meraggio himself, armed with nothing but a white iron coin.

It's striking how far that white iron coin has come, from being the reason he inadvertently killed many of his peers to becoming a way for him to avenge the deaths of his friends.

Food for thought:

• The Spider: How great is it that the fabled Spider is actually a clever old lady who all the wives share their gossip with? I don't know about you, but the first time I read this I assumed the Spider was a guy (as did most residents of Camorr). It's so clever how she plays up and feeds people's expectations so she becomes even less of a suspect.
  
  
• The Lady Most Kind: What a euphemistic name for dear old Death! It's nice to see how other initiates of the other twelve gods interact and pay homage to their patron god(dess). I don't know if it was an intentional satire or not on blind religious fervor, but the fact that the priests took Jean's terrified, almost drunken ramblings as a vision from the Lady Most Kind...I laughed so hard!
  
  

How emotionally drained are you after this section? Having seen what Capa Raza can do, do you think Locke and Jean stand a chance at defeating him (and let's not forget the Bondsmage!)? What tricks do you think the Spider has up her sleeve?