In The Lies of Locke Lamora, the story begins in the city of Camorr.
Camorr is the principal setting of Scott Lynch’s 2006 fantasy novel and the home of Locke Lamora and the Gentleman Bastards. The city is a wealthy, dangerous maritime power whose canals, towers, noble estates, and criminal factions give the novel much of its atmosphere. Its architecture and political texture are often compared to a fantastical version of late-medieval Venice.
Locke and his companions make their living as elite con artists, targeting wealthy nobles while operating under the criminal underworld’s uneasy agreement with the city’s rulers. Camorr is therefore more than a backdrop: its class divisions, secret peace, religious institutions, and criminal hierarchy drive the plot.
The other options belong to later locations or related parts of the series. Tal Verrar becomes central in Red Seas Under Red Skies, while Lashain and Karthain are also places in the wider world. The first novel’s opening setting and main city remain Camorr.