Red Seas Under Red Skies Read Along Week 5

Well, it’s finally over.  Ten weeks of the most exciting and profane read along ever.  If you haven’t been following along, you really missed out.  If you didn’t listen to the audio, you didn’t miss out quite as much but you still missed out!  Thank you so much to everyone who organized and came up with the great and sometimes purposefully leading questions J  Seriously, this has been so great.

1. Oh my god, such a lot going on I thought the showdown between the Poison Orchid and the Sovereign was brilliantly written and they were holding their own until Utgar and his nasty device turned up.  Well a lot of you had kind of predicted it, and I suppose we’d been let off too easy so far in terms of deaths of well-liked characters  – but come on,  did you expect something like that?  And how on earth will Jean ever recover?

I thought this was particularly cruel.  I mean, Jean has already had his parents die.  Then his best friends were killed and after his second (actually probably third after Father Chains) major loss, he was expected to be the strong one and pull Locke out of his funk.  GIVE THE GUY A BREAK WILL YA!

I was actually really surprised how quickly Jean regained his composure and real talk, it felt a little forced.  I mean, after Locke’s brief and feeble attempt at consoling him, he all of a sudden becomes this rational, reasonable man.  I suppose he later took it out physically and maybe that’s just how strong and in control Jean is, but I don’t know… I guess I expected him to maybe break half the world off or something.  Is that really all that much to ask?

2. The deceit, the betrayal, first Rodanov and then Colvard.  Even now I’m not entirely sure I understand Colvard – Rodanov was never keen on the oath but Colvard seemed okay with it all and yet in this final deceit she was more devious than Rodanov – what do you think was her motive?

IMHO, the whole council was a pretty big mystery.  Throughout both of these books Lynch has not been afraid to take a huge chunk of time giving us some juicy history and the complete absence of information here, seems either a gigantic oversight or major clue re: THE NEXT BOOK.  I’m not inclined to believe this was an oversight, but I’m also not sure I really believe this will be touched on in the next one, though I’d like that. 

3. Merrain – such a puzzle, no real answer, the mysterious tattoo, the determination to kill everyone to keep her identity and that of her master a secret.  Does anybody have any ideas where she’s from and what she’s up to exactly and who the hell is she working for??

I am not willing to talk about Merrain yet.  She is the reason for Locke’s life being in question still!  Funny thing is… I’m not pissed that Locke has an incurable poison coursing through his veins, I’m upset that I have to wait till the next book to figure out how the hell he’s gonna fix it!  Whoever she is, whoever she is exactly, man I hope she pays and isn’t just forgotten.

4. Finally we get to the point of the GB’s latest scheme, all that elaborate planning for two years, fancy chairs, gambling, dust covered cards, abseiling lessons – all for one gigantic bluff. I loved the diversionary tactic here but having finally reached the end of the story and, more to the point, the end result – do you think the GB’s are as clever as they think they are?

I do think they are as clever as they think they are!  It seems to me their failing is that they don’t think there are other people out there who are just as clever and devious.  That and Lynch’s world is so complex that there are really just some things that could never be predicted.  The fact that they have survived two books worth of psychological and physical assault proves they are pretty genius.

5. I must admit that I liked Requin and Selendri – particularly at the end – I don’t think Requin will go after Locke and Jean, he was even sort of cool and composed about it all, in fact he came across as a bit pleased with himself because he had the last laugh.  Plenty of good characters this time which did you enjoy reading most about this time?

I actually liked Caldris.  He was one of the few people who could put the GB’s in their place since Father Chains.  They were so out of their element that this old, crusty sailor could absolutely control every part of their day.  They were so frustrated – it was pretty hilarious.  And his silent fury over Locke forgetting the cats!  Who else could make Locke feel that sheepish?!

6. Finally, a triple barrel question, I know I shouldn’t ask this BUT, on reflection do you have a favourite between LoLL or RSURS??  And why?  Are you going to pick up Republic of Thieves?  And, where do you think Lynch will take us to next??

Hands down, LoLL.  The excitement of meeting and getting familiar with Locke and Camorr and the gang just can’t be beat.  The language and insults were punchier, more vulgar, and off the charts crude.  I was constantly laughing during LoLL and the characters seemed a little more fully developed.  There was an energy in LoLL that I just didn’t get from RSURS that I’m not sure I can explain fully.  Which isn’t to say that RSURS wasn’t good.  In fact, I think RSURS was the easier of the two to read and though there were some surprises, I was happy that there wasn’t any surprise unknown bad guy reveal.

Red Seas Under Red Skies Read Along Week 4

Hey everybody!  Remember the Gentleman Bastards?  Well, they’re back in Scott Lynch’s 2^nd in the GB series, Red Seas Under Red Skies.  The read along has actually been going on for some time now and I’ve been struggling to keep up for 3 weeks but I finally got back on schedule.  Woohoo!  I was so happy when I finally got back into this one.  Listening to Locke and Jean’s shenanigans is by far, one of my favorite times of any given day and really the best way to spend the morning, afternoon commutes and actually every other driving opportunity.  I find the sequel to be much less profane with certainly a good many fewer ridiculous insults.  Nevertheless, it has been amazing and there are so many times that I just can’t contain a stupid grin or total outburst of laughter.  So good.

Week 4’s questions were supplied by nrlymrtl at Dark Cargo.  Go check.

1) I was much relieved when Jean and Locke made up, which started with Locke's gesture of a cup full of honesty with Cpt. Drakasha. Do you think that was hard for Locke? Or was he using this bit of honesty like any other weapon in his arsenal to get what he wants in the end?

Any other time I would say Locke was just manipulating him, but when it comes to Jean it seems to me that Locke has no problem being sincere and telling the truth.   I took it as a straight up apology.  This is why he was willing to tell Drakasha.  I’m not sure that it sounded hard for him, but maybe awkward.  He really does seem to trust Jean and I think he actually believed that Jean was right.  They are such best buddies!

2) The Parlor Passage: We still don’t know Locke’s true name, but whatever was in that mist does. What do you think it is?

Thirteen gods, that was the most disappointing thing ever!  I was literally bouncing in my seat waiting for the reveal and then we didn’t get his real name…  So frustrating!  I do like hearing Jean’s full name though so that was nice.  As to what it was – my first inclination was some kind of Bonds Magi thingy, but historically my guesses about the Gentleman Bastards haven’t been very accurate.

3) There was an interesting section of the book that started about where Locke assisted Drakasha in selling the Red Messenger; he put on the persona of Leocanto Kosta and used the alias Tavras Callas and then Drakasha was still thinking of him as Ravelle..... Did using all those various aliases in such a short amount of time have your mind spinning a little? Do you think Lynch did this on purpose to give the reader a sense of Locke’s mind?

I actually liked when there was that moment of confusion in the book on the part of Drakasha after finding out about Locke’s aliases (some of them).  It worries me.  Locke has been brought way down off his pedestal in this book and it seems like he or someone is just bound to flub this up at the most inopportune time possible.

4) That was a sweet little kiss between Cpt. Zamira and Cpt. Jaffrim at the end of the Captains' Council. Do you think they have some history, or is it just innocent flirting that's been going on for some time?

Listening to the audiobook, this was actually something that I missed.  The history of the Captain’s Council seemed really interesting though and I hope we get to hear more about it because that was one volatile group!

5) Jean and Ezri. Cue dove-cooing and little winged hearts with sparkles. Do you think Jean will stay with the Poison Orchid or that Ezri will leave her ship to pal around with Jean and Locke?

Who doesn’t like a little fan service ;-) That is a seriously hard question to answer!  I am really hoping for some larger alliance to be created with Locke running shit.  LIKE. A. BOSS.

6) What is Utgar up to? What are his motivations?

I hate this man.  I hope he dies.

7) So last week we hashed over that Merrain killed some of Stragos’s guards on Windward Rock. But when Jean and Locke visit him, he doesn’t mention it. What is up with that?

I kinda thought that this was some kind of insurance policy for in case Locke and Jean get out of hand or if in the end Stragos just wants to find a reason to renig.

8) This week's section left us where the book began - Jean pointing a crossbow at Locke's throat. Do you think Jean knows who sent these crossbowers? Is he on their side? Is it a clever ploy to get him and Locke out of this predicament? Did you find it excruciatingly hard to stop here?

I think there was one stopping point in the LoLL read along too when the mastermind of these read alongs may have deliberately chosen a stopping point for the most torturous effect possible.  This might be another instance of that kind of thing happening.

6) What is Utgar up to? What are his motivations?

But really, I just hope he dies.  I mean this book is like a Dane Cook Joke where there are 7 or 8 sub-jokes before you finally get through to the initial joke.  These schemers have made this book so convoluted I don’t know if I’m reading backward or forward.  These two have so many other challenges to get over, do we really need this too?!  This is getting to be too much for me (not really).