Friday, May 4, 2012

Red Seas Under Red Skies read along week 2


So here we are at week 2 of the read along of Red Skies Under Red Skies. This week our questions come from one of Scott Lynch's biggest fans Little Red of Little Red Reviewer.

Now that we know a little more about Selendri and Requin, what do you think of them? I worry Locke is suddenly realizing this con might be a bit tougher than he expected.


Requin reminds me in a lot of ways of Barsavi. There's that sense of menace permanently under the surface and he covers it with a thin veneer of civility. Of the two I think Selendri provides a bigger challenge to Locke than her boss.
Isn’t the Artificers’ Crescent just amazing?  If you could purchase anything there, what would it be?


So many of the ideas and settings that Lynch came up with for these books and brilliant. In some ways I hope the books never get made into films, because I just don't think a film maker would be capable of bringing the pictures to screen that Scott Lynch dreams up. I think if I could buy anything from the artificers it would be an animated clock.
What did you think of  Salon Corbeau and the goings on that occur there? A bit crueler than a Camorri crime boss, no? 


In the way that Camorr made me think of a Renaissance Venice, Salon Corbeau made me think of pre revolution France. I kept flashing on Mel Brooks The History of the World Part 1. They have a chess game in that set in pre revolution France that is played with life size pieces much the same as the cruel game in Salon Corbeau, except without the deadly forfeits.
The Archon might be a megalomaniacal military dictator, but he thinks he’s doing right by Tal Verrar: his ultimate goal seems to be to protect them.  What do you think he’s so afraid of? 


Like many politicians the Archon has masters and they're the ones that worries him. In his case it's the Priori.
And who the heck is trying to kill Locke and Jean every few days?  they just almost got poisoned (again!)!


Locke and Jean have made a lot of enemies in their time. The logical choice is the Bondsmages, but this isn't their style. Someone else is playing a game and our two master thieves don't know who the new player is.
Do you really think it’s possibly for a city rat like Locke to fake his way onto a Pirate ship?


Normally you'd say no, but Locke is not just any city rat, he's a Camorr city rat and there's very little a resourceful Camorri can't pull off.

10 comments:

  1. I agree with you about Selendri: she will be a deadly opponent.

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  2. I completely agree about Selendri. Locke is going to have to get past her to get to Requin,and she doesn't suffer fools, like, at all. Requin reminds me a little bit of Barsavi, but just a little.

    Lol, now I'm always going to be thinking of that scene from History of the World when I read this again! at least it will make me smile isntead of cringe.

    as much as I'd like to know who is trying to kill the gents, I do appreciate that there is a lot that Lynch is purposely not telling us. And the timing couldn't be better for a little vacation from Tal Verrar, unless of course, the assassins sneak onto the ship. . . .

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  3. Watching a movie made from these books would be hard. I have the scenes so clearly in my mind that any other version of them would be disappointing!

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  4. Thanks for the comments. There were rumours of a movie a while back, but it's never come to anything and I think the only way they could do it successfully would be to animate it.
    Red, I'm glad that I was able to put a more pleasant image in your head when you read the Salon Corbeau section. I get a sense of dread every time I read it, because I know what's coming.

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  5. I think it would be hard to make this into a movie because of the ratings. There are so many torture scenes!

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  6. And Blogger just ate my comment... grr.

    I think it would be hard to make this into a movie because of the ratings. There are so many torture scenes!

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  7. I remember those movie rumors, I'm kind of happy they didn't come to anything, i like the version of things that's in my mind.

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  8. It's interesting Grace about the torture scenes and whether or not they'd make it onto the screen as regards ratings. George RR Martin's A Song Ice and Fire series has some of the most stomach churning torture scenes I've ever read and yet HBO seem to feel a need to put even more of them in their show and in some cases make them even nastier. However I am glad that Lies hasn't been made into a film or TV show, because it just wouldn't match up to what was written and what we like to imagine.

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  9. Interesting point about Revolutionary France. I wonder if SL really had it in mind. I can see some parallels, especially the cruel and bored aristocracy.

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  10. Thanks for the comment Alex. I think it was a French aristocrat who used to shoot a peasant a day just because he could.

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