Third week of the Red Seas Under Red Skies Read-along.

Photo credits – Secret Kingdom (part of my Pinterest board on boats).

1. Locke and Jean’s ability to find themselves at the center of a serious mess seems unparalleled. At this point, do you think that Stragos will get the return he expects on his investment in them?

During these chapters Locke and Jean completely lose control over their lives, nearly die, are saved, begin to enjoy that lack of control and then, as said in the last question, the Thorn of Camorr is back. I was ready to believe that from that point on they’d start planning how to con the Priory and the Spire. But then they have the argument.

I’m hoping Locke will find a way to get revenge with the help of the Poison Orchid, not over their dead bodies.

2. Merrain’s activities after our boys leave Windward Rock are interesting. What do you think her plans are?

Sneaky, sneaky! It’s still possible that she’s doing it at the command of the Priory. It might be all part of the Archon’s plan to hit the magi and get rid of evidence (i.e. Locke and Jean).

3. Does anyone know why having cats aboard the ship is so important?

The Ship’s Cat tradition/superstition goes way back, so in that, Lynch mirrored our world. Where he twisted the rules was in the one about women. Many seamen even today believe that having a woman on board the ship makes the seas angry and is an omen of bad luck for everyone aboard.

4. The word “mutiny” creates a lot of mental pictures. Were you surprised? Why or why not?

I have to admit I was surprised. Even after Caldris’ death, I thought Locke would be able to talk his way out of everything. I guess no women and no cats onboard really is bad luck!

5. Ah, the Poison Orchid. So many surprises there, not the least of which were the captain’s children. Did you find the young children a natural part of the story?

I figured that as of the moment women are accepted and even required to be at sea, the rules of life on board need to be adjusted to accomodate them, including the presence of children. I’m sure there’s even some sort of day-care system in bigger boats.

I was more surprised about not seeing more children aboard the Poison Orchid.

6. Jean is developing more and more as a character as we get further in to the book. Ezri makes the comment to him that “Out here, the past is a currency, Jerome. Sometimes it’s the only one we have.” I think several interesting possibilities are coming into play regarding Jean and Ezri. What about you?

Last week I was asking for a romantic interest for Jean and voilá! It’s great they started bonding over books and fighting techniques. She’s a way for Jean to come into his own and for that he needed a bit of perspective away from Locke. No matter how great their friendship is, Jean has always been the “shadow”. A good example is how, because of his knowledge, he should have been the Captain of the Red Messenger (imho) – as far as we know, no one even considered that option.

I’ll do them both good.

I think that, even without Ezri, Jean would have rebelled against Locke’s willingness to sacrifice the crew for his revenge.

7. As we close down this week’s reading, the Thorn of Camorr is back! I love it, even with all the conflict. Several things from their Camorri background have come back up. Do you think we will see more Camorri characters?

I’d say no. They’re being saved for the third book.

Random thoughts:

  • My favorite chapters so far. Maybe because of female characters that aren’t brilliant-but-evil?
  • I’m hoping that part of the next books will be set in the Captain’s home-land. It sounded interesting!
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