Red Seas Under Red Skies read along [third part]

In case you haven't followed the first part of this read along on The Lies of Locke Lamora, let me tell you, you missed something.
But it's not too late!
Here we are again, reading and answering questions about the second part of this awesome series, Red Seas Under Red Skies.
Care to join?
All the details are on the Little Red Reviewer blog, so take a book and join the fun!

Sooo... Sunday again, hu? And I didn't even get my usual funny vulgar quote this time, shame on me. I admit I had to skip over this part really fast due to other obligations... but luckily, I remembered it quite well (and here I though my memory was a piece of Gruyere!), so let's get on with the discussion!


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?
Oh, I think Stragos with get some return on his investment, but probably not the one he expects! I am always amazed at the sheer bad luck the Gentlemen seem to suffer from. I mean, they come for a game, they get a free trip at sea, then lose the women, then forget the cats, then lose the captain, then end up having to be actual pirates and fighting and... ok, I stop here. But after all that, there is no way Locke will bring Stragos the war he wants without dictating his own terms.


2. Merrain's activities after our boys leave Windward Rock are interesting. What do you think her plans are?
Always said I don't like her. What is wrong with this woman? I know she's afraid Locke and Jean would become too important for Stragos (is she afraid to lose her position?) but killing her own people just "in case of" is just so, so wrong. I don't know what her plans are, but I hope they get canceled by a nice hard blow on the head.


3. Does anyone know why having cats aboard the ship is so important?
The cuteness? The fluffiness? The morning wake-up by a nice little rough tongue on the face?
I have no idea, but what Caldris said about them being proud even wet makes sens. Cats rock, nothing you can do about that!


4. The word "mutiny" creates a lot of mental pictures. Were you surprised? Why or why not?
I think I kinda expected it. As I mentioned above, they went off the wrong foot, with the missing women and cats, Locke's very poor attempts to cover his mess, then losing Caldris... the moment he died, I knew they were good to get thrown off the ship. And mutiny is indeed quite a nasty thing, so I am glad they didn't slash them or anything.
I know I shouldn't, but... getting them naked in front of Ezri and the Poison Orchid's crew was hilarious! Just for that, I'm glad of the mutiny. Plus, Jean must be some kind of eye candy to end up where he will, hu?


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?
It's slightly weird, but somehow understandable. I mean, she wouldn't leave her kids on the shore, that would be way more dangerous that keeping them around... of course, you need to be confident enough to believe you'll always be the best pirate and no one will murder them, but I think that's exactly how Zamira is. Don't know if it's good for the kids, but Barsavi's probably weren't worse educated than those ones!


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?
I really like Jean, I think it takes some time to get used to him but afterwards, you just can't let him go. I love how he's sweet and rough at the same time, and how he gets really angry at Locke when he deserves it, and how they always manage to stick together in the end. Ezri is totally sweet on him (in a bully way) and as we see in the last part, he's not willing to let go either. I know Locke seems to think only of himself but I know he'll get around, he wouldn't let a guy like Stragos mess up with their life and get away with it.


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?
Not sure Camorri people will come as far as here... I think that the past is important, like Ezri said, but it's also something which has gone and I picture them more going forward than getting back to old acquaintances. Except maybe some old friends from Karthain, someday...


Alright, things are rolling quite fast on the pirate side now! Check the other reviews from the Little Red Reviewer and let's see next week who's going to betray who!

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Jean-Claude Mourlevat - Winter's End

Title: Winter's End
Original title: Le Combat d'hiver
Author: Jean-Claude Mourlevat
Pub. year: 2006
Pages: 415
Editor: Candlewick Press

Summary: In this award-winning story translated from the original French, four teens, determined to escape the tyranny responsible for the deaths of their parents years before, flee their prison-like boarding school and are pursued by a terrifying pack of dog-men sent to hunt them down.

I chose to take the short summary, even if it doesn't really fit, because the long one I saw everywhere tells pretty much the whole book and I hate it when summary spoil every step of a story.

I heard about Mourlevat for years now, but never had the occasion to read one of his books. This one was one of the two I heard the most about in the past couple of years, so I was really happy when a friend sent it to me as a gift a few weeks ago. It didn't take me long to read it, as you can see.

The first thing I loved about this book is that the whole story isn't about romance. I mean, sure, there's a bit of love in the book, but it's not the main subject, it's just a "side effect". When I read a dystopy, it's because I want to read about society that went wrong and about people who fight for their freedom, not so see starcrossed lovers in almost EVERY ONE OF THOSE BOOKS. I mean, I'm not saying I don't like love story or that love isn't important, it's just that love isn't the only reason why one could fight for his freedom. And lately it felt a little bit like that in the dystopian books.

Apart from a few genetic combinated creatures, Mourlevat depicts a pretty believable world where things went wrong. The Phalange took the power years ago and tained quite well its people with some barbaric practices. A quite oppressive world, as you can imagine. But obviously, the main characters aim to set the country free and walk in the path of their parents in order to live a better life.

The story being a one-shot and not a serie, the world isn't really deeply detailed but it's enough to dive into it! It's was a really page-turner book for me.

I think the only thing I didn't really enjoy about this story is that for 17yo young people, they felt like they were 14. So naive and innocent that I couldn't believe they were in their late teenage lives. In that way, I had a bit of a hard time to like them at first. Especially the girls (for the love-at-first-sight part with the first boys they saw, or the "I don't care what the consequences of my acts on other people are").

Anyway, it's a good story, very much enjoyable, that I would recommand to everybody (well maybe not to childrens, 'cause it can be a pretty violent in some parts)!

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Red Seas Under Red Skies read along [second part]

In case you haven't followed the first part of this read along on The Lies of Locke Lamora, let me tell you, you missed something.
But it's not too late!
Here we are again, reading and answering questions about the second part of this awesome series, Red Seas Under Red Skies.
Care to join?
All the details are on the Little Red Reviewer blog, so take a book and join the fun!

'You,' said Locke, 'are a goat-faced wad of slipskinner's shit.'

What is wrong with me? I used to so not care about the schedule and be on time, and now that I'm trying to make it, I'm late again (good for me that it's still Saturday in some parts of the world)! But well, let us not dwell on that. The second part of this reading hasn't quite been as wonderful as the first one, less discoveries and a lot a preparation for the rest of the story... but hey, it was great nonetheless. Shall we?


1. 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.
Well, for one I think that this crazy savior gesture Requin apparently pulled on Selendri is really heroic, and even though the man is a (rich) ass, that accounts for something. I wonder if Selendri stays around because of her sense of duty or because she really loves him... women mysteries, no need to pry, I guess. But Locke probably knew what he was getting into, the Sinspire is no joke and his master no softie, so he probably expected the worse already. The con is going to be tough, and that's what makes it good!


2. Isn’t the Artificers’ Crescent just amazing? If you could purchase anything there, what would it be?
This is my second reading and a got a clearer picture of the place this time, this whole island business was a bit confusing for me and I'm always so fond of dialogues that I tend to slide over long descriptions. Sometimes I wish we would have a tv series (or a movie) to picture this as greatly as it deserves - anyone feels like it?
I don't know what I would buy... I more the roam-around kind of girl, so I'll probably spend an insane amount of time visiting before finally deciding on something.


3. What did you think of Salon Corbeau and the goings on that occur there? A bit crueler than a Camorri crime boss, no?
Ha, what a horrid place. Gives me shivers. Sadly, I understand the concept - people with too much money get to insane extends to entertain themselves, and what could be better than humiliate poor people together without being judged? That's really a sad, sad way of leaving, and those things the guy told Locke about how no one forced the poor people to come here? I wanted to punch his face. Twice.
Camorr is such a sweet vacation resort in comparison... (ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a tiny bit but like Locke, this gruesome business makes me very angry.)


4. 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?
I think he's crazy. What was it already?

'Full-on barking madness is a state of rational bliss to which you may not aspire. Men living in gutters and drinking their own piss would shun your company. You are a prancing lunatic.'

Yes, just like that. I mean, really. The automates? The sixty guys on the roof pretending to make it rain in a clay forest? Launching an attack on the city and risking so many lives just to get more money and power? How does that protect the city?
The guy is nuts. I can't think of anything else.


5. And who the heck is trying to kill Locke and Jean every few days? they just almost got poisoned (again!)!
Ah yes, the underlining funky business. I think Lynch likes that, putting on a front story line, then slipping some "disagreements" and adding a few thorns in their socks while no one's looking. I'm still as bad as ever on speculation but Merrain does not inspire me any good. She's weird, in the nasty kind of way. Beware of lurking women!


6. Do you really think it’s possibly for a city rat like Locke to fake his way onto a Pirate ship?
Locke is gonna puke his guuuts-out, Locke is gonna puke his guuts-out ♫
Sorry, but I don't think it's going to be fun. I feel like the training will get them bitching again and again about how hard and crappy it is, and once they're actually sailing, they'll realize it's even worse. I'm not even mentioning their bad luck which will probably strike again, and again, and again. They are so gonna hate it.


Phew, not so bad after all, he! Check the other reviews from the Little Red Reviewer and let's meet again next week for some pirates adventures!

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Red Seas Under Red Skies read along [first part]

In case you haven't followed the first part of this read along on The Lies of Locke Lamora, let me tell you, you missed something.
But it's not too late!
Here we are again, reading and answering questions about the second part of this awesome series, Red Seas Under Red Skies.
Care to join?
All the details are on the Little Red Reviewer blog, so take a book and join the fun!

'Fuck me with a poleaxe!'

(Locke's best insult ever.)




Four days late... what a shitty way to start such an awesome read along. I hope you'll forgive me for this terrible attitude (for my defense, we had a bloody long weekend in Europe and I was too lazy tired to take care of blogging matters). And see, I'm already swearing! Really Locke, is that your bad influence staining my beautiful language again?!
Oh well, I guess it's mostly me. Whatever, let's start with the first part of a 5 week goodness with my favorite thieves EVER.
If you haven't read the book yet, I suggest you start now (here's a nice teaser in case you're not convinced).

'I take some of it back,' he said. 'You might still be a lying, cheating, low-down, greedy, grasping, conniving, pocket-picking son of a bitch.'
'Thanks,' said Locke.

1. The Sinspire. It looks like our heroes (can they really be called that?) find themselves in search of a way into an unbeatable vault. Do you think they have what it takes to make it happen?
Of course they are our heroes! Well, mine at least. And yes, they most surely have what it takes to make it happen, but that's not going to be easy. Well, Mr Lynch wouldn't bring us 600 pages of goodies for them to get a pick, open the vault, get rich and retire in some boring house on the countryside. There's gonna be action! Drama! Unexpected twits of horrible events that will scar them for life! Err... well, you know, the usual. Is it so wrong to like seeing them suffer?


2. Anyone want to guess how they're going to make it happen?
You know I suck at guessing. Plus, I already read the book, and at the end I was all "what the fuck?!" and completly amazed by the turn of events. Whatever I could guess would sound crappy after that.
I've been wondering quite a lot about the "pirates" theme of the book, since the beginning is completely off track, and it's really nice to see the story develop from another direction than the one expected.


3. It's a little different this time around, with us just being focused on Locke and Jean. Is anyone else missing the rest of the Bastards as much as I am?
I miss them, but somehow not so much. I think Jean and Locke have always been the stars of the story, and though the death of the others pained me (A LOT), I don't really miss their presence now. I am glad that we get to see and understand more about those two, about this special bond that links them, and how they kind of need each other to go on. It's more personal to have only 2 main characters, I guess, even though Locke still remains the head of the small gang after all.
Oh, let me throw a nice little quote there, because I just love how they bitch together all the time:

'I like the cores,' said Jean sulkily. 'All the little crunchy bits.'
'Goats eat the gods-damned crunchy bits.'
'You're not my mother.'
'Well, true. Your mother would be ugly.'

4. I love the section where Jean starts to build a new guild of thieves. It really shows just how well trained and tough he is. Do you think the Bastards will end up training others along the way again like Bug?
I personnally think that this whole "let's train a new gang" was his way to cope with grief and sadness from seeing Locke drunk and devastated. Jean needs to do something all the time, and it was his occupation for a while, until he decided to shake his friend back to reality. I don't really see them forming a new gang... first of all, Locke seems to have a very limited supply of acceptance regarding living with other people, and he probably can't fill the space of his lost brothers with anyone else. Plus, too painful in case he loses the new ones again. Having each other seems to be a handful for them already!


5. For those of you looking for Sabetha, we still haven't spotted her yet. Anyone else chomping at the bit to see the love of Locke's life?
I can't remember when I gave up, but after the first couple chapters I think you realize it's not going to happen there. Damn this suspense!! But I've read the book 3 excerpt and she's in it. FINALLY. My patience is being horribly stretched, as you might guess (and endure yourself).


6. It's early on, but the Bastards are already caught up in plots that they didn't expect. How do you think their new "employer" is going to make use of them (The Archon, that is)?
Oh he's gonna fuck them up, alright. First the kidnapping, then the Bondsmagi disgusting business, and then the poison? Darlings, you're in it up your neck. The archon will be the biggest thorn in their foot for the rest of this book!


Alright, I'll be back in a few days for part two, and on time, I swear! Check other reviews from the Little Red Reviewer and join if you want, it's plenty fun!

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