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greenstarfish 's review for:
Red Seas Under Red Skies
by Scott Lynch
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Pros:
Red Seas Under Red Skies does a great job of giving the reader plenty of mysteries to chew on throughout. One of the longer ones is the one given at the very start of the book, whereJean (supposedly) betrays Locke. You start wondering about how their relationship got to the point where they would turn against each other. Especially when it's made clear how close they are. As you're reading, you have a seed of doubt in your mind about how it could play out. This is strengthened when Ezri is introduced and causes more tension between the two . When you reach the scene near the end of the book, it still seems somewhat plausible with all the time that Locke and Jean spent apart and the grievances they had with each other. But then it is revealed to be merely a miscommunication where Locke missed Jean's signal. Normally, subverting a plot point built up throughout the entire book with a comically low-stakes plot twist like that would be annoying, but not in this case. That's because it is actually the opposite, where the book is making it obvious that there isn't a chance that Jean would betray Locke, but the reader has been biased to look at the situation from only a certain angle. They're looking for the small molehill of clues that could prove Jean's betrayal while missing the mountain that says the opposite.
Outside ofthis bigger misdirection , the book leaves the reader wondering in a multitude of aspects. In the first half, it's how Locke and Jean ended up in Tal Verrar , which is incrementally revealed through the reminiscences. Then it's how the various aspects of the plan to rob the Sinsprise, such as the chairs, playing cards and climbing gear, fit into the scheme. Some mysteries are left unrevealed, such as who Merrain was truly working for . I'm fine with that since there are only a couple of those and it is made clear that they will be addressed in a later book.
The book's dialogue also has a certain amount of interest to it, it was always exciting to see how Locke could worm his way out of a difficult situation using mainly words. The book wasn't a smooth ride either, there were multiple moments where I had no idea what would happen next and even when things were going according to plan, there was always another twist around the corner to shake things up.
Neutral:
Red Seas Under Red Skies does a great job of giving the reader plenty of mysteries to chew on throughout. One of the longer ones is the one given at the very start of the book, where
Outside of
The book's dialogue also has a certain amount of interest to it, it was always exciting to see how Locke could worm his way out of a difficult situation using mainly words. The book wasn't a smooth ride either, there were multiple moments where I had no idea what would happen next and even when things were going according to plan, there was always another twist around the corner to shake things up.
Neutral:
I felt that Locke's mistake in missing Jean's hand signal during the crucial scene could've been foreshadowed a bit, since it is the only time that Locke makes such a mistake. He does make mistakes as captain of the Red Messenger, but that's because he has very limited nautical experience and was given little time to learn. Locke is a good schemer, and when things go wrong, it's because of outside factors, which in some scenarios, he's already accounted for ahead of time, so making a minor mistake like missing a hand signal seems a bit out of character.