Red Seas Under Red Skies (Gentleman Bastard, #2) Red Seas Under Red Skies discussion


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The humour and language of the book.

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Sheun There was more swearing in this book than I thought possible but at the same time it seemed to go so well with the humour and I don’t think Scott Lynch could have done it in a better way. It just seems to flesh out the characters, both major and minor, in a way that I haven’t seen in any other book. Some authors throw in the occasional curse word here and there to give their characters a bit of substance but I have seen cases where this is overdone. One such example would be in Karen Miller’s kingmaker/breaker series when Morg was introduced. I think he was the only character in the whole freaking book who swore and I think most of it was in his head. He just kept repeating “bitch, slut, whore” “bitch, slut, whore” like a mantra so much so that in the end it did not make him seem like the personification of great evil but more of a man jilted on his wedding day.

But this is not the case in Scotts books his writing style makes it seem so natural and that was what probably made the book a lot more engaging for me.

What I’m asking here is do you guys have any examples of authors who use this type of tone superbly or really badly and do you see in the future authors attempting to be as daring as Scott Lynch in trying to create a language which is ready to embrace a more…colourful vocabulary?.


Minty-chan~ lol! it's true i did notice locke swearing a lot more in this book.
another author who i think uses way too much swearing for me is B.R.collins, i think that maybe its because he is trying to mirror the way certain people act in reality.
The reason why i really cant stand it because it actually effects me - if i read a book with lots of unnecessary swearing i end up swearing when i talk as well..:(
I don't know anyone else who is like this, so it would be nice if i can find some!


sailor _stuck_at_sea Dewey Lambdin does a pretty good job of it in his Alan Lewrie series, but then it's set on a warship during the Napoleonic Wars so it's kinda expected.
In fact most nautical writers seems to carry it off pretty well.


Helen I don't think there was unnecessary swearing in this book. Many novels have far worse language and less reason to use it!


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