Body count

Last night, for the first time in three months, I didn’t fall asleep while reviewing in my head the chapter I was going to write the next day. That’s because yesterday afternoon I finished my big, sprawling draft of The Buccaneer’s Apprentice. Well. Everything except for a tiny little epilogue that I’ll write after I’ve completed the revisions.

I think this novel has the highest body count of any book I’ve written. I killed off:

- Sixteen Frenchified warships carrying approximately 200 sailors apiece;
- Around twelve of the hero’s former masters;
- One ambassador;
- One French assassin;
- One small merchant ship’s captain and his ten or so crew; and
- Four mean pirates who really deserved it.

And the last two items are during the first two chapters alone.

So yes, it’s somewhat less than the average one-hour episode of 24, and yet more than The Glass Maker’s Daughter, which I think had a single death in it. No! Two! I’d forgotten one of them.

In both novels there are probably civilian casualties while the city is under siege, but they’re not discussed, really. It might be interesting to address the issue in the third book in the series, A Traveler to Nascenza.