Mercenary is a profession. “Sellsword” is an anachronistic term used only by modern fantasy books. If he doesn’t like using mercenary too often, there are plenty of synonyms: soldier of fortune, professional soldier, hired arms, free lances, condottiere…

Similarly, he insists on using “whore” every time the narration or any character refers to a sex worker or an unchaste woman. That gets tiresome and repetitive, especially since it’s one of the more offensive options. Do none of his characters ever use polite euphemisms? Or even just other impolite terms? Does the narration benefit from using whore all the time instead of more neutral (and possibly more accurate) terms? Why are they all “whores” and never prostitutes, ladies of the night, streetwalkers, harlots, tarts, strumpets, doxies, Trollope, molls, courtesans, fille de joie, trulls, vixens, mistresses, concubines, hussies, or tramps?

I don’t mind the occasional use of whore or sellsword, but to use them exclusively when there are so many evocative and nuanced synonyms is just lazy writing.

So many in A Song of Ice and Fire:

• winesink

• jape

• sell sword

• whore

…and George, buddy, for fuck’s sake quit saying someone forked their horse. The word you’re looking for is STRADDLED.