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3.35 AVERAGE
3.35 AVERAGE
I have officially OD'd on sailing jargon.
Read the review on PGP
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A slow starter but builds to a climactic ending.
I even got a proper hard copy Atlas out to check where things were as listening to it meant not having access to the maps.
I even got a proper hard copy Atlas out to check where things were as listening to it meant not having access to the maps.
Was intrigued by the blurb but didn't end up enjoying it very much. Wasn't as interesting as I had hoped
This is the best spy novel about yachting and making corrections to nautical charts that I've ever read.
That said, you should know that about 60% of this book is about yachting and making corrections to nautical charts.
And yet... I think... I think I loved it. I'm giving this 3 stars, because at times I wanted to give it 1 and at times I wanted to give it 5. I really don't know what to think about this oddity of a book. It's been called the first spy novel, but that's kind of like calling "The Horse in Motion" by Eadweard Muybridge, the first movie ever. Being the first is not always the best.
And yet, the voice of Carruthers the young narrator (who begins the novel a petulant little brat of the London social set) grows on you, and the "jolly good show" that the two old boys, Carruthers and Davies, put on throughout the novel is especially enjoyable.
That is to say, this is an intensely British book in the best way. Empire through and through. I say, old chap, read it with a cup of tea, and you shan't regret it. Just be ready for a spot of yachting in the Frisians!
That said, you should know that about 60% of this book is about yachting and making corrections to nautical charts.
And yet... I think... I think I loved it. I'm giving this 3 stars, because at times I wanted to give it 1 and at times I wanted to give it 5. I really don't know what to think about this oddity of a book. It's been called the first spy novel, but that's kind of like calling "The Horse in Motion" by Eadweard Muybridge, the first movie ever. Being the first is not always the best.
And yet, the voice of Carruthers the young narrator (who begins the novel a petulant little brat of the London social set) grows on you, and the "jolly good show" that the two old boys, Carruthers and Davies, put on throughout the novel is especially enjoyable.
That is to say, this is an intensely British book in the best way. Empire through and through. I say, old chap, read it with a cup of tea, and you shan't regret it. Just be ready for a spot of yachting in the Frisians!
God this was horrid writing: convoluted and dense. No point really in something that allegedly is one of those books with people saving the British Empire. Allegedly, it's a spy thriller, but the author makes no effort to entice one into the story. I couldn't stand more than a chapter or two.
Free with audible membership, enjoy listening to Anton Lesser.
Better than the film.
Better than the film.
It's often credited with being the first spy novel, but The Riddle of the Sands was a rather dull affair. We follow two Englishmen in 1901 as they sail around Germany and stumble into a German plot.
The book had a very strong focus on sailing and a lot of text was spent describing yachting. It seemed like the action didn't kick off until 2/3s of the way through the book and when it did,we were faced with walls and walls of text.
I managed to stumble through to the end but this book really wasn't for me.
The book had a very strong focus on sailing and a lot of text was spent describing yachting. It seemed like the action didn't kick off until 2/3s of the way through the book and when it did,we were faced with walls and walls of text.
I managed to stumble through to the end but this book really wasn't for me.
Childers was undoubtedly a good sailor and if you like sailing this novel is for you. Its full of mysterious terminology like `mizzen' and `gunwhale' and a good deal of talk about various winds, like `sou-westers' not to speak of the sand and channels. An awful lot of sand. I know nothing whatsoever about boats, except that they float on water and probably want to keep it that way really. Although there are some lovely descriptions of the North German coastline.
It is a boys-own type spying story written in the early 1900s, very masculine (Childers is hopeless with romance, he may as well not have bothered.) It capitalises on the unease building in Europe between the major nations, and the paranoia that Germany was imminently overtaking Britain militarily. As I understand it Germany had no invasion plans at all in the early 1900s and so this book was feeding the military jingoism of the time, perhaps dangerously considering the eventual drift towards war (although it showed the security weaknesses on the British coastline.) If you highlight something often enough people start accepting it as fact, and so if people were told Germans were evil and trecherous often enough they believed in it.
The hero, Carruthers , sets out for a boating holiday with his old friend, Davies (we never learn his first name) around the sandy estuaries of Northern Germany and he gets more than he bargained for.
A note about the Kindle version - the book is much easier to understand if you can follow the maps provided at the end of the book, but the reproductions on the kindle are so poor to be undecipherable, so best read in the paper version.
It is a boys-own type spying story written in the early 1900s, very masculine (Childers is hopeless with romance, he may as well not have bothered.) It capitalises on the unease building in Europe between the major nations, and the paranoia that Germany was imminently overtaking Britain militarily. As I understand it Germany had no invasion plans at all in the early 1900s and so this book was feeding the military jingoism of the time, perhaps dangerously considering the eventual drift towards war (although it showed the security weaknesses on the British coastline.) If you highlight something often enough people start accepting it as fact, and so if people were told Germans were evil and trecherous often enough they believed in it.
The hero, Carruthers , sets out for a boating holiday with his old friend, Davies (we never learn his first name) around the sandy estuaries of Northern Germany and he gets more than he bargained for.
A note about the Kindle version - the book is much easier to understand if you can follow the maps provided at the end of the book, but the reproductions on the kindle are so poor to be undecipherable, so best read in the paper version.
Intriguing and promising early spy thriller that was ultimately unsatisfying.
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No