Customer Reviews

Maddest Idea (Revolution at Sea 2)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Nelson has brought nautical fiction to the other side of the Atlantic in his second book set in the American revolution. His stories are well written around strong characters and unique facets of the time. Virtually all American commerce was borne by water, including the materials of war. Those of us who enjoy this genre all know that water was a medium the British were particularly well represented in (as they are in nautical fiction). Nelson writings have a pace that reflect the desperate situation of American revolutionaries. The reader is constantly wondering how Captain Biddlecomb will survive the actions of an overpowering enemy and the environmental challenges faced by those who go to sea. It is a rare writer who can create an exciting story line around history and adventure. Enjoy Nelson, because he is definitely one of them.

A solid tale of the sea awash with heroics, sinking frigates, splintered mizzenmasts and spars and shredded mainsails. The second book is better than the first. He captures the feel of the locations and the dire straits the colonies were in against the British. The sea battles are first rate, the characters seem a bit flat, but none the less, a good, brisk adventure tale with plenty of gunfire, dangerous intrigue, romance and humor. A great support character, Major Fitzgerald is a bonus as he stalks a dangerous traitor in the American government. I look forward to the third novel, "The Continental Risque". I would like to see Mr. Nelson tackle the War of 1812 with Biddlecomb at the helm of a regular naval vessel. If we're lucky, maybe Biddlecomb will sail against the pirates of Tripoli.

A truly Revolutionary Idea - ditch the Brits

Isaac Biddlecomb returns with panache and gunsmoke. We finally have the flushing out of his character (and others) lacking in the previous book. Tracing the development of the U.S. Navy from it's tentative nascent beginnings as a rag-tag fleet of fishing vessels through the point of view of a merchant-turned man of war captain, you get the same thrilling chase, wind-in-your hair, reek of gunsmoke as any other series of nautical fiction. You just get it from the Yanks' point of view.

Finally, the Royal Navy is the 'bad guy'. (The RN isn't painted as as evil, they're just the enemy.)

Thankfully, we Yanks finally have a delightful read of our own history, rather than being subjected to a solely British-based view of 18th C. sailing (admittedly, since Britainia then Ruled the Waves, they now rule the pages of literature). I love Forrester, Marrayat, Lambdin, Pope, et al., but I am thrilled to finally find my own nation's history on the pages of nautical fiction as the focal point, rather than a side bar.

Run, do not walk, to the closest bookstore to get this, and the others.

It's interesting to compare Nelson with Patrick O'Brian. Nelson doesn't have quite the sophistication of style or flair of characterization that O'Brian does, but his books are much faster-paced, and more historically interesting. The Maddest Idea was even better than By Force of Arms. I hope Nelson expands this past a trilogy.

James Nelson has hit his stride in this, the second book in his (to date) trilogy. Nelson's prose drives the reader like smoke and oakum through the opening months of the war, tapping well known heroes and lesser known knaves as characters in this marvelously constructed adventure while never losing track of his main characters, Isaac Biddlecomb, Rumstick, and the beautiful Virginia Stanton. It's fantastic to have, finally, a cast of Americans to cheer for. I sincerely hope Nelson deigns to stick around and turn the trilogy into a many volume series I can sail with for years to come.

Although haunted by the carnage that ended his first command of a naval warship, Rhode Island merchant Isaac Biddlecomb reluctantly agrees to captain a new-built privateer in the fledgling revolution against British rule in the American colonies. However, he quickly finds himself sailing into battle with his untried ship and crew against a well-armed and seasoned British frigate.

Based loosely on actual events from the early days of the American Revolution, this second volume of Nelson's Revolution at Sea saga is far more exciting and suspenseful than the first, By Force of Arms. Captain Biddlecomb leaps into the forefront with much greater development, and the adventures of supporting characters such as Virginia Stanton and Major Fitzgerald keep the book flowing at a breakneck pace. I will be making haste to begin the third book in the series, The Continental Risque, to see what happens next.

by Tom Knapp, the Rambles(dot)NET guy

I received what I ordered in the condition I ordered and in a timely manner.

Nelson returns to his Revolution at Sea saga with a story that is likely to cost you some sleep, but will repay you with much entertainment and enlightenment. Captain Isaac Biddlecomb is about to resign from the Rhode Island naval command of the brig Charlemagne. His sailing has been reduced to running a "cattle ferry" as he calls it, removing cattle from the islands in the area in order to deny the British sailors fresh meat. His feelings about the conflict growing with the British are ambivalent except for the effect it has had on his ability to perform as a merchant captain. He also has memories of his adventures in the first book of the saga. As he explains to his friend Ezra Rumstick, he has enough blood on his hands, not that he minds killing an enemy that is trying to kill him, "...but I can't and won't lead any more men to slaughter."

That is about to change.

General George Washington has discovered that his troops in Boston are frightfully short on gun powder and a plan is hatched to sail a ship to Bermuda where a store of gun powder is available which can be acquired without much difficulty. Biddlecomb is offered a Captain's commission in the Army of the United Colonies to undertake the mission which he accepts with reluctance.

Unbeknownst to those few who planned the operation, save one, Biddlecomb is saililng into a British trap.

He and his ship are captured and are in the process of being returned to Boston as a part of a large convoy of British merchantmen and protecting warships when the story really starts to get interesting.

While awaiting the convoy, Biddlecomb is permitted to write a letter to his "fiancee" in Rhode Island. It is reviewed by the British captain who has captured him and allowed to be sent. In truth he has deduced that there is a traitor who helped plan the operation and his letter is a riddle to those who receive and read it, until its true nature is "smoked out" and the story branches onto two tracks. Those in the colonies discovering who the traitor is and how Biddlestone can escape from his predicament.

Those two story lines are well drawn, full of suspense, action, and drama that will make your further reading of the sage both rewarding and entertaining. Nelson has a way of painting his main character into corners. They have a way of wiggling out of them. He has a flair for the history of the time and a knowledge of sailing that gives authenticity to all of the naval action.
With two books of the saga behind him, one can only look forward to the next installment with great anticipation.

A slow start, with Isaac beating himself up mentally after the horrendous pounding and loss of life on the 'Icarus' in 'By Force of Arms'; his agonising about his responsibility to the crew seems to take up the first quarter of the book, with consequent lack of action.

However, once convinced that he was powerless to prevent or avoid the carnage, he takes on a new lease of life and embarks on 'the Maddest Idea' - to lay the foundations of a Colonial Navy and rid the American People of the taxes and oppression of King George's dominion, in the shape of HMRN.

Factual and believably written, this grips you as soon as Isaac shakes off his depression and throws himself and his tactical ingenuity into harrying the enemy and assisting the nascent war on land - I read this in one sitting.

Again, maps and a postscript by the author outline the historical facts behind his fiction, and his first-hand knowledge of square-rig sailing makes this all the more enjoyable. ****

This is two parts action/adventure to one part historical fiction, but the action is so breathless, constant and unrelenting on shore and sea, you don't really care but just go along for a ride both wild and fun. There are more hairbreath escapes, crashes, and other sudden if improbable plot twists than a Dukes of Hazard rerun. This is intelligent escapist literature. The comparison should not be to the unique O'Brian, but to Richard Woodman's nautical series(and how both authors love to potray that great stereotype, the naval sadist). This one was indeed better than the first and I look forward to cracking open the next three (so far) adventures of Biddlecomb and Rumstick. And more of Fitzgerald, please! Keep scribbling Mr. Nelson, I'm having as much fun as you are.