Customer Reviews

No Quarter: A Matty Graves Novel (The Matty Graves Novels)

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

 

 

With this fast-paced launch of a new series, Broos Campbell offers a fresh perspective on the seafaring novel--a Napoleonic-era saga with an American, not English protagonist. In the last days of 1799, 17-year-old midshipman Matty Graves sails out of Baltimore aboard the USS Rattle-Snake of the fledgling U. S. Navy, bound for the strife-torn West Indian island of Santo Domingo. As the Rattle-Snakes fend off a press-minded Royal Navy frigate and savage island picaroons, trouble brews between Captain Trimble, a genial lush who is also Matty's cousin, and wily, acerbic First Lieutenant Peter Wickett, ferociously competent and ripe for his own command. But will he risk mutiny to get it? Campbell's period dialogue is expressive, succinct, and often damned funny. His characters are well-developed, he writes about shipboard life with authority, and he understands that history is as often made by weakness and blind, dumb chance as stout-hearted heroics. As for Matty, he's a complex, resourceful young fellow with a dry wit who'll be excellent company as the series progresses. Sign on now!

I have always been a fan of British Naval series and always wondered why no one wrote a series dealing with the American navy during the Age of Sail. Campbell has now done just that. I found No Quarter an excellent read, good story and characters with solid historical information. I look forward to the next book.

Campbell delivers an entirely new slant on the genre of historical nautical fiction in his debut of what projects to be a trilogy about the neophyte American Navy. What sets this book apart from many other writers in the genre is his original, telling characterization, and a truly signature style. The publisher calls it ironic, but I think that description is somewhat off--wry, yes, ironic, mmmm, not so much. But it is a delightful and well-paced read and I am pretty hard to satisfy when it comes to this type of book (If you don't believe me, just read my lambasting of Edward Cline's SPARROWHAWK: BOOK ONE JACK FRAKE). Intelligent without being "brainy," Campbell proves himself a literary force to be reckoned with.

I've grown up reading Flasman, Hornblower and Sharpe and I am happy to see a new writer taking on less traveled ground. We've all read accounts of the Battle of Trafalgar from every angle execpt from the fishes point of view and its time for the rest of history to be explored. I am a major in History working on a degree on American Studies and I find it refreashing to read a novel full of historical insight that makes me care about the characters and engauged by the action. I'm looking foreword to his next book.
Mr. Coyote

For those of us who love a stirring nautical tale, it's refreshing to read a novel set in the age of sail that features an American, rather than a British, cast of characters.

My admiration for the novels of the late Patrick O'Brian, with their focus on the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, is boundless. But let's face it. It's fun to share the shipboard adventures of one of our own.

In "No Quarter," Midshipman Matty Graves sails aboard the USS Rattle-Snake in 1799 under the command of his drunken cousin, William Trimble.

The story moves along at a fine pace, with the usual quota of seafaring escapades and derring-do aboard a warship. But Graves, who narrates the novel, comes across as a bit of a blank slate who could be more sharply drawn/

More intriguing than the thinly characterized Graves is the ambitious and scheming first lieutenant, Peter Wickett, whose Republican (read Jeffersonian) political leanings place him at odds with the generally Federalist sympathies of the American Navy's officer corps in that era.

"No Quarter" would have benefited from an author's note explaining the revolutionary politics of the Caribbean during the period in which the novel is set. Readers who are not intimately familiar with the turmoil of that time and place may find it a bit difficult to sort out the players.

This book gives us the privilege of spending a month or more at sea in 1799 in a small US Navy warship, largely off the coast of Haiti, with that country in revolution. The author provides a convincing account of life at sea, particularly in great detail on rigging and setting sail. He also offers good drama in the conflict between the captain and the first officer, with 17 year-old midshipman Matty Graves caught between them. This is not a fairy tale of dashing heroes and good vs. evil; everyone is human, and right and wrong are hard to distinguish. There is a fair amount of action to provide excitement, with a chase by a French frigate, boarding by the British navy intent on pressing seamen, an attack by Haitian rebels, escape from captivity, engagement with a pirate ship, and a duel. We also get a flavor for the politics of the time, both domestic and international, with a divided U.S. and uncertain allies. It was a good read for me, I only wish it were longer, and I look forward to more stories in the series.

Finally, another writer who writes a book about the U.S. Navy set in the age of sail. Although it started out a little bit slow at the beginning, this book will keep you turning the pages until the end.

Young Snotty Matty Graves tells his story so real that you think you are there right with him.

I already bought the next book in line and hope we will get many more.

OTHER BOOKS RECOMMENDED WRITTEN BY : Charles D. White, Frank Eccles

Well written and very readable, No Quarter features complex but believable characters in a storyline that certainly keeps the pages turning. Campbell's relaxed narrative, combined with some truly wicked humour makes you reach for the next in the series - there are two more, but is he writing further?

A book that realised all my expectations; highly recommended.

Broos Campbell is a relatively new voice in the rich tradition of naval fiction, and he is a welcome addition to the ranks. While many top novelists have followed in the wake of Forester and O'Brian in detailing the valor of the mighty British fleet, Campbell instead takes on the fledgling American navy at a time when it was small, weak and poorly regarded.

In Matty Graves, Campbell has found a unique voice; he lacks experience but not nerve, comes from humble beginnings and his loyalties are torn. His perspective on sea battles and shipboard politics is fresh and exciting, and Campbell's detailed description of an attack by French picaroons -- closely inspired, no doubt, by a real encounter on Jan. 1, 1800, involving the USS Experiment, her cowardly captain and steadfast lieutenant, four merchant vessels and several armed barges filled with bloodthirsty attackers -- is a frantic, magnificent read.

Campbell breathes life into an obscure chapter of American history, and I look forward to reading the further adventures of Matty Graves.

by Tom Knapp, the Rambles(dot)NET guy

What is so intriguing about Broos Campbell's No Quarter, the first book of his Matty Graves series, is that while it follows the general conventions of Georgian naval fiction, it is remarkably original in setting, character and outlook. Campbell has chosen a fascinating and often overlooked period of history - the "Quasi-war" between the young American republic and the French - a time of shifting alliances where it is not always easy to tell friend from foe both internationally and within the fledgling Navy.

Matty Graves is a seventeen year old master's mate aboard the U.S. Navy's armed schooner Rattle-Snake. The novel opens on the day after Christmas, 1799. George Washington's funeral procession is passing through the streets of Baltimore, from which the Rattle-Snake is preparing to sail. It is a moment of tremendous change and uncertainty for the young nation, and its navy, as well as for the young master's mate.

Washington's dislike of factions and parties has devolved into battles between Hamilton's Federalists and Jefferson's Republicans. The Rattle-Snake is sailing to protect a convoy of American merchant ships in the Caribbean which may come under attack from the French, except that no declaration of war exists between the United States and France. Are the French attackers privateers or pirates? The Royal Navy is no longer the enemy, yet the English, claiming the right to press "deserters" from American ships, are clearly not friends either, and the prospect of the next war looms on the horizon.

When their small squadron is surrounded by French picaroons, will the French obey the rules of war and act like the privateers that they claim to be? When Matty and his men are captured can they claim the rights of prisoners of war, if no war has been declared?

The threats are not only from the French or the English. The Rattle-Snake is under the command of Captain William Trimble, who to Matty is "Cousin Billy". Cousin Billy's drinking is out of control and his ability to command is in question, forcing Matty to choose between allegiance to his family or to his ship. Should he side with the charming yet arrogant First Officer Peter Wickett or stand with his cousin? One need not even look ahead to the title of Campbell's third book in the series, Peter Wicked, to suspect the danger behind the First Officer's sarcastic smile. It will also soon become clear to young Matty that the factions within the fledging US Navy can be almost as treacherous as their foes at sea.

The writing is vivid and well paced. Campbell has a good eye for idiosyncratic detail. From the inscription over a tavern door to the picaroon gunner twirling slow-match cord over his head to keep it burning in an open boat, his use of detail and jargon felt just right for advancing the story.

The only area which concerned me about the book was Matty's voice. The narrative is in the first person. At times I was concerned that Matty sounded too cynical for a seventeen year old. Then again, considering the events and people around him, a high degree of cynicism would be entirely reasonable. It occurred to me that mulling over aspects of the central character's personality long after I had finished the book says very good things how about well the character has been crafted. Too many characters in fiction are easily forgotten. The same cannot be said of Matty Graves, which is a very good thing indeed.