Customer Reviews

The Blockade Runners

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

 

 

The Blockade Runners is set during the American Civil War. It's a fun little novella by Jules Verne that deals with a blockade runner heading to Charleston, South Carolina.

The captain, a member of an English merchant family, take on a sailor (a very unusual character - get this to watch him) at the last minute. He also has to take on the sailor's nephew. This changes his life in a manner he can't possibly imagine.

It's a free book for the Kindle, so give it a shot. It's a fun, quick read. First time I read a bit of Civil War fiction like this.

Here's a hint - Romance on the High Seas!

This is a great book that can be read in only an hour or two! Very exciting adventure!

P.S. This book is available for free from Project Gutenberg. If you care to read it online or on an iPad/iPhone, it wouldn't cost you a thing.

this is a great mid length book. its a quick, fun and suspenceful story. perfect for a weekend read. i will definitely read again very soon.

Not very long, probably took me 45 minutes to read it. It was fun, but there is very little character development. It has a nice historical aspect to it, which made it interesting. It doesn't really classify as SF anymore, since boats that go 17 mph are no great deal today.

A good quick read about a part of the Civil War I was only barely familiar with. Makes me want to read the history this fictional story was based on.

The Blockade Runners is set during the U.S. Civil War. An English trading family decides to build a ship to run the blockade at Charleston Harbor and deliver goods and get cotton in exchange. A man appears and manages to sign on to duty on the ship. He brings a boy with him who turns out to be the disguised daughter of a northern sympathizer captured by the Southern authorities. The man, who is her servant, has a plan to rescue her father but the captain of the ship doesn't agree with the plan. Therein lies the story. Being written in the early 1900's by H.G. Wells the writing in couched in the language and vernacular of the time. It is an interesting story plausibley written. Rather a quick read as it is more of a novella than a full length novel. I recommend if it as light reading you want a good swashbuckler story.

The Blockade Runners, by Jules Verne



The other night I went through Amazon's Kindle store, downloading practically every fiction book that was both free and rated 4 stars or higher. I ended up with over 100, but after reading this one, I realize that my plan was clearly not as well thought out as I had believed; this story had 4 stars, but it was only rated by 2 people.

This story takes place during the Civil War. A man whose uncle owns a factory for turning raw cotton into cloth is having trouble keeping his business open; there just isn't enough raw cotton on the market since the Northern States are interdicting the Southern fleets. And so this man comes up with a plan to build a steamboat upon which everything has been given towards speed, with which he can run the blockade and get a shipment at a super cheap price.

But before the ship departs from England, a particular sailor signs on, and makes them wait while he runs to get his nephew, whom he simply must bring along. After they have left the port, the Captain realizes that the "nephew" is actually a woman, who declares that her father is being held captive in the city where they are headed, and she will do anything to see him freed.

There is nothing that stands out about this story at all (neither good nor bad). It deserves 3 stars at most; the only real benefit to it that I saw was that it was very short and so I did not have to invest much time for so little reward.



Memorable Quote:

"Are you pleased with the charming cargo I brought you on board the Dolphin" continued Captain Playfair, showing him his brave young wife.

"I am quite satisfied," replied the worthy merchant; "I have sold my cotton at three hundred and seventy-five per cent profit."

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