- Hardcover: 502 pages
- Publisher: Thorndike Press; Lrg edition (April 1999)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0783885261
- ISBN-13: 978-0783885261
- Product Dimensions: 24 x 16.5 x 2.9 cm
- Shipping Weight: 807 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,606,950 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
The American Revolution has been well covered in fiction, but almost entirely as a land war-much as the War of 1812 has been treated virtually only as a naval war. By Force of Arms is the first book of a new series that will address the former shortcoming by following the career of Isaac Biddlecomb, a merchant seaman who has risen from the forecastle to the command of a vessel at the opening of the story. Biddlecomb isn't a natural-born hero at home in a hail of grape in the tradition of Hornblower or Aubrey. He is an ordinary American living in an extraordinary time, and Nelson, who has sailed aboard the modern reconstruction of the Revolutionary-period frigate H.M.S. Rose, makes clever use of this device to explain issues of the war and man-of-war life to the reader in unobtrusive fashion. Nelson's seagoing experience is evident in his clear, convincing description of the sailing. His dialogue, however, lacks the period feel of O'Brian and Forester-several times denizens of both the quarterdeck and the forecastle indicate assent with "Okay," which didn't degrade the vernacular for another century. Biddlecomb's sidekick is Ezra Rumstick, part-time patriot, part-time smuggler, full-time friend, and his nemesis is Captain James Wallace, the thoroughly professional commander of the Rose. The characters are strong and realistic, the plot and action believable and brisk, if none too complex, and readers will care enough about Biddlecomb's welfare to reach for Nelson's second installment. On the whole, an engaging start to what promises to be a fine adventure series in a neglected milieu.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Book Description
Fleeing the New England coast after foiling a British man-of-war's attempt to seize his cargo, merchant sea captain Isaac Biddlecomb finds himself in the middle of a brewing rebellion and at the mercy of a sadistic captain.
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First Sentence
CAPT. ISAAC BIDDLECOMB WAS CARRYING MORE SAIL THAN WAS prudent, more sail than was even safe, for the thirty-five knots of wind gusting from the south-southwest. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
CAPT. ISAAC BIDDLECOMB WAS CARRYING MORE SAIL THAN WAS prudent, more sail than was even safe, for the thirty-five knots of wind gusting from the south-southwest. Read the first page
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Shiploads of authenticity,
By
This review is from: By Force of Arms (Paperback)
Even authenticity can be overdone, and those of us who don't know our backstay from our starboard leech may at times feel drowned by the ocean of detail Nelson incorporates into his story. There is however an excellent labeled diagram of a brig of war, to help the reader. The author's storytelling skills are first rate, his handling of dialogue less good. Other reviewers have drawn attention to the anachronous 'okay'. What jarred with me was the utterly unconvincing vernacular of the British seamen.There is no great theme, message or purpose to the story. It is a straightforward, action-stuffed nautical adventure yarn. The action is excitingly and memorably handled. It is a limited theatre of action though, for there is not much to do except shipwreck, mutiny and collide with another vessel. If you a fan of the genre, your list is probably headed by Forester and O'Brian. What better name than 'Nelson' to add to that list?
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Great American Nautical Saga,
By A Customer
This review is from: By Force of Arms (Paperback)
Now is the time for all good sailors, whether on board ship or in their armchairs, to get behind the greatest living nautical novelist, James L. Nelson, and shout "Hold firm!" Sure I stiffened my upper lip with Hornblower, and sure I waded happily through Patrick O'Brian's eclectic and sometimes prissy "Jane Austen" tales of the sea. I've sailed with Dewey Lambden and Alexander Kent and a host of others. But this is the AMERICAN side of things, blast it! And no one, I'm telling you, no one, does it better than James L. Nelson! Doing my research, I've discovered that Nelson has been published in Merry Olde England, and translated into several languages - but he was ours first!Nelson has evidently (judging from biographical material available) done some powerful sailing himself, but anyone can study up on nautical terms and history. What sets Nelson apart is his peculiar Americaness and with it the contradictory impulses that American men at war have struggled with since the Revolution (the subject by the way, of this book). Sure they might be sailors, and sure they might be under the command of the captain and his officers, but secretly (and sometimes not so secretly) every American sailor is the master of his fate and the captain of his soul. The English could rule the waves for a couple of centuries by pluck, undeniable courage, and unrelenting organization, but the Americans were bound to kick dust in their British cousins' faces with the sort of individualism that would characterize so many American involved battles, at sea as well as on land. Okay, end of tirade. This is the beginning. Here are the first shock waves of the American Revolution, the nautical war so very seldom chronicled. Here is Isaac Biddlecomb, merchant, smuggler, and hell under sail! Here is his second in command, Rumstick, who cares about the Colonial cause as Biddlecomb does not. If you love to imagine the awful thunder, the cries and the bellowing commands, the shudder of ship ramming ship, there is no better place to begin than the pages of this book. And neither is it blood and thunder only, for Nelson can craft characters that make you laugh and make you care, and sail his theme of rough individuality, courage, and ultimate sacrifice as few other authors in this genre can do. Best of all, this is only the first in a series, and several series, and Nelson just gets better and better.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Packs a punch,
By
This review is from: By Force of Arms (Paperback)
Nelson might get a bad rep for sticking too much action in a short space, but I found this first book to be outstanding. He knows his seamanship and how to write a villain that is completely despicable. I'm excited to find an American writer attempting to write an American Hornblower!
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