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Title: Secret Water (Swallows and Amazons, No 8)
ISBN: 1567920640
Author:
Arthur Ransome
Publicate Date: 1996-02-01
Publish: 1996-02-01
List Price: $14.95
Average Customer Rating: 4.0
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $4.24
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $2.54
Amazon Merchant Price: $10.17
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| Customer Review: |
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1: tides and mud
This is my least favorite Swallows & Amazons book. The Swallows, Amazons, and new friends the Eels are mapping the islands and channels in a tidal slough. This means waiting for the right tide, sailing somewhere, getting stuck a lot in the mud, taking bearings, and racing back to camp before the tide goes out. Repeat for five or six days. I wish they'd gone with Nancy's idea of a war instead!
The surveying and the illustrations of the map in progress are interesting, but you need the completed map (in the front cover) to follow Ransome's vague descriptions, and that map reveals many plot points, spoiling any sense of tension.
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2: A slower paced Ransome
After writing some of the most thrilling children's stories ever (including those featuring a certain H. Potter), Ransome slowed the pace with Secret Water. Actually, the plot is just a bit feeble and while it has its moments of excitement, this may be the weakest of the Swallows and Amazons series. I read it directly after We Didn't Mean to go to Sea and Great Northern and it lacks their power and drama. Yet in Secret Water the reader is among friends and that, plus the usual Ransome writing skills, make it well worth reading.
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3: Explorers and savages
Set immediately following the events of "We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea," this volume in the Swallows & Amazons series finds the Walkers once again sunk in gloom as their father, Cdr. Walker, has been denied his hoped-for leave, which will apparently prevent them from going on their planned family cruise to a region of marshes and islands suggested by their friend Jim Brading. Then Daddy gets his Great Idea: he and Mother will "maroon" the children (including Ship's Baby Bridget and Ship's Kitten Sinbad) with camping gear and provisions while they go up to London, and the "shipwrecked sailors" will explore and chart the unknown regions in which they've found themselves. The large island that will serve as their headquarters is surrounded by mud flats at low tide and has a farm (promptly christened a "native kraal" by Titty) near the middle of it, and with a small sailing boat of their own, the "Wizard," the self-sufficient and experienced Walkers anticipate no real trouble.
They've scarcely set up camp when they meet a local boy whom they dub "the Mastodon" (for the queer round tracks he leaves while walking with his "splatchers," a kind of snowshoe for use in mud) and learn that he's anticipating the arrival of his "tribe," the Eels, who camp on a nearby island every year for a spell of pretend savagery. (Why they're so late in coming--it's almost the end of the summer holidays--is never properly explained.) Then, to their astonishment and delight, the Amazons, Nancy and Peggy Blackett, join them with another small boat, "Firefly," and Nancy, as always, starts livening things up by suggesting that the explorers become blood members of the tribe. The Mastodon is willing: he thinks Bridget would make a much better human sacrifice (the centerpiece of the annual corroborree) than the usual one, skinny Daisy. Then the Eels hear of the explorers' presence and send word to him to get rid of them any way he can, and at first it looks as if the whole expedition will be ruined. But this time it's Bridget, though only four, who saves the day when she gets "captured" by the Eels and explains the situation to them. Immediate friendship results, and the mapmaking and corroborree are both resounding successes.
As always, Ransome draws his characters and setting with skill and avoids "talking down" to his readers. Titty and Roger, the Able-Seamen, though still young enough to get in trouble, are clearly growing and maturing through their past experiences, as is shown in one episode where they're stranded on the mudflats with the tide coming in. Suspense and tension abound almost to the very last page, as the Amazons in "Firefly" and the AB's in "Wizard," having resolved to complete the blank map left by Cdr. Walker, race the returning "Goblin" to the explorers' camp. The harum-scarum Blacketts, who always improve any book they appear in, add their special brand of imagination, and while it still isn't quite as good as the adventures set in the Lake Country, this volume in the series is a definite keeper.
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4: One of the best
This Arthur Ransome is as good as the rest, well written and with a new venue. This is a real location in almost all respects. What I missed reading this as a child was the context. Commander Walker gets an urgent summonds from the navy. As an adult, looking at the date of publication, I see that the book came out in November 1939. This was immediately after WWII was declared by Britain and Commander Walker was obviously very busy!
The plot of this book uses the usual Ransome themes, sailing exploration and a human sacrifice! You may not learn as much about sailing in this one, but that's all been covered in the others. As usual some of the main characters are strong females, in this case two!
Read and enjoy!
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5: A step backwards for the S/A series...
...but still worth reading.
After the serious adventure in the last book, WE DIDN'T MEAN TO GO TO SEA, we have the Swallows and Amazons back in the pretending and exploring mode. The major difference this time is that they're completely on their own, since the Swallows' parents were so impressed with their responsibility in the last book.
We get John's growing sense of responsibility toward the others, and some of the pains of growing up. We also get a boat race, some pretend-cannibalism, and a serious problem when some of the kids are trapped by a rising tide.
The scenery and setting are well-described; one really gets a visual sense of where they are and what they're doing. Some new kids, the Eels, are introduced, and are fairly interesting, but are never seen again in the course of the series.
Next: The D's return in THE BIG SIX.
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