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“It’s getting near octopus time.”
Several ships sink with all hands lost, in the same area, after sending out an SOS mentioning “bad whether.” Biggles finds this very fishy. But investigating it, let alone doing anything about it, requires a big combined operation, so he gets himself temporarily commissioned as an Air Commodore so he can command both ships and planes.
This book focuses on Biggles’s responsibility as a commander of a large operation rather than a small team. There are some real losses, and he takes the deaths of men under his command personally. After getting a deathbed report from a young sailor, he walks off to cry, then pulls himself together to figure out his next move.
Despite a serious theme, it’s overall a very fun book, with excellent and inventive action sequences, some terrific settings, and plenty of creatures. Ginger is chased by a crocodile again, Algy is attacked by ants, and a decapod decamps with a dinghy.
To swim for it with that ghastly creature about was unthinkable. He knew what it was, of course: either an octopus or a decapod, perhaps the most loathsome living thing in all creation.
I don’t think Johns ever encountered an actual octopus because I am pretty sure they cannot actually chase people over dry land. Or if they can, there’s no need to flee in terror as you can just walk away. But maybe that’s just octopuses, not the dreaded decapods!
A swift glace backward revealed both monsters not thirty yards behind, moving swiftly over the ground in a sort of rolling motion.
Decapods aside, the book has some lovely descriptive writing. Below, the islands of the Mergui Archipelago lay like a necklace of emeralds dropped carelessly on a turquoise robe.
There are some racist bits but they’re individual lines or scenes rather than pervasive.
It seems like this is Ginger’s first real aerial battle, at least using a machine gun rather than a case of corned beef. It’s a thrilling sequence that really captures the excitement and adrenaline rush.
I love Biggles suggesting that Ginger imagined seeing the submarine, and Ginger turning it back on him and suggesting he imagined seeing the seaplane.
The volcanic atoll where the submarine is hidden is a fantastic idea, and the action sequences set there are also fantastic. The submarine mine sequence is brilliant, but I also love Biggles and Ginger trapped in the hut, their enemies dragging out a heavy gun to get them, and Biggles unexpectedly bolting out and seizing their machine gun!
Several ships sink with all hands lost, in the same area, after sending out an SOS mentioning “bad whether.” Biggles finds this very fishy. But investigating it, let alone doing anything about it, requires a big combined operation, so he gets himself temporarily commissioned as an Air Commodore so he can command both ships and planes.
This book focuses on Biggles’s responsibility as a commander of a large operation rather than a small team. There are some real losses, and he takes the deaths of men under his command personally. After getting a deathbed report from a young sailor, he walks off to cry, then pulls himself together to figure out his next move.
Despite a serious theme, it’s overall a very fun book, with excellent and inventive action sequences, some terrific settings, and plenty of creatures. Ginger is chased by a crocodile again, Algy is attacked by ants, and a decapod decamps with a dinghy.
To swim for it with that ghastly creature about was unthinkable. He knew what it was, of course: either an octopus or a decapod, perhaps the most loathsome living thing in all creation.
I don’t think Johns ever encountered an actual octopus because I am pretty sure they cannot actually chase people over dry land. Or if they can, there’s no need to flee in terror as you can just walk away. But maybe that’s just octopuses, not the dreaded decapods!
A swift glace backward revealed both monsters not thirty yards behind, moving swiftly over the ground in a sort of rolling motion.
Decapods aside, the book has some lovely descriptive writing. Below, the islands of the Mergui Archipelago lay like a necklace of emeralds dropped carelessly on a turquoise robe.
There are some racist bits but they’re individual lines or scenes rather than pervasive.
It seems like this is Ginger’s first real aerial battle, at least using a machine gun rather than a case of corned beef. It’s a thrilling sequence that really captures the excitement and adrenaline rush.
I love Biggles suggesting that Ginger imagined seeing the submarine, and Ginger turning it back on him and suggesting he imagined seeing the seaplane.
The volcanic atoll where the submarine is hidden is a fantastic idea, and the action sequences set there are also fantastic. The submarine mine sequence is brilliant, but I also love Biggles and Ginger trapped in the hut, their enemies dragging out a heavy gun to get them, and Biggles unexpectedly bolting out and seizing their machine gun!
