Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome Reviewa

 Swallows and Amazons review!

Hey ForeverBookers, 

How are you doing today? I hope you’re well!

I’ve just finished reading Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome and I enjoyed it. It was slower than most books I read but I can remember watching the 1974 movie and enjoying that a lot as a child so I thought I’d give the book a go. 

Swallows and Amazons is a classic British novel that tells the story of a family of four children that go to an island that they can see from their farmhouse home on the Peak of Darien. They really want to go and camp on the island, so they do. They discover things about themselves, like the youngest, Roger being able to swim and Titty, the third youngest being a good lookout, as well as things about the island too. Things that they maybe shouldn’t know…

My edition of Swallows and Amazons had black and white pictures too, probably because it’s a children’s classic. 

I read Swallows and Amazons for a few readathons. They were:

Reading Rivalry - Book Featuring Brothers - the theme for Reading Rivalry this month is Mario and Luigi so that’s why brothers is a print. John and Michael are the brothers from Swallows and Amazons. 

2026 Always Fully Booked Reading Challenge - A book set on an island - most of Swallows And Amazons is set on an island.

Always Fully Booked On The Cover Challenge - A Cliff - on my copy there’s a cliff in the distance on the cover.  

Spoilers below…

“Looking down from Titty’s peak in the evening of the day on which they have come to the farmhouse where their mother had taken lodgings, they had seen the lake like an island sea. And on the lake they had seen the island. All four of them had been filled at once with the same idea. It was not just an island. It was the island, waiting for them. It was their Island. With an island like that within sight, who could be content to live on the mainland and sleep in a better night?” - 7

This is within the first pages of the book. It explains the children’s excitement about finding an island and about the discoveries they might make on that island. 

They have a boat up take across to the island that’s called Swallow. John and Susan are Captain and first mate on this expedition to the island, which is later known as Black Cat Island. 

While on the island the children meet two other children. They’re the Amazons. There’s a certain rivalry between the two groups at first. I enjoyed reading about this. I love character dynamics in any book I read and the dislike between the Swallows and the Amazons was palpable at first. Can they learn to get along? 

The first half or so of the story was quite slow moving. I expected this as it’s a classic novel. At chapter 20, just over half way (it’s a children’s classic so the chapters are very short) was where the novel started to gain pace for me. Titty makes a discovery. She finds the Amazons boat. Can she and the Swallows keep it hidden? I’ll let you read for yourself. 

Overall then, I enjoyed Swallows and Amazons for what it was. I prefer the movie but the book wasn’t bad. My favourite part was definitely the second half. It was quicker to read. 

Stand by for my next review, coming soon…