Wastrel’s Reviews > Swallows and Amazons > Status Update

Slang from this era that we still use today: "shut up!"

Slang from this ear that we don't still use today: "we've done them fairly brown!"

[incidentally, I do like how Ransome lets his "natives" slip into Cumbrian expressions without going full eye-dialect comic relief]

Something I hadn't expected: this is essentially a science fiction book.

Oh, there's no imaginary science in it, of course. It's all completely practical old-world knowledge. But the way the book treats it is SO reminiscent of older sci-fi - the eagerness to stop to explain the technology and concepts, whether it's how to pack a boat efficiently or how to use parallax to steer.