Interesting book when you want to learn about the history of Sealand, how it all started and continued.

interesting book about sealand which was a former ww2 platform and in the 1960's became a pirate radio station and the following years of German involvement well worth reading

I’m not quite sure how this fascinating story managed to completely pass me by, but I was delighted to finally discover it. Sealand, an eccentric micronation just off the coast of the UK, was proclaimed a sovereign nation in 1967 by Paddy Roy Bates, who became the first King of this new country. I’d never even heard of micronations – but there are more of them than you might expect and the book goes on to describe some of them. The story of Sealand is a long and somewhat convoluted one, and the author spares us no details, but overall it’s such an interesting tale that I found I could forgive the occasional longueur. Plenty of web material to follow up on and I would recommend looking at some photos before embarking on the book, otherwise it’s quite hard to imagine what Sealand actually looks like. All in all, a compelling read indeed.

I enjoyed learning more about the topic - I had heard of Sealand but did not know much about it. Learning about how it started, legal challenges, etc was really interesting and I actually preferred the chapters focusing on these legal questions. I personally would have enjoyed the book more if I had felt the author was a bit more objective - I understand and love the enthusiasm for the alternative, but at times it felt... complacent. To me, Roy Bates and Michael Bates didn't come accross as modern times heroes and fun pirates when they throw explosives on boats and threaten and bully so many people.. Stealing equipment from other local radios is not Roy being "as ruthless as he was brave" - it's theft. And the part where he leaves his crew on the platform for SEVENTEEN days with 4 days worths of food?
I think overall it was an interesting read but really would have liked the author to at least pretend he found the behaviour of Roy and Michael incredibly problematic.

Thank you to Netgalley and Icon Books for sending me an ARC in return for an honest review.
I was really looking forward to reading this as I’ve long been fascinated by the idea of the Principality of Sealand, the world’s smallest country.

Years ago, I even bought some official Sealand stamps from the Sealand website, but they never arrived! I’ll try not to let that disappointment taint the reading of this book!

BUT - I found this a difficult read because Roy Bates described as a ‘crafty shark’, ‘a loveable rogue’ in the book, and his son Michael, just came across as violent thuggish bullies. I’m guessing we’re supposed to find their attempts at ‘holding the fort’ as brave, crazy and humorous - but unfortunately, these depictions just turned my stomach!
It’s really no surprise that a man like Roy Bates wanted to rule his own country and dictate his own rules.

The book is filled with constant legal and political wrangles and dodgy money-making schemes, which whilst necessary to tell the story of Sealand (which seemed to be mired in battles of one sort or another for the past fifty years), unfortunately bored me rigid.

The author battles bravely with this absolutely bonkers tale and were it not for his easy-going writing style, I would have been hard-pushed to want to finish this book.

A fascinating subject, but sadly, this book didn’t work for me.

Wonderful book. Fascinating topic but also told with wit and insight. Lots of complex political machinations which take some keeping up with, but inevitable with this very strange subject.