Ramage's Diamond (Volume 7) (The Lord Ramage Novels, 7)

by Dudley Pope

Book Overview

The youngest captain in His Majesty's Navy, with a reputation for landing impossible assignments, Lord Ramage is dispatched to the Caribbean islands of Martinique and Diamond Rock. The mission seems... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0935526897
• Release Date: April 2001
• Publisher: McBooks Press
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.8" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Great rebound from #6

This is installment 7 of Dudley Pope's Nicholas Ramage series. It is heards and tails above #6. Ramage is the quintessential hero. The reader knows that Ramage will succeed in his endeavors. The fun part about these novels is finding out HOW Ramage will succeed. He has way too much success--almost Deus ex machina. The action and episodes in this novel are all interesting. The battles are described well and keep the reader's interest. As usual, though, there is really too much detail when Ramage has his men hoist some guns onto the top of a mountain. Pope, just let the guys get the guns up and start shooting at the Frogs! For that, this book get 4 and a half stars. But the rest of the book is great fun. I might add that the BBC chose the wrong story for its naval hero. The Ramage stories are much more interesting than Hornblower.

Travelogue?

Pope gets a little too caught up in descriptions but when the action comes along..it's well done. Too bad he ended at #18

Engineering mastrerpiece off Martinique

Based on historical events, this novel retells the story of a tremendous feat of martial engineering. Ramage captures frigates and schooners and builds his own fleet. Recognizing the importance of controlling the shipping lanes in and out of Fort de France, he manages to mount baterries on a huge towering rock, known as the Diamond. With the batteries and his ragtag fleet, he manages to defeat a much larger French fleet and supply convoy, sinking, burning or capturing the entire lot. The detail work is good, and the story moves well, never letting the readers interest lag. My personal favorite in the series.

Almost too perfect

In which newly made Capt. Ramage buys arms, commands a slovenly ship, blockades Martinique and sees a diamond, removes a frigate, climbs a hill, and plots to devour a French fleet single-handedly in 1804. Ramage, like Hornblower, has a depth of character best revealed in their moments of introspection. But while Hornblower doubts his own courage, Ramage knows courage is a facade put up for the encouragement of others. I found the most fascinating passages were on pp. 259-263, where we get an outsider's view of Ramage and feel the effect of the meticulous planning that is the essence of inspiring leadership. It is likely these passages embody the secret of Lord Cochrane's astonishing successes as a winner who, like Ramage, didn't do it over the dead bodies of his men (the historic Lord Cochrane [1775-1860] being the inspiration for much of British naval fiction). As always Pope's descriptions are clear and precise, but here supplemented with diagrams of a jackstay lift for the central hill-climbing business.The reader might want to know that this is really the first of several books dealing continuously with Ramage's renewed adventures in the West Indies (but a separate cycle from his W. Indian adventures in vols 2-4). Although this is a pretty complete story unto itself, if you've already read this far in the series (you did, didn't you?) there's no way you won't want to move immediately after this to MUTINY. Proofing is a little sloppy in a series that is doing the McBooks imprint proud.

Ramage's Diamond in review

The novel shows Ramgage growing in his command of the frigate as he is assigned a task to monitor the French. He starts with a single frigate and a lack of knowledge of the area and his enemy .. as the story continues .. Ramage finds himself having to improvise in order to keep his ship from falling into the hands of the French as well as making plans to capture an inbound French convoy. ... theough a series of events .. he manages to acquire a small fleet of ships ... fortify a island ... and all but cut the French off from any help. .. a well written story ... much in the same line as C. S. Foresters Horatio Hornblower series .... or that of Alexander Kent and his Richard Bolitho series