Most helpful customer reviews
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Adventure in the Caribbean, Jul 5 2004
Well, annoyances exist in the Ramage series, the same annoyances cropping up with monotonous regularity in all the books I've read so far. But for all that, they're decent adventure stories to while away a quiet weekend with. They're less heavy on the naval detail than Patrick O'Brian's books, the language is accessible, the plots flow along and the characters are mostly sympathetic (except for the boo-hiss obvious villains). The hero might be a stereotype, but he's a fun one who's well-drawn."Governor Ramage RN" sees Lieutenant Lord Nicholas Ramage in command of the brig Triton. He joins an escort convoy for merchant shipping in the Caribbean commanded by his family's enemy, Admiral Goddard. Strange events ensue as one of the convoy vessels is attacked by French privateers in search of its "cargo", and then a hurricane strikes . . . Can Ramage survive the hurricane and save his ship? Can he hold his crew and passengers together against the twin threats of the Spanish and buried treasure? Can he save his neck from the noose as Admiral Goddard moves to destroy him? Read this improbable but exciting tale to find out.
Those annoyances I mentioned . . . Pope has an unfortunate tendency to dump in the detail that shows he's done his historical homework, often at inappropriate moments. There will always be the occasional point-of-view from another character, but only for the purposes of physically describing and then praising and/or worshipping Ramage. And the "romance" angle - these books are so obviously written by a man - that has Ramage "fall in love" with the nearest available young woman despite the existence of his almost-fiancee, complete with painful dialogue and cringe-worthy physical details, yet remains coy about exactly what Ramage gets up to out of Gianna's sight. But as annoying as these things can be, I still do urge you to try these books - they might not bother you at all!
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Ramage Amazes Me!, Jun 27 2004
This is the best of Dudley Pope's Lord Ramage novels, I have read to date. The story is best summed up by one of the character's ..."it is a tale of almost everything the sea has to offer ---a battle, a huricane, a shipwreck on a reef, hunting for treasure, a dangerous voyage in a tiny ship, and a naval court martial."However, what amazes about Pope's Ramage is that after two court martials for cowardice, the lost of three of His Majesty's ships Sibella, Kathleen, and Triton all taking place during Pope's first 4 novels, Lt. Ramage still commands a king's ship by the end and has talked the Commander-in-Chief of the Carribean into allowing him to retain his crew of 60 able seaman, instead of transferring them to much needed berths on other ships. It's incredible the Admiralty hasn't beached him yet.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Reminiscent of Dirk Pitt's best, Jul 23 2002
The fourth Ramage carries on with the tradition of highly entertaining naval action . The dialogue, descriptions of scenes and actions, and character behavior are first rate. The hurricane scene is what reminds me of Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt. I've not read a better account of existence in the middle of a hurricane, rivals the best Pitt action scenes.
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by Dudley Pope
