Customer Reviews

The Guernseyman (The Richard Delancey Novels) (Volume 1)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After you've read all of Patrick O'Brian and C.S. Forester, what do you do? You can either re-read these classics of naval warfare or search for other similar authors. Are you more interested in a great story with a lot of action, deep realism without an idealized hero, or do you demand a literate and well written story? You must accept some trade-offs among the remaining age of sail authors such as Alexander Kent, Dudley Pope, Dewey Lamdin, James L. Nelson, Richard Woodman and C. Northcote Parkinson.

I personally want "all of the above" qualities in my reading, with the absolute requirements that it be a realistic, literate and well written story. I am willing to sacrifice some excitement and action in favor of these qualities. I wasn't sure based on the previous reviews if Parkinson would meet my criteria. After reading the first four novels in this series, I would say that he does without qualification.

As the other reviewers have pointed out, most of the action in this first book takes place on land, although there is definitely a naval flavor to the story. Even if we are missing the traditional naval broadsides here, the story is a very good one that holds the reader's interest. Much of the story takes place in America, Jersey and Gibraltar. Upon finishing this first book, I immediately went on to the next three of the Richard Delancey novels. It is too bad there are only six in the series.

I rate this series as five stars on the basis that Parkinson is, in my opinion, in the top four of the naval warfare authors whom I've read. Richard Woodman's Nathaniel Drinkwater series is also in this top group, whereas Kent, Lambdin and Nelson fall slightly below, but still worth reading. I enjoyed some of Pope's works but I often get annoyed with the lack of realism.

The author is probably best known for "Parkinson's Law," but he did write a series of novels featuring Royal Navy officer Richard Delancey. This novel, first published in the U.S. in 1973, is not the best of the series, but it introduces the main character and chronicles his rise from volunteer to lieutenant.

Delancey is a young man from the Channel Islands, sailing to England to join an older relative in the merchantile business. The outbreak of war has cut off trade with the American colonies and left many merchant seaman unemployed. This is compounded by unscrupulous merchants taking advantage of the situation to cut wages. Delancey is caught up in a demonstration/riot, ends up under arrest, and is impressed into the Royal Navy. His education finds him a promotion to clerk, and eventually he becomes a midshipman. His naval service takes him across the Atlantic to New York with the British fleet, where he meets up with some related American loyalists.

Delancey finds himself on an assignment ashore, and is caught up in the corruption involving military suppliers and kickbacks. This leads to his reassignment back to a ship, with a black mark against his name. Much of the action takes place on land during the American Revolution. The plot follows Delancey's career from Liverpool to New York, to Charleston, back to Guernsey and Jersey, and on to Gibraltar. It provides interesting details of naval service including corruption in the dockyards. It also covers the Spanish siege of Gibraltar in 1782, where the novel ends.

This book is quite unlike most naval fiction. Its focus is really more military than naval, more strategic than tactical. Naive teenager Richard Delancey, from the British isle of Guernsey off the French coast, is trying to find a career in England, but is swept into the British navy at the outbreak of the American Rebellion. This is the story of his quest for the king's commission, with lots of help and winking from his captains along the way. It is not a story of ships under sail. Most of the novel takes place on shore in New York, Jersey and Gibraltar. He hears of the grand strategy of the American Revolution, finds his American relatives, and meets several traitors. Through his eyes we witness a farcical French invasion atttempt. Then we see the strategy of the 1782 Franco-Hispanic attempt to take the peninsula of Gibraltar back from the British. Delancey's boat attack against the monstrous floating batteries is the only full naval action described in the whole book. Again the land battles are discussed with greater relish. Delancey should have been cast as an artilleryman. He is described as a mediocre ship handler, and that applies to the author's (in)attention to such matters. We don't see Dick handle anything larger than a rowboat.

Parkinson's tone is precise, clear, clinical and detached, as bloodless as he could make a war novel. He spares you all the "agonizing" and technical detail standard in salty sail-navy fiction. Someone new to the genre might like that. His prose is a bit formal and academic, interestingly didactic, but too learned for the mouth of an unschooled youth. Delancey is made effortlessly wise beyond his age by Parkinson's deep historical understanding of the Revolutionary era. The McBooks edition is pretty, with useful maps. They commit a couple of whoppers in the running heads, and the cover picture is strictly generic.

As the initial book in a series, the author slowly developed the character of Richard Delancey. The action was good, although a bit abbreviated at times. The day to day details of Navy life were not as with O'Brien or Forester, but still very interesting. I want to read the next in the series!

After blazing through the O'Brien books, I was still looking to read something of the same genre. I next read Forester' Hornblower series. While I enjoyed the Hornblower series, I found the character and story not as compelling. Hornblower was a wooden man and just not as likable as the flawed Jack Aubrey. The story lacked the naval detail and well-written, complex storylines that I had come to appreciate. Lamdin was too driven by his carnal desires and continuous conquests. That can just get old.

Parkinson's Delancey is not O'Brien's Aubrey. The quality of the writing and the character is closer in style to Hornblower. Parkinson's writing style is a bit stiff, but Delancey is a multifaceted `hero' that you can identify with. The young Delancey is almost too well-informed about the Revolutionary War, almost too much for a boy.

The first book is compelling enough to keep me turning the pages and to by several more in the series.

I found this book a little on the slow side with not enough action at sea. However, DeLancey is likable for all of that, despite his propensity to social climb. I think Parkison is better than most people credit and should give him a second try.

I bought this book because I loved Parkinson's "The Life and Times of Horatio Hornblower". I wasn't disappointed. The character is believable and the situations authentic. Good action. Starts slow but promises to be a good series.

I can't agree with most of these reviews. I am an O'Brian and Forester veteran and I don't think this book is on the same level at all. The writing is somewhat stilted and at times he gets lost in his own plot. Perhaps the other books are better, but I don't plan to find out.