Customer Reviews

Ramage's Signal

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

 

 

This is a remarkable book-very odd in its way-a swashbuckler with hardly a dead man in sight. Pope seems to have challenged himself to imagine a string of seven actions which spill hardly a drop of blood and gore. A particularly telling scene, I think, is the night attempt to blow up a French 3rd rate in harbor: you see a mighty flash and are deafened, then...next chapter. Avast there, what happened, really? The emphasis is on the astonishing ingenuity of Ramage and his men to anticipate, out think, manipulate, and outmaneuver his enemies time and again during the second part of his independent cruise in the Mediterranean (a true continuation indeed of "The Ramage Touch"). Ramage comes up with one wiley ruse de guerre after another to humble and discomfit the French. Just think of the potentialities if you could get your hands on the new French semaphore towers ashore.... It takes extraordinary luck, very stupid or drunk enemies, and an inventive author to pull the capers off in an entertaining fashion. It's amazing to how much deviltry and destruction Pope can put Ramage in one book. The seamen enjoy the cruise enough to make good jokes, too.

In the course of the story we get to learn more about the types of Mediterranean winds, provisioning a landing party, muffling oars, how signalling worked, "nipping" the anchor cable, and how to "fish' a broken spar, plus gun powder and how to fuse it. Apparently it is beneath our dignity to count up the prize money Ramage and crew will rake in if they can successfully bring their captures back to Gibralter.

The entrapment plot on which this book is hung echoes the scenario of an earlier story, "Ramage's Diamond." Pope is particularly obvious this time hiding plot elements, like mere destinations, from us. Not only does Pope not tell us (OK), but Ramage doesn't tell his officers on not one but two of the dangerous missions he has cooked up in his vulnerable head! That's dereliction of duty. Unlike in Kent's Bolitho series, there's almost no crew turnover in these stories, certainly not in the core cast of characters, still alive and in the same crew from that intiial romp on the beach to save the queen in Tuscany! While Ramage's fame spreads rapidly, officers he has trained do not. Inspiring leadership plays a part (it's no wonder the whole crew re-ups in the next book). Three maps cover the early locales in the story. The usual elegant typography is here, with better proofing than in the Bolitho series also from McBooks. On the end papers is news of their reprinting of three (3) more nautical series, by Donachie, Stuart, and Parkinson. Hurrah!

This is the 11th episode in the adventures of Lord Nicholas Ramage, one of the youngest post captains on the Royal Navy list and possessed of an increasingly fearful reputation among French seamen, and it's a considerable improvement over the past couple of yarns. There's a tendency for an author to become bored or simply to lose his grip a bit as a series goes on, but perhaps Pope has snapped out of his growing malaise. This one picks up within hours of where the previous one left off, with Ramage holding the sort of Admiralty orders that would delight any frigate captain -- to enter the Mediterranean with his French-built ship on a three-month cruise and play merry hell with the enemy any way he can. This time, the inspection from sea of one of the coastal semaphore stations set up by the French navy between their headquarters at Toulon and the principal Spanish naval base at Cartagena suggests to him an interesting way of disrupting enemy communications. But when he takes a party ashore to destroy the installation, he reads the signals log and discovers that a French convoy is awaiting its escort at the western end of the Med. Since Ramage's CALYPSO is obviously a French frigate, maybe he could play Pied Piper and provide such an escort himself. Well, the reader soon understands where all this is headed and knows the enemy isn't going to enjoy the joke. Moreover, Ramage pulls it all off with hardly a shot being fired, which suits him fine. Pope is one of those authors who always likes to show off his specialized knowledge to his readers, and there's a fair amount of that, but it's a good story nonetheless. Ramage also has an unusually close relationship with his officers and men -- especially the half-dozen who have been with him since the series began -- and while the interplay is sometimes just a little too cheery to be believable, it makes for a multisided narrative. This isn't Patrick O'Brian but it's a lot of fun.

Excellent detail. Makes history come alive. Believable characters who you wished you could have met.

This book is a continuation of the previous book, as Ramage is still cruising the Med. Sea. He captures one in a series of signal stations and is able to send false messages that allow him to wreak havoc on French shipping in the area. The incrdible thing about this is that almost no one ever gets killed! Imagine that--a war with no deaths! In this one, Ramage is just too smart and too lucky; the story is just not believable. The episodes are OK, but not outstanding or particularly interesting. The explosions to end everything are incredible as well. The book almost seems geared toward 10-12 year old. But there it's too long and too much detail for that age group. All in all, not a very good book.

Great Book! I enjoyed it as much as I have each of the other Ramage Novels.

Pope continues the Ramage adventures. Good, easy read. Suspect O'Brian used Pope as a starting point for his series. Only thing lacking in the Ramage series is full linakge to earlier books.