One more good book in an excellent series. Unfortunately, the Crimean/Sepoy Rebellion Era did not have as much sea action for Philip Hazzard. However, he is equally adept as a leader on land. Less adept at avoiding serious wounds but he does survive and continues his very exciting career. As you would expect from V A Stuart, the historical aspects are quite correct and the story moves nicely. A family interest rather than an exciting duchess provides the harmony for the plot. ( )

The seventh novel in the eight volume Philip Hazzard series. Following the end of the Crimean ware, Hazzard sails for China and takes part in Keppels battle against the ChineseJunk fleet at Fatschan Creek. He then joins HMS Shannon as a volunteer when she sails to Calcutta following the Indian Mutiny. The secod half of the novel follows the Shannon's naval and marine brigade on their forced march to relief of Lucknow.

The following paragraphs are common to all 8 reviews I have posted for this series.

The novel is presented as Naval in nature; and the series as a successor to Hornblower. The action however, is mostly restricted to land operations, using the Naval volunteer brigade as the mechanism to relocate Hazzard to the centre of action. Navies of the world were at this point in history in transition from sail to steam. Remnants from the age of sail mixed with steam paddle and steam screw ships. It would have been interesting to gain some insight on this transition, but I was disappointed at the perfunctory (almost non-existent) nature of any such exposition.

The strength of the novel is in the meticulous historical detail presented: the editions I have read go so far as to present a detailed bibliography of the books consulted, coupled with historical notes. Copies of campaigns maps are also included as an appendix. I suppose it is not surprising that this should be so given that V A Stuart was something of a Historian, and supposedly an acknowledged expert of this period in British History.

What did surprise me was that under other pseudonyms, Stuart was the author of many romance novels, and was one of the founders of the Romance Novelist Association. Stuart's expertise in Military matters should not to be under-estimated. Her service in WWII (Burma, India and Australia) has provided a sound foundation for her work as a "military" , if not a particularly "naval" novelist. ( )