Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell

[Alaric]

Instead of taking up forum space for all twenty-one Sharpe novels with a thread for each one, I'm going to post my reviews for them in this thread if that's okay. Feel free to add your own too. :)


Sharpe's Tiger (http://www.historicalfictiononline.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1751&postcount=2)
Sharpe's Triumph (http://www.historicalfictiononline.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1752&postcount=3)
Sharpe's Fortress (http://www.historicalfictiononline.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1753&postcount=4)
Sharpe's Trafalgar (http://www.historicalfictiononline.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1909&postcount=6)
Sharpe's Prey (http://www.historicalfictiononline.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2869&postcount=8)
Sharpe's Rifles (http://www.historicalfictiononline.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3725&postcount=9)
Sharpe's Havoc (http://www.historicalfictiononline.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3730&postcount=10)
Sharpe's Eagle (http://www.historicalfictiononline.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3734&postcount=11)
Sharpe's Gold (http://www.historicalfictiononline.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3899&postcount=13)
Sharpe's Escape (http://www.historicalfictiononline.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3904&postcount=14)
Sharpe's Fury (http://www.historicalfictiononline.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7813&postcount=15)
Sharpe's Battle (http://www.historicalfictiononline.com/forums/showpost.php?p=18407&postcount=22)

[Alaric]

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“Sharpe’s Tiger,” by Bernard Cornwell
Richard Sharpe and the Siege of Seringapatam, 1799

Sharpe’s Tiger is chronologically the first in Bernard Cornwell’s widely successful Richard Sharpe series. Written in 1997, it is hardly Bernard Cornwell’s first novel – by the time of writing he had written nearly thirty novels. Cornwell concluded the first-era Sharpe novels with Sharpe’s Devil in 1992 and in between wrote his Arthur series as well as the incomplete Starbuck Chronicles. Following the success of the Sharpe television series Cornwell began writing prequels to his original series, starting with this one.

Set in India in 1799, Richard Sharpe is just 22-years-old, still a private, inexperienced, and thinking of deserting the British Army. His sergeant, Obadiah Hakeswill, is making his life a misery with the humdrum day-to-day boredom of the army. Hakeswill is a brilliant villain and we get to see what a vile person he is when he conspires to get Sharpe flogged.

After suffering that torture, described in gruesome detail, Sharpe is assigned to a special task by Col. Arthur Wellesley with Lt. William Lawford, which takes the story on a thrilling adventure right to the heart of the Tippoo Sultan’s kingdom, Seringapatan (modern Srirangapattana). There, the usual escapes and fights occur as Sharpe battles to fulfil his assignment and the reward that goes with it. Not to mention the romantic interest, which I dubbed Sharpegirl, is there in the form of Mary Bickerstaff, a widowed young army wife attached to Sharpe. Cornwell describes the difficulty in Sharpe’s task without glossing over anything – the way he describes the heat of India, the dangers of Sharpe’s predicament and down to things such as the way a soldier goes about his business is done superbly in its gore and closeness to detail.

For many older Sharpe fans that read the original first-era series these ones are seen as inferior. Well, I never read those ones. This was the first Sharpe novel I read after reading Cornwell’s Arthur series and I loved it. I loved the action sequences, I loved the characterisations of Sharpe as a young man and Hakeswill, and the story was gripping and had enough to it to keep my hooked to the end. Not to mention the history is strong too – Cornwell does admit to taking some liberties for the sake of the flow of the story, but it is nothing too noticeable to distract the reader.

If you haven’t read Cornwell or Sharpe before than this is a good place to start. It’s easy to read and gives you a very good idea of what Cornwell’s style is like. It’s fast-paced, the characters are very strong and they read like stories in that era, not just a story about the India of the early British Raj years. However, if you are someone that finds the bloodiness of battle described as to what it must have really been like a little too much then I would read with caution as at times it can be quite graphic.

Recommendation: Very good. **** or 8/10.

[Alaric]

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“Sharpe’s Triumph,” by Bernard Cornwell
Richard Sharpe and the Battle of Assaye, September 1803

Following on from Sharpe’s Tiger is the second prequel in Bernard Cornwell’s long-running Sharpe series, Sharpe’s Triumph. Written in 1998, the story of the young Richard Sharpe from his years in India continues with a tale about Sharpe sent on a mission to arrest a renegade East India Company officer, and the historically important Battle of Assaye in 1803.

Sharpe is now a sergeant after the events of Sharpe’s Tiger. Early in the piece he witnesses the betrayal of Britain by Maj William Dodd in the city of Ahmednuggur (modern Ahmednagar), who massacres the British garrison in charge. Sharpe is then hired by Col. Hector McCandless, a friend from the previous novel, to bring Dodd to arrest. While all of this is going on, in the background Sgt. Obadiah Hakeswill returns with a plot to bring down Sharpe on trumped up charges of striking an officer.

From there, Sharpe witnesses the Siege of Ahmednuggur with McCandless. This is superbly written as Sharpe is merely a spectator, but Cornwell still details the work of the Highlanders who manage to scale the walls of Ahmednuggur under heavy fire. The chase for Dodd takes Sharpe and McCandless across India and eventually to the Battle of Assaye, a battle that Wellington later described as his finest hour – not bad for a man who won at Talavera, Salamanca, Vitoria and Waterloo.

At Assaye we get to see arguably the most important action in the entire Sharpe series, something readers of the first-era only read in dialogue and brief mentions in the narrative – Sharpe saving the life of the unhorsed Wellesley. While Cornwell has taken a liberty by replacing another man with Sharpe, the events of that are written faithfully to the history as described, as Wellesley really was unhorsed at Assaye and his life placed in serious jeopardy by Indian lancers. As a reward for his heroic act Wellesley gives Sharpe his officer’s battlefield commission, promoting him from sergeant to ensign.

Sharpe’s Triumph is much like Sharpe’s Tiger. Sharpe is still young (he’s only 25 in 1803) and he laments his lack of experience. He makes mistakes. He’s rougher. He is by no means the finished product as a character and that is what’s enjoyable about these Indian prequels. As a reader, you get to see what I think is one of fictions best characters becoming the hero he would in future books.

For fans of Sharpe and people who enjoyed the first one keep reading. It’s all the hallmarks of a Bernard Cornwell novel, and I really did enjoy it. It was fast paced, the story again is strong but what is truly excellent were the two battles, described so intensely that you really do feel you are watching the Siege of Ahmednuggur with Richard Sharpe.

Recommendation: Very good. **** or 8/10.

[Alaric]

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“Sharpe’s Fortress,” by Bernard Cornwell
Richard Sharpe and the Siege of Gawilghur, December 1803

Chronologically third in the Richard Sharpe Napoleonic War series, Sharpe’s Fortress leaves off where Sharpe’s Triumph ends. This is the third and final novel in the Indian prequel series depicting a young Richard Sharpe before he became the man of the Peninsular War, and tells the story of Siege of Gawilghur in December of 1803.

Much like in Sharpe’s Triumph, this instalment opens with Sharpe coming to terms with his new rank. Now he is an officer in the 74th Highlanders Regiment of Foot, but his background and upbringing make that difficult for him. Men don’t respect him, officers talk down to him, and Sharpe is miserable, so much so that he is sent to the baggage train and becomes quartermaster to the regiment. There, Sharpe encounters corrupt officers selling British Army equipment behind the back of Maj-Gen. Arthur Wellesley. Once again Sgt. Obadiah Hakeswill is back to bring hell to Sharpe with another plot to take him down.

News of William Dodd’s escape from Assaye prompts the British to chase him and his Mahratta allies to the great fortress of Gawilghur that sits high atop the Deccan Plain. Who rules in Gawilghur, it is said, rules India. Soon Sharpe learns of his transfer out of the 74th and to a new regiment, the 95th Rifles. But he is then taken prisoner by Hakeswill and his cronies and must fight for his escape as a few old foes from Sharpe’s Tiger return. After escaping from Hakeswill Sharpe sets off to re-join the army at Gawilghur and leads his old regiment, the 33rd Regiment of Foot (Wellington’s) in their attempt to break through the unbreakable walls of Gawilghur.

The Siege of Gawilghur is described in all the usual thrillingness and bloody action of all Cornwell novels where the difficulty in breaking into the fortress is well described and thoroughly believable – Cornwell does a great job of detailing the schematics of the fortress so readers have a fair idea of what it must have been like. The siege is also where we get to see how Sharpe came to wear his iconic cheek scar of later books. Quite how Sharpe, as the only officer, leads the 33rd and parts of the 74th to break into Gawilghur seem a little improbable and unlikely. But according to the history as written by many Wellington biographers, that is what really happened and it was only a small British force that achieved such a feat.

I enjoyed the action in this novel, but its purpose was to set up Sharpe’s transfer back to Europe to join the 95th Rifles and to explain how Sharpe received his scar. The rest of it is rather unimportant and much of the middle section, like Sharpe’s escape from Hakeswill, was only there for the sake of it being there. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it for what it was but this is a fairly forgettable Sharpe across the series.

Recommendation: Good. ***1/2 or 7/10.

[whitelady3]

I've been addicted to this series over the past year. I've listening to some audiobooks and really love them! I need to start listening again, or find the books...

[Alaric]

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“Sharpe’s Trafalgar,” by Bernard Cornwell
Richard Sharpe and the Battle of Trafalgar, October 1805

After Richard Sharpe leaves India, he must get home. That is the premise of the fourth instalment in the Richard Sharpe series, Sharpe’s Trafalgar. Written in 2000, this novel is a gap between Sharpe’s years in India and the beginning of the original first-era Sharpe novels set in Spain and Portugal in the Peninsular War, and takes place in 1805 and at the Battle of Trafalgar.

Just what is Richard Sharpe doing at Trafalgar? Well, for one thing, he isn’t meant to be there at all. The first half of the novel deals with Sharpe aboard a cargo ship, the Calliope, and how Sharpe gets from there to a British man-of-war heading for the greatest naval battle in history. There, Sharpe assists the British against the French and Spanish and before the battle there is a wonderful cameo by the Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson. Despite being a departure from the norm in Sharpe, the battle is described as good as anything Cornwell has written in other works. It’s breathtaking, thrilling and action packed.

Despite the limitations of being aboard a ship the whole time, Sharpe’s Trafalgar tells a compelling story. There is far less action – the big battle at the end aside – than normal for a Sharpe novel. However, Cornwell compensates for this by focusing on developing the younger Sharpe’s character and fleshing out the details that are just taken at face value in the later novels. He deals with Sharpe’s nervousness around people around of higher classes, his lack of confidence and belief in himself, and his perennial ability to fall head over heals for a Sharpegirl. This Sharpegirl, Lady Grace Hale, later becomes pregnant with Sharpe’s first child.

I think mainly Cornwell wrote Sharpe’s Trafalgar for himself. Richard Sharpe is inspired by Horatio Hornblower and Cornwell is a big fan of naval fiction himself. It serves little purpose for advancing the Sharpe story aside from the fleshing out of his character – he receives no promotion and there is no involvement by Wellington, so it is hardly crucial to read.

But I enjoyed it. Many Sharpe fans don’t, but I quite liked it. It was something different. Cornwell is a good enough writer to make it interesting and the day-to-day life on an early 19th century ship is particularly entertaining. Equally, I think this is perhaps the most stand-alone of all the Sharpe novels as the back-story and plays little role in this story, so if you want to sample Sharpe then this is a good one to read.

Recommendation: Good. ***3/4 or 7.5/10.

[TerriPray]

I got hooked on the series some years ago and my father gave me his copies back in 2000.

[Alaric]

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“Sharpe’s Prey,” by Bernard Cornwell
Richard Sharpe and the Siege of Copenhagen, 1807

Chronologically, Sharpe’s Prey is the first Sharpe novel to be set on mainland Europe. This is the fifth in the series and is set mostly in Denmark, around eighteen months after the events of Sharpe’s Trafalgar, telling the story of the Siege of Copenhagen in 1807.

The opening chapters of Sharpe’s Prey deal with Sharpe still grief stricken over the death of Grace Hale, his love from the previous story. They were unmarried and so the lawyers of the Hale family took just about everything Sharpe owned, including his small fortune amassed in India. He’s angry, depressed and sick of the army – in 1807 Richard Sharpe even hated the 95th Rifles.

Sharpe is then drafted into a covert mission by Gen. David Baird, a friend from India, to uncover a French agent in possession of stolen British gold, who is attempting to bribe Crown Prince Frederick (the future Frederick VI) into siding Denmark and its powerful fleet with France. The British had intended to use that gold to do the same thing, as Denmark were the only other nation capable of matching Britain on the sea.

Sharpe soon uncovers the French agent and is trapped inside Copenhagen as the British mercilessly bombard the city with shells from the Royal Navy. What then follows is the usual trappings of a Sharpe novel as he attempts to escape from Copenhagen and rejoin the army. While an entertaining enough read it does have a same-same feel to it.

The main point of this novel is to be a pace gap between Sharpe’s Trafalgar and the next in the series, Sharpe’s Rifles. It wouldn’t be right for the Sharpe story to go from such a thrilling and important event as Trafalgar and then to jump straight into the gut of the action in Spain with Sharpe and his rifles. So, Sharpe’s Prey is nothing more than an intermediary between the Indian prequels and Spain.

This instalment in the Sharpe series is good enough for existing fans. If you aren’t, then start with another one as if this is your first introduction to Sharpe then it would probably turn you off it. While it isn’t poorly written and nor is the history lacking, it just lacks the compelling nature of the later Spain novels. Whether or not this is because this one is merely there to put a gap between Trafalgar and Spain is up for debate, but Sharpe’s Prey hardly offers anything new about the Sharpe character.

Recommendation: Okay. *** or 6/10.

[Alaric]

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“Sharpe’s Rifles,” by Bernard Cornwell
Richard Sharpe and the French Invasion of Galicia, January 1809

At last, Richard Sharpe has reached the country he spent most of his soldiering in: Spain. It is early 1809 and Sharpe has finally made his debut in the Peninsular War in 1988’s Sharpe’s Rifles. While this is the sixth in the series chronologically, Sharpe’s Rifles was actually written ninth, between Sharpe’s Siege and Sharpe’s Revenge. However, it is set before either of those – five years before – and is the first prequel Cornwell produced.

The British army is retreating into Portugal after being battered and beaten by Marshal Soult’s forces at the Battle of Corunna (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Corunna). Its leader, Sir John Moore, died after being struck by a cannonball on the battle field. Sharpe is with them and is on campaign with the 95th Rifles for officially the first time, and they are soon cut off from the rest of the British forces by a French ambush. Almost all of the officers are killed in the attack leaving Sharpe as the only fit officer left, and so he was left in command of the tattered remnants of the 95th Rifles.

The only problem for Sharpe is that no man in the 95th respects him or recognises his authority. Men in the ranks expect their officers to be gentlemen, men of repute, and not low-born former thieves like Sharpe. His first task is to win over the men in the face of mutiny, at least enough to make it back to safer lands still under British control. To do that, he convinces the burly soldier Patrick Harper to become his sergeant as the men of the 95th seemingly listen to Harper more than they do their newly instilled commanding officer.

On the retreat, Sharpe encounters Maj. Blas Vivar, and a new adventure begins. Vivar is desperate to protect a secret chest from the French and the sympathiser, the Count of Mouromorto. Vivar wants to take the chest to Santiago de Compostela and begin an uprising against the French. He asks Sharpe to help him which he does for Sharpe sees this as an opportunity to show his metal to the remaining men of the 95th.

This then takes him to Santiago de Compostela where they fight the French almost to the death, but in true Sharpe fashion, escape and with the victory after the peasants loyal to Vivar rise up with them. Sharpe leads his few men out of Spain where he meets Maj. Michael Hogan on a ridge overlooking the Atlantic and Portugal. He then hears the greatest news of all: Arthur Wellesley was coming to the Peninsular.

I really enjoyed Sharpe’s Rifles. It’s one of my favourite in the series because it captures what Sharpe is all about – no frills adventure, near death escapes, balls first action with little room for apologies. But what is really great about this one is how Sharpe, for the first time (chronologically), is in command of not just his own destiny but the lives of the men of the 95th Rifles. It changes his character a little as Sharpe constantly questions himself, his lack of self-confidence as an officer on full show, all because of his unique responsibility.

There is a rawness to Sharpe’s Rifles that makes it special, I think. Sharpe is in command but he isn’t at the same time. There are other people around who can change his fate, be it Maj. Blas Vivar or the rebellious future Sgt. Harper. But in the end Sharpe comes through, as does this novel. It is a compelling story that pays special respect to Spain’s religious fanaticism (the rational French with their liberal ideas are actually the villains), but above all Sharpe’s Rifles is great because of the characterisation of Richard Sharpe before he became the James Bond of the Napoleonic Wars in Spain.

Recommendation: Very good. ****1/2 or 9/10.

[Alaric]

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“Sharpe’s Havoc,” by Bernard Cornwell
Richard Sharpe and the Campaign in Northern Portugal, Spring 1809

Sharpe’s Havoc follows on from Sharpe’s Rifles, set a few months after the escape from French forces and the uprising in Santiago de Compostela. Written in 2003, Sharpe’s Havoc tells the story of Richard Sharpe and the remains of the 95th Rifles in northern Portugal in the early months of 1809.

Tasked by Maj. Hogan, Sharpe is instructed to rescue a stranded English girl at a family retreat in the suburbs outside Oporto. The girl is a member of a family of wine merchants whose home just so happens to be behind enemy lines in country now occupied by Marshal Soult’s marauding army that had chased the British deep into Portugal. It doesn’t take long for Sharpe and his men to reach the home but they soon find out the girl doesn’t want to leave either. As well as that, they are joined by a Portuguese officer, Captain Jorge Vicente, who is a welcome addition as he provides a certain level headedness and rationality that is missing with only Sharpe and Harper in command.

Sharpe is then in a desperate fight as the French, tipped off by an undercover agent, learn of his presence and set out to attack him. Trapped in the hills what ensues is the usual Sharpe fight – badly out-numbered and out-gunned, the Rifles stage a tremendous showdown with the inexperienced French cavalry. Their escape, with the English girl in tow (Kate Savage) is very well written.

From there, Sharpe learns the identity of the undercover French agent operating in the British army. The story then moves to a fight at the walls of Oporto where Soult’s surprised forces are battered by the well protected British. With the French defeated Sharpe sets off after the French spy in the Portuguese mountains where the story reaches its conclusion as the retreating French forces are battered again, and they receive more bad news: Arthur Wellesley had arrived.

All in all, this is a very run of the mill novel. As with Sharpe’s Prey it offers nothing in the way of moving the story forward other than to be a gap between two significant moments in Sharpe’s overall story, and so we learn nothing new about Sharpe’s character and the like. The evolution of Sharpe and Harper’s relationship is strengthened, but as with a lot of the prequels written after Sharpe’s Devil they are somewhat constricted by what transpires in future novels. As a result it is formulaic and easy to predict, following the usual path of Sharpe novels.

But I ended up liking it a lot more than I thought I would. The fight outside Oporto really was well written and it really did feel as though Sharpe could lose at any second. While the identity of the undercover spy was easy to guess Sharpe’s determination to bring him to punishment – Sharpe style – was good stuff. This is a great novel for pure entertainment value. Isn’t that what reading is about anyway?

Recommendation: Good. ***1/2 or 7/10.

[Alaric]

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“Sharpe’s Eagle,” by Bernard Cornwell
Richard Sharpe and the Talavera Campaign, July 1809

The beginning of a great adventure! Sharpe’s Eagle is the first novel my favourite author ever wrote, back in 1981. In his own words he claims to have never re-read it and only remembers that it focuses on the Battle of Talavera (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Talavera) in the summer of 1809. Cornwell originally wrote this after he had emigrated to the United States but was unable to work because the government turned down his green card application, so he decided to write a book, a Hornblower of the infantry. This is it – the debut novel of Bernard Cornwell.

Sharpe’s Eagle begins with the arrival of a new regiment to the war, the freshly formed (fictitious) South Essex Regiment of Foot. They are led by the annoyingly brilliant and ebullient Col. Sir Henry Simmerson. Flogged into rigid discipline, the South Essex is a miserable unit who despise their commander. They also have one big problem – they have no real idea to fight. This is where Lt. Richard Sharpe comes in and he has instructed to turn the South Essex into a fighting force worth talking about.

By now, Sharpe’s improper and ungentlemanly behaviour has quickly turned Col. Simmerson into an enemy. Simmerson’s dislike of Sharpe and his ways, as well as his own utter incompetence, sees the colonel commit the ultimate military disgrace at the first engagement with the French in the novel – Simmerson’s inability to make the right decision costs the South Essex its colours. The Kings colours no less!

Simmerson attempts to blame Sharpe for his humiliation but the presence of Maj. Michael Hogan and his truthfulness allows Lord Wellington to find out what really happened. Simmerson is disgraced, and Sharpe is gazetted to a captaincy. But Sharpe knows he cannot keep his captaincy as Simmerson has friends in high places at Horse Guards, and so Sharpe must commit an act of extraordinary if not suicidal bravery at the Battle of Talavera – capturing an eagle touched by Napoleon’s own hand.

Sharpe’s Eagle is a simple story. It tells us what we can expect in future editions – most of the time Sharpe is with the army, and his enemies will come from that same army. It also properly introduces readers to Cornwell’s style of fast pace, high intensity action that never stops for a second. But the plot of the novel is believable and immensely enjoyable, as are the characters. Putting it into context Cornwell does a great job of introducing Sharpe and Harper as well as his take on Wellington.

This is a wonderful novel and a top notch debut. It’s raw and not without its faults – the romance with Josefina is a little out of place – but it is also his first novel. However, one thing has stayed the same. Cornwell’s ability to write a multi-chapter battle scene is as good now as it was in 1981. I highly recommend this book.

Recommendation: Very good. ****1/2 or 9/10.

[whitelady3]

“Sharpe’s Eagle,” by Bernard Cornwell
Richard Sharpe and the Talavera Campaign, July 1809
This is my favourite book of the Sharpe series until now, I'm currently listening to Sharpe's Company.

[Alaric]

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“Sharpe’s Gold,” by Bernard Cornwell
Richard Sharpe and the Destruction of Almeida, August 1810

Following on from Sharpe’s Eagle comes the second novel written by Bernard Cornwell in 1981, Sharpe’s Gold. Chronologically this is the ninth in the Sharpe series. Set just over a year after the events at Talavera, Sharpe’s Gold depicts the destruction of the frontier city of the Almeida as the French pursue the British back into Portugal.

Sharpe, his gazetted captaincy hanging precariously on a rope, is tasked by Maj. Hogan and Lt. Gen. Arthur Wellesley, Viscount Wellington to retrieve a huge pile of Spanish gold now behind French lines. That gold is so highly valued by Wellington that Sharpe is even unaware of why he has to retrieve, all he knows is that he just has to get the gold no matter what.

Soon, Sharpe uncovers the whereabouts of the gold and incurs the wrath of Spanish partisans reluctant to hand over the gold to Wellington. After suitably angering the partisans Sharpe is chased through mountains of western Spain and into Portugal, where he takes refuge in the fortress at Almeida. Along the way Sharpe begins to fall for a captured partisan, Teresa Moreno, which is rather par of the course for Sharpe and Teresa is Sharpe’s Gold’s Sharpegirl.

At Almeida Sharpe is trapped. On one side is the French who, under the leadership of Marshal Ney, are about to begin sieging the city in their quest to take Portugal. On the other side is Sharpe’s other great enemy: army bureaucracy. The commander at Almeida, Gen. William Cox, refuses to believe Sharpe about his secret mission and demands that the gold be returned to the Spanish partisans.

Determined to fulfil his mission to Wellington Sharpe sets about escaping from Almeida’s soon-to-be-sieged ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Almeida) walls by blowing a massive hole through the walls, his plan was to destroy the magazine stowed away the town’s cathedral. The mammoth explosion, masked by French shells landing over Almeida’s walls, sees over 600 British soldiers die. Sharpe then escapes from Almeida with the gold and hands it over to Wellington, where he learns about its importance – Wellington needed it to pay for the Lines of Torres Vedras ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lines_of_Torres_Vedras).

Perhaps because this is a second novel, which are notoriously difficult to write anyway, that I found that the magic of Sharpe’s Eagle was missing in Sharpe’s Gold. It just didn’t grab me and hold my attention like many of its predecessors did, and I felt as though I had to force myself to read it simply because it was by my favourite author and because it was Sharpe. Either way, I found it exceptionally to get excited by it and just wanted it to finish despite being such a short novel.

Mainly it is the plot itself. The plot of Sharpe’s Gold just is not as gripping or as enthralling as it was in Sharpe’s Eagle. The villain (El Católico) of this one does not hold a candle to Sir Henry Simmerson. The only memorable character is the first appearance by one of Sharpe’s future wives, Teresa Moreno. It did not have the entertainment value or the believability of the Sharpe’s Eagle, and I felt as though it just trundled along until the South Essex reached Almeida, where the ending was rather rushed and lacked in believability. Sharpe may be a killer but the reckless murder of hundreds of British soldiers would surely upset him, yet he showed little remorse.

But, still. It was a second novel and it was bound to dip a little in quality. We are lucky that subsequent Sharpe’s are just so much better as Cornwell learned his craft.

Recommendation: Average. **1/2 or 5/10.

[Alaric]

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“Sharpe’s Escape,” by Bernard Cornwell
Richard Sharpe and the Battle of Bussaco, September 1810

Written in 2004 comes the second-most-recent Sharpe novel, Sharpe’s Escape, which more or less leaves off from where Sharpe’s Gold ends as it takes place shortly after. This is the tenth novel (chronologically) in the Sharpe series and depicts the stunning Battle of Busaco (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Busaco) of 1810.

A month after Sharpe’s Gold the British army is encamped in Central Portugal, between Porto and Coimbra and has perched itself on a ridge near the small town of Busscao. Meanwhile, Cap. Richard Sharpe, his captaincy still not officially confirmed by Horse Guards, is out patrolling with the South Essex light company. With him is a new lieutenant, the wonderfully irritating Lt. Cornelius Slingsby whose enthusiasm and zeal annoys Sharpe to no end. In the early stages of the novel Sharpe encounters some Portuguese and a supply of flour at one of the disused telegraph towers. These Portuguese are attempting to sell it to the French, but Sharpe is forced to destroy it under Wellington’s orders that no food be left for the French.

The leader of the Portuguese, a man named Ferragus, fights Sharpe over the flour. They are soon interrupted by the arrival of Maj. Pedro Ferreira, who happens to be Ferragus’ brother, as well as a member of army intelligence. Before the Battle of Bussaco the Ferreira brothers attempt to get revenge on Sharpe by beating him to death, but Sharpe manages to get away as the battle looms.

Battered and bruised, Sharpe’s ally Lt. Col. The Hon. William Lawford seizes the opportunity to advance his relative, Lt. Slingsby, and so relieves Sharpe of his commanding duty during the battle. We then get a different perspective of the usual Cornwell battle scene, as Sharpe is not directly in the battle. He sits on the sidelines and watches from a horse, spending most of the time deriding Slingsby. This change, however, does not take away from the quality of the writing in the battle scene but it is a unique perspective across the Sharpe novels. Cap. Jorge Vicente, from Sharpe’s Havoc, also makes a return during the battle.

Britain and Portugal win the battle, itself quite remarkable as the French actually took the ridge for awhile. It is after the battle – which concludes before the 200pg mark – where the true story of Sharpe’s Escape takes hold in the city of Coimbra. There, the British are destroying the remaining supplies before they retreat back to Lisbon. Also waiting in Coimbra are the Ferreira brothers with their plans to get rich off the French by selling a massive haul of food, but to also take revenge on Richard Sharpe.

Tipped off by one of Ferragus’ men, Sharpe is lulled into a trap at the warehouse. Harper and Vicente are with him, as is Miss Sarah Fry, who was the governess at the Ferreira household. Ferragus conspires to trap Sharpe and kill him, but Sharpe finds a way to escape from his latest near death predicament. He then leads Harper, Vicente, Sarah Fry and a young Portuguese girl named Joana across the Portuguese countryside in chase of the Ferreira brothers, which comes to a stop in a farm house outside the Lines of Torres Vedras ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lines_of_Torres_Vedras). Hemmed inside the farm house is the light company of the South Essex, and Sharpe finally defeats Ferragus there but also leads yet another daring escape out of the farm house and behind the safety of the bastions and forts.

I really warmed to Sharpe’s Escape the further I read. At the start, I was wary as it seemed a tad same-same, but Cornwell really throws up some surprises. For one thing, Sharpe’s relationship with Lawford is really put under the microscope as Lawford represents the bane of Sharpe’s life, army bureaucracy. They argue several times throughout and that is a refreshing change from the amiable niceness. Sharpe is an affront to men of authority in the army and his behaviour throughout the novel really puts a strain to his friendship with Lawford, who is, let us not forget, also Sharpe’s commanding officer as colonel of the South Essex.

This is quite a hidden gem in the Sharpe series. The action is typically top notch but the story itself harks back to the Indian prequels, and I really enjoyed it. A second thing that comes to the fore in Sharpe’s Escape is the development of the Sharpe and Harper friendship, something I think everyone can relate to. However where this novel really succeeds is its telling of Sharpe’s various escapes from his various troubles, and Cornwell does a brilliant job of making you think this really might be it such are the hopelessness of his trials and tribulations.

Recommendation: Good. ***1/2 or 7/10.

[Alaric]

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“Sharpe’s Fury,” by Bernard Cornwell (371p)
Richard Sharpe and the Battle of Barrosa, Winter 1811

The most recent novel in Bernard Cornwell’s acclaimed Sharpe series is Sharpe’s Fury. Written in 2006 this falls eleventh in the chronological order, and tells the story of the Battle of Barrosa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Barrosa) in 1811.

Sharpe and his men are detailed to blow up a pontoon bridge just over the border in southern Spain, but their mission goes awry when a French regiment of the line intercepts them, stranding Sharpe and a small number of riflemen on a broken pontoon with his superior officer. Sharpe is infuriated that the colonel of the French regiment, Henri Vandal, broke the agreement they made and kept his prisoners, among them the likeable Lt. Bullen. They eventually make their way to the last remaining Spanish city not in the hands of France: Cádiz. There, Sharpe finds something else to keep him occupied because anti-British conspirators in the city are blackmailing the British ambassador to Spain, who just so happens to be the Duke of Wellington’s youngest brother Henry Wellesley.

Two years prior Henry suffered the indignity of his wife running off with Lord Harry Paget, later Lord Uxbridge of Waterloo fame (whose fictional daughter is the mother of Harry Flashman), and was now a love-stricken divorcée. Henry had written a series of love letters to his new mistress, a high-priced whore named Caterina Blázquez, and those letters had fallen into the hands of a group, led by a manipulative priest named Montseny, wanting to blackmail the British out of Cádiz by publishing them in a newspaper, so Britain must get them back before the true identity of the author is made public. Sharpe is chosen by the embassy’s official to get them back – Lord Pumphrey is he, the effeminate diplomat that Sharpe met in Copenhagen (Sharpe’s Prey). Working together Sharpe and Pumphrey eventually destroy the newspaper and retrieve most of the letters, thus sparing Henry Wellesley the embarrassment of his private life being made public. The final third of the novel then takes Sharpe and his small number of riflemen – Harper, Hagman, Perkins, Harris and Slattery – to the Battle of Barossa, as Sharpe wants to get revenge on Col. Henri Vandal for taking Bullen prisoner. As Graham’s allied forces battled Marshal Victor’s French side into a relatively pointless yet bloody draw, Sharpe eventually makes his way across the battlefield to meet Vandal, capturing him amidst the scenes of Sgt. Patrick Masterman’s capture of an imperial eagle.

This is one of my least favourite Sharpe novels. I just found it hard to care about Sharpe’s Fury and the whole time I felt as though I would have rather read something else, like I just wanted it to be over so I could tick it off the list. Yes, of course, it has all the usual expectations of any Sharpe novel – the Battle of Barrosa is told excellently, the villains are good, and the intrigue in Cádiz was quite interesting. I liked that part. Henry Wellesley made for an interesting character, so different from his more illustrious brothers, and I was delighted to see Lord Pumphrey return, as it is a great character. But overall I just struggled to care, I found myself having little interest in the novel as a whole, partly because I somewhat knew what the outcome would be. As a big fan of Sharpe and Bernard Cornwell I persevered and eventually finished it, but I shan’t remember much about it after the letters were retrieved, or have any real interest in reading it again.

I wonder if Cornwell himself cared all that much about this one either – it came in between two novels in his current Saxon series, so it is entirely possible he only wrote it to appease Sharpe fans wanting another novel. I find Sharpe’s Fury difficult to recommend for anyone to read. It offers nothing to Sharpe’s overall story due to the constraints of the ten novels that follow it; the author can hardly add a new dimension or part of his story when ten more novels succeed it, so readers won’t miss out on much if they skip it. I guess one thing that was different about Sharpe’s Fury is that a senior officer in Sir Thomas Graham did not come across as a big-headed incompetent idiot, making it a nice change from the usual description of officers in Sharpe novels. If you are interested in reading it then you know what to expect and it is interesting enough for what it is, but for casual fans not interested in reading all twenty-one don’t bother, go and read one of the better ones. You will not miss much.

Recommendation: Okay. *** or 6/10.

[Carla]

Sharpe’s Fury[/i] is that a senior officer in Sir Thomas Graham did not come across as a big-headed incompetent idiot, making it a nice change from the usual description of officers in Sharpe novels.

Yes that does make a nice change :-)

[Leyland]

I scooped up the only four Sharpe's on the shelf at a used bookstore a couple weekends ago. I'm a complete newcomer to Cornwell (:o) so I'll be reading your reviews much more closely when I start reading them .... someday. Mt. TBR is teetering dangerously of late.

Thanks so much for all the info, Alaric.

[Alaric]

No problem. :)

[Carla]

Did anyone see the first instalment of the latest Sharpe TV movie, Sharpe's Peril? Set in India and very - very - loosely based on some combination of Cornwell's Indian Sharpe novels. If so, what did you think of it?

[Alaric]

I haven't seen it as it won't get broadcast here, but I may buy it on DVD in about a year. There's been a bit of mixed bag with the ones not based on novels, as Gold was awful but from the original series I quite enjoyed Justice and especially Mission.

[Vanessa]

I enjoyed it, but then I'm a Sean Bean fan!:D

[Alaric]

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“Sharpe’s Battle,” by Bernard Cornwell
Richard Sharpe and the Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro, May 1811 (387p)

Sharpe’s Battle is the twelfth book in the Richard Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell. Written in 1995 at the behest of the production company behind the Sharpe television series (and thus out of order from the original series), it was ordered by them to provide added filler in the series and is dedicated to Sean Bean. It tells the story of the Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fuentes_de_O%C3%B1oro) in May of 1811.

Sharpe and the rest of the South Essex had been tasked to do dull patrolling and scouting on the fringes of the Spanish-Portuguese frontier, a wild and lawless land where neither side had any control. The villages are deserted and people are scarce, but there is a reason for that – the detached French battalion of Brigade Loup, led by the ruthless Brigadier Guy Loup. Sharpe encounters Loup in a recently ravaged village, capturing two of his men caught raping teenage girls. Sharpe, without authorisation, orders them to be executed. Despite Loup’s pleas to hand the men over and allow him to discipline them, Sharpe carries out the executions by firing squad and makes an enemy of Loup off the bat, the fur skin covered Frenchmen swearing vengeance on Sharpe and his men. Back at army headquarters, Sharpe is tasked by Wellington to take temporary command of a Spanish guards regiment sent from the exiled King Ferdinand, the Real Compañía Irlandesa, and train them into proper troops. But that isn’t really the plan. Suspicion is rife that the guard is full of French spies and so Sharpe’s real task is to treat them so mercilessly and make them so miserable that the guardsmen resort to desertion rather than real army life.

The Real Companies Irlandesa is in fact a guard made up of Irish Catholic exiles (most of whom were Spanish born by several generations) and hopelessly inadequate for the task. Many desert on the first few nights while Sharpe butts heads with their insufferable commander, a womaniser drunkard who seeks glory by suicide named Lord Kiely. The fears of French spies are made true, as well, by the arrival of Doña Juanita de Elía, who is Kiely’s lover but also in the employ of the French spymaster, Pierre Ducos (Sharpe would meet him later). Sharpe’s attempts to organise the Real Companies Irlandesa prove nightmarish with desertion rife, useless weapons and inept commanders, but he opts to defy Wellington and Hogan and tries to make a unit out of them after all. Things start to improve until an American newspaper surfaces in the camp, proclaiming brutalities committed by British garrison soldiers in Dublin, which threatened to cause a mutiny among the Irish troops until Sharpe dismisses it as folly. Soon after, a Portuguese infantry battalion arrives at the fort and the following night, Loup attacks the fort. The Spanish and British hole up in the barracks, but the Portuguese infantry are butchered. Sharpe fears they are all doomed, but a massive explosion kills dozens of Loup's attackers and he departs from the fort quickly. Sharpe and Harper discover that Tom Garrard, an old friend of Sharpe’s in Portuguese service, blew up ammunition carts, causing the explosion, and sacrificing himself in the process.

The Spanish demand an inquiry into the assault and Sharpe and Runciman are set up as a political sacrifice. To avoid this fate, Sharpe attacks Loup's hideout, but Loup's Battalion is missing because he has been tasked to join Marshal Andre Masséna, on the move to relieve the besieged fortress of Almeida and on a collision course with the Viscount of Wellington. Meanwhile, Lord Kiely has killed himself in disgrace and the true saboteur among the Real Compañía Irlandesa is revealed as Father Sarsfield, a close friend of Wolfe Tone (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfe_Tone). Sharpe is then set to administrative duties to guard the ammunition carts and is essentially barred from participating in the coming battle, but he still finds himself involved anyway and links up with “Black Bob” Crauford and the Light Division, finding himself at the summit of the battle where he enacts his revenge on Loup while Wellington wins narrowly his battle. With Loup dead and Masséna defeated there is to be no court of inquiry against Sharpe, leaving him exonerated and back in the good graces of Wellington’s army.

I did not mind the television version – which differs in its conclusion after the first attack by Loup – and I did not mind the novel version of Sharpe’s Battle either. However, it is far from the best in the series and I immediately got the impression Cornwell was writing within parameters. I am sure the production company, who made the request for it to be written, had some set ideas of what they wanted Cornwell to write and thus provide them with a basis of the story. Much of the dialogue from the film is taken straight from the novel. It is little wonder it is dedicated to Sean Bean because the dialogue in the novel was written for Sean Bean’s Richard Sharpe, not Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe that appears in the first series. That is often the main criticism levelled at the second series of Sharpe novels, that it is Sean Bean’s Sharpe in written form, and I can see where the character has changed, particularly because this was only written to be made into a movie. Mostly the change is in the dialogue because Sharpe never says “bloody this!” and “bloody that” every few sentences in, for instance, Sharpe’s Eagle, he doesn’t give inspirational speeches, and he is never that cocksure about himself around superiors and blue bloods out of the field. One of Sharpe’s most defining characteristics is his self criticism and immediate demur response to those above him, yet in the novel Sharpe brazenly talks in a way that would probably see him lose his commission in Sharpe’s Eagle. Simply because Sean Bean is allowed to do as such in the films.

As it is, the novel is fine, but it does have a bit of a “well okay” feeling to it at times. In the first half of the novel, before the producers changed the ending, I knew what would happen as I had already seen the film. No matter, I still enjoyed it enough. The action is what one can expect from Cornwell and the bloody and gritty battle of Fuentes de Oñoro makes for a captivating read in its own right, particularly since it is almost wholly told without Sharpe present. However, much of the business with the Real Compañía Irlandesa was often annoying and unnecessary, not to mention implausible – Sharpe even says as much. Just how on earth can an American newspaper be able to report on goings on in Ireland scarcely a month after they had happened and have a printed copy floating among the ranks in Spain? I didn’t get it, and even the most uneducated soldier would have realised it was a forgery. I would be willing to bet money, however, that that was a request from the production team and not something of Bernard Cornwell’s creation as he is far more inventive than that.

I doubt I would ever read Sharpe’s Battle again unless it takes me on a whim. Like I said, it is not a bad novel by any means. It is just a tad on the ho hum side. There were parts I really did enjoy and there were parts that I could have skipped. So should you read it? Well, it depends. If you are working your way through the series, like I am, then I guess it is probably the thing to do. But if you are a casual reader with no interest in reading the lot then don’t bother, Cornwell has written far better books than this one and it would be a shame to spoil your opinion of him.

Recommendation: Okay. ***1/4 or 6.5/10.