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I don't like Sharpe!

njslater
Scribbler
Posts: 40
Joined: March 2013
Location: London

Faded glory

Post by njslater » Sat June 22nd, 2013, 9:39 am

I read the Sharpe series avidly some years ago and have a deep interest in the era such that I have even written my own novel set in that period. However a recent revisiting was a disappointment.

My problem with Sharpe stories is that there are just too many of them, making it just too unbelievable that one man could have so much adventure. The other thing is that his character barely seems to be altered by the never ending horror he endures. He makes the same mistakes, takes the same insane risks and always survives.

Too much of a good thing I suspect. Taken on their own they are a good read but as a series, just a bit too much.

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EC2
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 3661
Joined: August 2008
Location: Nottingham UK
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Post by EC2 » Sat June 22nd, 2013, 11:30 am

I think sometimes it's unwise to visit old favourites. I have several that have earned their place on my keeper shelf because I did genuinely love them at the time, but they haven't maintained their appeal.
Les proz e les vassals
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard n’I chasront

'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'

Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal

www.elizabethchadwick.com

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