Product Description

The year is 1820. Rider Sandman, a hero of Waterloo, returns to London to wed his fiancÉe. But instead of settling down to fame and glory, he finds himself penniless in a country where high unemployment and social unrest rage, and where men—innocent or guilty—are hanged for the merest of crimes.

Customer Reviews (42)

Perfect Recipe For My Personal Taste

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, I thought it was great fun.This is the first book I've read by Bernard Cornwell and I specifically chose this one because it was set in England during the reign of King George III and it wasn't as dominated by war like the majority of Cornwell's other novels.

I liked that this seemed to be equal parts historical fiction and mystery.I love when I'm reading a mystery that has characters I care enough about to make the mystery an added element of enjoyment rather than a necessity for moving the story forward.That's how I felt about Rider Sandman the hero of our story, his voluptuous downstairs neighbor Miss Sally Hood and several other characters Cornwell created for this novel.

The mystery was interesting and well paced, the action scenes were exciting and believable, especially since our hero is a soldier.And I did enjoy learning about the English criminal justice system during the nineteenth century.The author's historical note at the end of the book was interesting and frightening, I recommend reading it before you read the book.

I loved the 'Flash Vocabulary' incorporated into this story and I can recall having read only two other novels that used as much of the 'Flash' as Cornwell did here, one being Joseph O'Conner's 'Star of the Sea' and the second, Jennifer Donnelly's 'The Winter Rose'.Cornwell stated in his Historical Note that James Hardy Vaux compiled his 'Vocabulary of the Flash Language' in 1812 during his involuntary exile in Australia.

I would be very happy if Cornwell turned this into a series.If someone reading this discovers that he does so could you post a comment to let me know that, please.
Thanks very much.

The 1st Detective
A good yarn from the best historical fiction writer around.This book manages to blend a crime mystery, post Napoleonic war society commntary, a essay on the beginnings of the rights of the accused and some good old English humor all at once.I enjoyed this book and it was a page burner.I hope to see some follow on stories about the protagonist.

No noose is good noose......
How I have, for so long, overlooked authors such as Bernard Cornwell, when I am such a fan of historical novels, is now a mystery to me.

Having never read any of his works, I finally purchased a copy of one of his numerous books, Gallows Thief, and have now completed it, to my delight, with a desire to read much, much more.

Rider Sandman (honestly though, do all novelistic 'leading men' have to have names like this?), former soldier and cricketeer, is called to the duty of the Home Secretary in the early 19th century to investigate certain doubts surrounding the guilt of a convicted murderer before he is hanged. Suffering from disgrace and debt left behind by the suicide of his father, and nursing a broken heart that has resulted from a broken engagement (due to his diminished standing in society and poverty), Sandman accepts the commission from the Home Secretary, and begins his analysis of the situation.

Sandman finds, almost immediately, that there is no question in his mind of the condemned man's innocence, and despite the underwhelming interest he encounters in seeking justice for a tried and convicted man, Sandman sets out to prove the true identity of the murderer, and set the innocent man free, making himself a 'gallows thief', or one who snatches a condemned person from the noose before the hanging can be carried out of completed.

Though just shy of 300 pages in length, Mr. Cornwell wastes no time in spinning and unravelling his historical mystery to great effect. The result is an engaging and entertaining novel, unburdened by extraneous and unimportant characters and sub-plots that lead nowhere. True, not every character is as tantamount to the resolution of the story as others are, yet each character does play a role in Sandman's investigation,...in one way or another.

A wonderful story, easy to follow and digest....Gallows Thief is merely the first step I have taken into enjoying the historical novels of Bernard Cornwell.

A funny thing happened on the way to the gallows...
Sharpe fans will no doubt enjoy this little romp to the gallows. Rider Sandman, the protagonist, shares many of Sharpe's characteristics - the deep sense of ethics, the gallantry, and, of course, the murderous rage. (Cornwell even manages a loyal Sergeant to replace Harper.) In this novel, the penniless Sandman, a veteran of the Napoleonic wars, is hired to investigate the conviction of a young painter who has been found guilty of rape and murder. It goes without saying that the man is innocent, so to some degree the novel is a who-dunnit. But it is also an excuse for Cornwell to immerse us in the corruption of the British 19th-century judicial system, which he does to a large - perhaps, too large - extent. Cornwell is a wonderful, fluent writer, but at times he tends to lapse into pedantry. And this is one of those times. Too much attention is devoted to explaining "flash," the thieves' argot of the times, and too much to damning the judicial system (and way, way too much to the intricacies of cricket) at the expense of developing Sandman's character. The book has the characteristics of the beginning of a series, but although I enjoyed it, I rather hope Sandman's career as a detective ends here. Unless Cornwell can somehow expand Sandman's character, any future books will make for far less interesting reading than the Sharpe series.

classic Cornwell
A little change of pace but pretty much a classic Cornwell period-piece page-turner.I enjoyed it but I am a big Sharpe fan. ... Read more

Product Description
It's 1809, and Napoleon's army is sweeping across Spain. Lieutenant Richard Sharpe is newly in command of the demoralized, distrustful men of the 95th Rifles. He must lead them to safety-and the only way of escape is a treacherous trek through the enemy-infested mountains of Spain. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (53)

War as it used to be
The Sharp's rifle series are a must read for anyone interested in Historical Fiction. Perhaps the British army was different, but the laoding sequence for the musket was different than the American Colonial army. No matter, it is a fun read.

Stephen Estopinal, Author "El Tigre de Nueva Orleans"

5 stars for Sharpes Rifles, 0 stars for Penguins Ebook pricing.
--I'm thinking that they must not want this e-book thing to work out if they want to price their ebooks $2 less thantheir print version, which is already inflated.It cost's them almost nothing to send you a digital copy of the book compared to print, price it accordingly. Many of Penguins books across the board are overpriced.I'm wondering if they realize how many copies of this book are floating around.I could probably hit a local used bookstore and pick up a copy for less than $4 right now.They need to come to their senses.
--I'm not one of those idiots who thinks this stuff should be free, just realistic.The author and the company should have every right to charge you money for the book, but seriously make it reasonable or it will encourage people to look elsewhere for a copy that cuts out both the publisher and the author from their rightful earnings.

That's All She Read
[...]

This is the first Sharpe novel Bernard Cornwell ever wrote, but is not the first one chronologically.. you know, llike Star Wars. The difference is that George Lucas thought out all six episodes beforehand presumably, but when Cornwell wrote his first Sharpe he had no idea Sharpe's adventures would become the phenomenon they have. Thanks to the fact that the Richard Sharpe of Sharpe's Rifles unknown to him or his author at the time of this writing means that anyone coming into the series of novels having read the first five will find some slightly askew factors, such as This Sharpe not having had the year with Grace before contemplating a life with Louisa. No matter though.

If you pick up this novel, however, having seen the Sharpe's Rifles movie prepare for some confusion. First of all, the book refers to Sharpe's field commission happening in India when he saved Wellesley's life, while the movie has him doing this in Portugal at the beginning of the movie. And Sharpe and the 95th Rifles have been together for months.. with Sharpe as their quartermaster. In fact, the book begins with the British retreat from Napoleon's armies, before Wellesley comes back and begins his ultimately successful campaign to drive the French out. Don Blas and his flag are here. Hogan shows up at the very end. The whole story of the animosity between the Rifles and in particular harper and Sharpe is here. Sadly, he never gets to say, "Chosen men, eh? Well, I didn't choose you."

However, having Sean Bean and Darragh O'Malley firmly in my imagination, I think I like the book better than the movie. Maybe because Cornwell didn't know Sharpe much at the first the character comes off more callow, more whiny, which is the point. He is bitter and full of self pity, feeling done dirt by having to be the quartermaster and being treated like an interloper by officers and men alike. In this novel Sharpe comes to find his place as an officer leading men in battle. Cornwell does a fine job showing how this happens, how Don Blas's mentorship and the building mutual respect with Harper combines to give Sharpe the support and spotlight to shine. It is completely credible that Hogan, the Irish major, meeting Sharpe and finding out he was the one that helped the Spanish Cassadors take Santiago de Compostella would provide the catalyst for our hero to become the man we all know and love.

A quick rundown of the story. Sharpe is part of a squadron of Rifles that are cut off as the British are being chased to the sea by napoleon's elite armies. Their captain dies and later their sergeant, and Sharpe is thrown into command by virtue of being the sole officer. He struggles not to be killed by friendly fire until he runs into Don Blas Vivar, an idealistic and even visionary Spanish nobleman. Don Blas helps Sharpe develop the skills to lead what men he has left and teaches him how to deal with the hostile Harper, who all but worships Don Blas. The latter convinces Sharpe to bring his men along to hoist a flag once carried into battle with the Moors by the don's ancestor. he means to inspire the Spanish people to resist the French by showing them St. James, Santiago, is on their side and fighting with them. In spite of Sharpe's own skepticism, he goes along with the plan.

In the meantime Methodist missionaries show up with their very pretty daughter, Louisa. Sharpe falls for the young woman, of course, but so does Don Blas. The question becomes, can a good Methodist girl find happiness by adopting idolatrous Papist ways as a Countess or only by following an aging lieutenant with a lower class accent and no education from battleground to battleground? You do the math. I seem to recall in the movie the harridan of an aunt turns out to be a Rothschild in drag, but maybe that was another episode.

I recommend the book.. you should probably see the movie first and then read it, as I am not sure the other way around will work as well. So now you know why Wellesley looked nothing like himself in Episode I -- or is it Episode VI? Whatever. "Use the forks, Luke!"

Sharpe's Combat Command in Spain
Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series of historical fiction traces the adventures of Richard Sharpe through India and Europe through the Napoleonic wars. Sharpe begins life as an orphan of a prostitute and joins the army as a private to avoid a worse fate. Over the course of 24 novels and short stories, we follow his adventures, promotions, successes and failures. We also gain a ground-level perspective on the Napoleonic wars and insight into the life of a 19th century soldier through a compelling and gripping character.

Sharpe's Rifles, the sixth in the series chronologically, finds Sharpe in Spain. When his battalion is defeated by French cavalry, he finds himself in command of a small group of surviving Rifles as they escape deeper into Spain attempting to reconnect with the army or find passage back to Britain. Though he was promoted to Lieutenant in an earlier novel, this is his first real combat command. He struggles to gain respect of the men and we get to watch the character grow as he learns to develop his established talent in combat into the qualities that will make men follow and respect him. The backdrop of combat and Sharpe's heroism, typically for Cornwell, drive the novel forward, but this growth on Sharpe's part is the real story of Rifles for me.

This is my favorite of the series thus far, with the exception of the first, Sharpe's Tiger. The Spanish setting is as rich in flavor as the India of the early novels. Sharpe is gaining a whole new dimension as a character. And finally, I loved the character of Patrick Harper and have high hopes that we'll see much more of him as Sharpe's band moves on.

Sharpe's Rifles
Great book. Cornwell gives excellent in site to the hardship of war in the 1800's. ... Read more

Product Description
The Nathaniel Starbuck ChroniclesBook Three
Second Manassas, 1862

Distinguished at the Battle of Cedar Mountain, Confederate Captain Nate Starbuck's career is jeopardized once again by the suspicion and hostility of his brigade commander, General Washington Faulconer. The outcome of this vicious fight drastically changes both men's fortunes and propels AX into the ghastly bloodletting at the Second Battle of Manassas.

Evocative and historically accurate, Battle Flag continues Bernard Cornwell's powerful series of Nate's adventures on some of the most decisive battlefields of the American Civil War.

Customer Reviews (18)

An enjoyable way to learn about the Civil War
As the summer of 1862 passes, the Yankees once again maneuver and reinforce for a massive Virginia offensive they can never quite manage to begin. The Rebels repulse one attempt at Cedar Mountain. Lee, now in field command, sends Stonewall Jackson on a daring long march into the Yankees' rear, striking towards Manassas where the war's first big battle was fought. The Rebels are already hungry, ragged and ill-equipped, and as Jackson's probe develops, they barely have enough ammunition to fight. The two armies' maneuvering in Northern Virginia continues to take its toll on the countryside.

Nathaniel Starbuck is now a captain, uneasily under the command of his nemesis Washington Faulconer, who conspires to get rid of him. Unknown to Starbuck, his estranged father, Northern abolitionist preacher Elial Starbuck, is visiting the opposing lines, where he is constantly assured a decisive Union victory. Adam Faulconer now has joined a Union cavalry detachment composed entirely of pro-Union Southerners, whose knowledge of the Virginia countryside can help them raid behind enemy lines like the Rebels' Jeb Stuart. They make a bold move on the Faulconer Brigade. The eccentric Stonewall Jackson, who seems to confide only in God and Lee, inspires his men to go beyond themselves as "foot cavalry" to fight a force vastly superior in numbers and equipment.

In this third installment in the series, the action is located almost entirely in the field, without the Richmond scenes, intelligence intrigues and romantic complications of the earlier books. Cornwell does a fine job bringing Jackson's character to life;his battle scenes are, as always, vivid; and he imbues the reader with the ethoi that pervaded each side. The Union's inability to bring its well-supplied and numerically superior forces to bear is increasing frustration on its side, as McClellan's ponderous landing southeast of Richmond has come to nothing in the Peninsular Campaign, and the now equally ponderous repositioning back towards Manassas is under way. The Rebels, meanwhile,already feel the pinch of hunger and see they can only hang on through audacity, courage and luck. I can't think of any more enjoyable way to learn about the Civil War.

Great series
This series really help me peak my interest in the civil war. Cornwell is one of the best at historical fiction. A great story whilr learning at the same time.

Makes history live!
As a US History teacher, I am always looking for fiction that is historically accurate and yet exciting to read.The Starbuck series does that and "Battle Flag" is the best of the series.

Dr. Robert Massey

Add one to the winner column
I have been reading Bernard Cornwell's books one after the other for the last two years . The Starbuck series is one of his best . I have read all of the Sharp series , all the Saxon tales , The Grail Quest series , and am trying to read some of his stand alone novels now . He is a very good writer with a wonderful grasp of the details of history . I have read elsewhere about Jackson's "scarecrow army" , but nothing brought home the reality of the times as well as this author .Read this book , but do so in order of the series . His characters mature from book to book , so that is part of the fun .

Great book for fans
I must admit that the Starbuck series doesn't grab me quite the way that some of the other Cornwell books do, but they are still very good in their own right.Cornwell manages to create suspense and great battle scenes as usual.He also finds a few great historical details to give a real period flavor to his descriptions.The way that the fog of war and the shock of violence are portrayed are stock Cornwell and they still always hit home.

One of the uneven things about this series is that the character development is slightly uneven, on the other hand the characters are all interesting and have very realistic elements.
Highly recommended for Cornwell fans and Civil War buffs.Others will still enjoy it but for your first Cornwell book it might be better to start with something else. ... Read more

Product Description
Richard Sharpe and the Talavera Campaign, July 1809.Richard Sharpe, bold, professional and ruthless, goes to war. Once a private, now he leads his men into action in the bloodiest battle of the war. The danger is as great from his enemies on his own side as from those across the battlefield. But through treachery and gunsmoke, through swordfight and bloody warfare, Sharpe saves his own life and the honour of the regiment.The Complete Sharpe Collection with a new introduction by the author ... Read more

Customer Reviews (36)

The Peninsular campaign begins to pick up steam
I'm now into the part of this excellent series of military history/adventure novels where Richard Sharpe, commanding his isolated company of green-jacketed riflemen (the battalion having sailed back to England without him), is marching slowly through the Peninsular Campaign on his way to Waterloo. In the earlier novels (written later, but earlier by internal chronology), a year or several often passed between the volumes' action. But now, it's only a couple of months, each story segueing directly into the next in an almost continuous narrative. It's 1809 and the British army under Sir Arthur Wellesley has gone on the offensive in northern Portugal, striking east into Spain toward the town of Talavera. Sharpe is sent ahead as escort for his Irish engineer friend, Captain Hogan, who has to blow a Roman bridge that threatens to give the French access to the British rear. But the Spanish insist on detailing an infantry regiment to accompany them, too, so the British have had to send along a newly-arrived militia battalion, the South Essex. Sir Henry Simmerson, its commander, is a theoretical soldier only, convinced he knows better than the real generals how to win, and his arrogance and ignorance costs the South Essex its colours, captured by the French -- the ultimate shame. Sharpe, by sheer ferocity, recovers one of the colours, however, which gets him gazetted a captain in command of a light infantry company. As the British move on to the extraordinarily bloody battle they will fight at Talavera, Sharpe makes friends in his new command, as well as enemies, and he also acquires a love interest -- as he does anew in every book. The climactic battle itself is a masterpiece of atmosphere and shrewdly minimalized description; Cornwell could not possibly do justice to the entire confrontation so he concentrates on Sharpe's small part of it, leading the skirmishers out in front against their French counterparts, and observing the rest. I think it unlikely, frankly, that today's citizen soldiers could stand up to the pounding the redcoats take from enemy artillery and muskets in a Napoleonic set-piece battle, and just keep marching into it. Of course, war is a very different proposition nowadays, too. Cornwell does a very good job of reminding us of how things used to be.

A Career at Stake, Sharpe and Harper Slash Forward to Glory
Sharpe's Eagle was the first book written in the series and falls as the eighth in the current chronological sequence. Wherever you place Sharpe's Eagle, it's a marvelous story . . . one that you will long remember.

All of the great themes of the series are beautifully developed in this story: foolish dim-witted privilege versus low-birth but professional skill and courage; the lowly, poor Sharpe being fascinated by and fascinating beautiful women desired by richer, more powerful men; quick-witted discipline overcoming strategic errors and mistaken assumptions of the enemy; a beautiful friendship between Richard Sharpe and the Irish Sergeant Patrick Harper; and an uninfluential soldier being indirectly important to Sir Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington. Like the other books in the series, Sharpe rises up to accomplish something important.

Lieutenant Richard Sharpe had been left behind with a small band of 30 riflemen when Sir John Moore's retreat to Corunna had collapsed. Sir Arthur Wellesley wanted all the riflemen he could get, so Sharpe had been ordered to stay rather then returning to England to rejoin the second Battalion of the 95th Rifles. It's just as well. Sharpe had been a quartermaster before his superiors had been killed with no chance to get a battle command.

His friend Major Hogan has been ordered to blow up the bridge at Valdelacasa, and Sharpe and his men are to be the escort. Because of protocol, the Spanish want to lead the way. Because of that, Wellesley assigns Colonel Sir Henry Simmerson and his South Essex Regiment militiamen to be the British honor guard.

Sharpe is appalled that Sir Henry likes to flog and has taught his men to do things by the book, rather than emphasizing speed of fire. Soon, Sharpe gets a chance to make his points which makes an enemy of Sir Henry. Tensions escalate as Sir Henry takes an unnecessary risk and crosses the bridge to be blown and tries to get Sharpe to make a suicidal attack on cavalry. Sharpe declines, and Sir Henry makes a muddle. Sir Henry escapes his own mess, and Sharpe has to pull the bacon out of the fire . . . to save his own life as well as those of his men.

In fact, a terrible loss occurs . . . the King's Colours are taken by the French. Sir Henry blames Sharpe and promises to get Sharpe either drummed out of the army . . . or sent to the pestilential West Indies. Sharpe makes a promise to a dying man and knows that he must avenge the loss by gaining a colour standard, a French Eagle, in compensation.

From there, the story focuses on Sharpe re-establishing his honor, saving his career, and charming a pretty lady. In the process, his career takes an unexpected step.

The story has great historical details, from Sharpe's use of maggots to heal a wound to part of the story being based on the actual capture of a French Eagle by Ensign Keogh and Sergeant Masterson of the 87th, an Irish regiment, at the Battle of Barossa on March 5, 1811.

Naturally, not every story in the series is as good as this one. It's important to have some excellent stories to carry the not-so-excellent ones. Bernard Cornwell did his homework very well with this one.

Bravo!

Great Introduction
This is technically the first in the Bernard Cornwell Sharpe series, and because of that, the first I read based on a timeline I saw on Mr. Cornwell's site. Granted, I started this series because I'd seen the Sharpe movies with Sean Bean, but don't let that detract from a wonderful story. Sharpe's Eagle is a fascinating story of the Napoleonic Wars (The Peninsular Wars) one rarely hears about. The detail of the battle, the battalion inner-workings, firearms of the day, and landscape were enough to keep me interest throughout the story.

As for Richard Sharpe, I found him to be a hard character, willing to do anything to get the job done (soldiering, the only thing he knows) but an honorable man, too. He fights for what he believes in as much as for what his commanding officers tell him to. Brought up from the ranks, a near impossibility in the British army at the time, Sharpe is far from what other officers consider a gentleman, and yet comports himself much more gentlemanly than they. It's part of his charm as well as what often gets him into trouble.

In the Historical Note, Mr. Cornwell mentions what really happened at Talavera, yet despite that, and the liberties he took with history, instead of being indignant, I'm far more curious. I'd usually toss this book against the wall and never read another in the series, yet the writing and story intrigue me to read more.

The supporting characters are equally well drawn, especially SGT. Harper, who follows Sharpe throughout the series. I look forward to reading more of their exploits.

Fine book and movie
I previously skipped over Sharpe's Eagle-the second in the BBC's television adaptations from the novels by Bernard Cornwell- because I was reading the book. The first Sharpe novel by Cornwell, Eagle is a fine historical work. Surprisingly, the TV adaptation does the written word justice.

When we first meet Richard Sharpe in the Eagle novel, he's a lieutenant raised from the ranks after rescuing Wellington years before in India. Sharpe is a scarred and rough soldier, originally a member of the 95th Rifles. After being left behind by his regiment during battle, Sharpe and his remaining handful of crack shot riflemen move to the South Essex battalion. Sergeant Harper is as close to his superior officer as one in the ranks can be, but Sharpe has his eyes on a captaincy won on the battlefield-a promotion that cannot be taken from him. He can't afford to buy a commission like the spoiled gentlemen do. New colonel Sir Henry Simmerson doesn't make things easy for Sharpe-nor does young and greedy Lieutenant Christian Gibbons. The slick nephew of Simmerson contests Sharpe on and off the battlefield. Both men are vying for the affections of abandoned but high class and expensive Portuguese lady Josefina. Sharpe slowly realizes that the only way to gain respect, wealth, fame, and promotion is to capture an imperial eagle.

Written in 1981, Cornwell might have a tough time publishing Eagle today. Although there's currently 21 Sharpe books-the most recent Sharpe's Fury was publishing in 2006-British born Cornwell's writing style is distinctly European here. (Later Sharpe novels are more American in feel and have become influenced by the television series.) Cornwell's British-ness doesn't detract from the story; the historical accuracy, the richly detailed locales, characters, or Napoleonic vibes. In fact, that British-ness adds to Eagle's charm. Some Americans, however, may have a slow start adjusting to the English wording and punctuation. Fortunately, once you're into the book, these quips disappear. The battle action comes off the page, revenge, even romance. Unlike his hesitant Napoleonic compatriot Horatio Hornblower, Sharpe knows what he wants and usually gets it. Whether it's a little lovin' or the fine line between murder and killing on the battlefield, the reader is routing for Sharpe.

Director Tom Clegg's 1994 adaptation of Eagle takes all the good from the novel and places it onscreen. Script writer Eoghan Harris sometimes gives us line for line dialogue from the book. Harris knows the written Sharpe to the T, and it shows onscreen. The attention to detail and the pull of material from the Sharpe canon keep Eagle authentic to the books and the history.


Sean Bean plays the titular Sharpe to perfection. Even though the reader reads time and again of the dark haired and scarred Sharpe, the blonde Bean carries all Sharpe's rough edges along with his intelligence and veiled sensitivity. Daragh O'Malley is likewise ideally cast as Patrick Harper. His scale and wit bring the Irishman to life. In a book and film with so many characters-officers and soldiers coming and going with each storyline-the entire cast of Sharpe's Eagle looks and feels the part. Some folks just don't look like they belong in a period piece, but everyone here is either Napoleonic gritty or perfectly Jane Austen. Assumpta Serena is beautiful yet strong as guerilla leader Teresa Moreno, and new Bond Daniel Craig is a young and delightfully ruthless addition-even if his Lietuenant Berry has swapped vile places with Lieutenant Gibbons onscreen.

But of course, movies have to change up a few things. Written years later as a prequel, Sharpe's Rifles introduces the Sharpe characters to each other, naturally making a good fit as the first film adaptation. Much as I like the Teresa Moreno character, her premature introduction in Rifles and her odd place in the Eagle film diminishes the onscreen relationship of Sharpe and Josefina LaCosta (Katia Callabero). It's also a bit confusing later on in the Sharpe's Enemy film when Elizabeth Hurley plays Lady Farthingale-one of the aliases used by Josefina in the novels. More riflemen are also given names and personality in the television series. Only elder statesman rifleman Hagman appears in the early novels. Later novels, of course, incorporate the onscreen Chosen Men.


The film adaptation of Sharpe's Eagle brings the book's essence to life. Every time I watch, I think to myself, `this is a damn good show.' Sharpe's Eagle is neither a perfect book nor a perfect film. Both are, however, as near to perfection as is perhaps possible. Fine storytelling, characters, love triangles, action, history. If you're a fan of all things Napoleonic or even if you just like English period pieces, Sharpe's Eagle is not to be missed in either medium. Look for the DVD in several available Sharpe collections. The novel may be elusive in big box bookstores, but it is definitely worth the used store hunts or online purchase. Do, however, be prepared to read the other twenty books- Eagle is that addictive. Just look at all the Sharpe reviews I've done!

Sharpe fights to save his career and redeems his unit's honor
Sharpe's adventures in Iberia continue, leading up to the pivotal battle of Talavera. Now an army under the command of Sir Arthur Wellesley advances from Portugal into Spain, facing a huge Napoleonic force but with the possibility of defeating it - if Spanish allies and raw troops just landed from Britain hold up their end of the bargain. A big if.Sharpe chafes as he sees others purchasing high rank, mostly undeserved, while his own accomplishments go unrewarded.

Sharpe salvages some honor from a disastrous preliminary defeat, when a mission to blow a bridge becomes a fiasco, and finds himself promoted. But he's now under the command of Simmerson, a politically connected parade-ground martinet with no idea how to fight a war. He will destroy Sharpe's career unless Sharpe can win a signal victory on the battlefield redeeming the regiment's lost honor. Simmerson's equally useless nephew Gibbons, an arrogant dandy, from whom Sharpe rescues the lovely camp follower Josefina, becomes his enemy as well. Watching Sharpe's back throughout are the two Irishmen, Major Hogan the engineer and the redoubtable Sergeant Patrick Harper.

As enjoyable as the others, this book only lacks Cornwell's usual battlefield clarity. The book includes no map, and Cornwell's verbal layout of Talavera, the Tagus river, two tributaries and some key hills never really came clear to me.
... Read more

Product Description
Featuring the character Richard Sharpe, this book describes his exploits at the Battle of Waterloo. Other books by this author include "Sharpe's Honour", "Sharpe's Regiment", "Sharpe's Siege" and "Sharpe's Rifles". ... Read more

Customer Reviews (36)

Prompt
The book was sent out very quickly after I ordered it and the price was very good. I was pleased to find this book online. I have been reading the whole Sharpe series and could not find this one locally.

On the front lines
Those who enjoy action will eat up this book. Patos, revenge, love and survival are presented in equal measure. Battles are depicted with fidelity to the era. Cornwell at his best.

Stephen Estopinal, Author El Tigre de Nueva Orleans (The Tiger of New Orleans)

Contains All the Best Elements of the Series
"And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon." -- Revelation 16:16

Waterloo was the last battle of the Napoleonic Wars, a last brilliant gamble by the returned-from-exile Emperor Napoleon to surprise his enemies and gloriously split their forces so they could be destroyed. The best part of the book comes in having Richard Sharpe be present for the key action as the British and Prussians are surprised . . . and almost undone before barely prevailing. The battle story telling reminded me of the best parts of Bruce Catton's distinguished history books of the American Civil War. It's gripping and terribly interesting . . . in that strange way that awful events pull us in.

Bernard Cornwell also remained loyal to his favorite pet peeves, working them into central parts of the story:

1. The gaps between the well-born and the up-from-the-ranks officers.
2. The hypocritical attitude toward honor among the well-to-do.
3. The idiocy of letting aristocrats with no experience make battle decisions.
4. The bravery of the despised common soldier who fought better than any other nation's soldiers.

He also picks up on the disloyalty of Sharpe's wife, dangling in our minds many potential ends for the perfidious lovers.

I was sorry to see the last battle.

If you haven't read any other books in the series, do go back and start at the beginning in order of the chronology of the events . . . before reading this satisfying book.

Charge!

A breathtaking account of one of history's greatest battles
"Waterloo" isn't the last book in the Sharpe series, either chronologically, or to be written, but it's the one you're waiting for, the culmination of it all. Sharpe and Wellington have been fighting through Spain and France for years, we've read 19 previous books about Sharpe, and now it's that earth-shattering historical battle.

Cornwell does not disappoint. The subject matter's importance is signified deliberately in Cornwell's signoff - he does not conclude with "Sharpe's Waterloo" - and unwittingly in the American edition's dropping of Sharpe's name from the title. Cornwell suggests elsewhere that this was not his choice, but it's just as well. It would have been a stretch to make this "Sharpe's Waterloo". Cornwell does well to find a couple of key places to throw Sharpe into the action, helping hold a key redoubt, a walled farm, early in the day, and rallying one of three battered British units - another led by Wellington himself - to stand and hold against a superior French advance late in the day.

As he writes elsewhere, he tried to work in the small story - in this case, Sharpe's estranged wife Jane, who in the previous installment has taken up with a Nancy-boy aristocrat, stolen Sharpe's fortuneand now needs him dead so that she may remarry and shake off the scandal attaching to her. The lover seeks some military experience for the glory it will bring him, and the three meet in Belgium.

But there is less here than meets the eye. Cornwell says he just couldn't get going in the small story, what with Waterloo looming in the background.

Sharpe, now living with Lucille Castineau in Normandy, signs up with the Dutch force led by William, Duke of Orange, mostly for the pay but really because he can't stay away. Neither can Harper, now a civilian tavern owner and horse trader in Dublin. Their loose affiliation allows Cornwell to let them roam at the battle, giving the reader an opportunity to see more theaters of action.

His description of the battle, as well as the Franco-British battle leading to it, at Quatre Bras, is just breathtaking. This is the climactic meeting of Napoleon and Wellington, who have never faced each other in battle - the tyrannical French battlefield genius, who inspired an empire and an army while bringing death to millions; and the underrated, understated, but undefeated general for a nation which takes its sailors more seriously, and who amazingly retook Spain and Portugal back from much larger French armies.

In so doing Wellington learned to trump Napoleon's signature tactic: the use of huge columns of soldiers marching shoulder to shoulder to a terrifying drumbeat, those in front sure to die but protecting those behind them, who ultimately overwhelm the enemy with their numbers and relentless advance. This worked until French troops met disciplined, fast-firing British musket lines. Still, Napoleon at Waterloo has a huge force at his disposal, far more artillery and cavalry than Wellington does, and brings the latter to bear in all its medieval pageantry. And the fate of Europe, and the course of history, is in the balance; we know it now and they knew it then.

Cornwell takes 120 pages to describe the climactic day itself, and at the end, the reader feels wrung out. The sweep of the battle - the many changes of momentum, the numerous cavalry charges, the threats of the big columns - is awe-inspiring, and Cornwell succeeds in letting the drama emerge naturally.

Wellington is outmanned by Napoleon and salvation lies only with the arrival of his Prussian allies, for whom he waits ... and waits ... and waits. The Allies almost lost this battle, with egregious tactical errors that Cornwell places largely in William's lap, although Cornwell notes that historians don't all agree with that, or indeed about much of what happened. One wonders how Napoleon, on the attack most of the day,managed to lose, but then that's what makes for the drama - the moments that the tide is about to break, and some heroic countermeasure stops it. You realize that battles like these are not all about gunfire and numbers, but about the hearts of the men who fight them - what sinks their spirits to the breaking point, and what lifts them to victory.

(Having Sharpe in their midst, of course.)

Fitting end to a rousing series
Waterloo was the punctuation mark at the end of a generation-long struggle between Britain and France, and this well-written novel is likewise the full stop at the end of the adventurous career of Richard Sharpe, once a private soldier in a red coat, then a sergeant, then a low-ranking officer, and now -- finally -- a light colonel, called out of his brief retirement in Normandy to serve as a sort of figurehead on the staff of the young, thoroughly incompetent Prince of Orange. Sharpe commands no battalion, which gives Cornwell the freedom to move him around the relatively tiny battlefield wherever things are happening. As Wellington noted the next day, the battle was a very near run thing. The French came vey, very close to winning and Wellington had already sent all the regimental colours back to safety to avoid their being taken by the enemy. The key action, in retrospect was the defeat of the two Imperial Guard columns -- the very first defeat that elite corps had ever suffered -- by exhausted but still rapid-firing British infantry. Waterloo has been more heavily studied, interpreted, and written about than any single battle except Gettysburg. But experts still disagree how the second, slightly smaller Guard column was turned back down from the crest of the ridge, so that's where Cornwell places Sharpe, who takes full, official command of his old outfit, the South Essex, and helps to save the day. Nitpickers will find fault, I'm sure, with the few small changes the author makes in the flow of events, but the story is very well told, one day at a time, and the reader will not be disappointed.

PS -- I'm puzzled that so many critics of this series (many of them, apparently, on the Continent) complain because Sharpe, the sometimes larger-than-life hero of the series, is . . . well, *too* heroic. They complain because Sharpe, a quintessential Englishman (though he might disagree), sees the war through English eyes. His opinion of England's allies and enemies are those of the typical short-sighted Englishman. What do they expect? Sharpe doesn't live in the European Union, he's the product of nearly twenty years of warfare between his country and France. History is history, and no amount of caviling is going to turn the Belgian-Dutch into heroes, or make the Portuguese love the Spanish, or make the British love Napoleon, or make the Prussians less Prussian. ... Read more

Product Description

History Comes Dangerously Alive

Customer Reviews (27)

Havoc is Great!
One warning start this on a Friday night, or you'll end up going to work very sleepy. I had a very hard time putting it down, worrying about how Sharpe was going to get out of the mess he was in. I like that Cornwell uses real people and situations to set the story in, just adds Sharpe in the empty spots, and his little addendum at the end that tells you what he changed.

That's All She Read
That's All She Read http://allsheread.blogspot.com

This is only the seventh book in the Richard Sharpe Adventure Series if you line them all up in chronological order by battles. I suspect Sharpe's Havoc was written after the three India, one shipboard and one Denmark novels were written, themselves a jump back fromn 1814 to 1798 and soon after to fill in Sharpe's early years. Sharpe's Havoc provides a place for Cornwell to tie up a loose end or two and acknowledge events, like the battles in India, the surprising presence of Sharpe at Trafalgar, the sad love story of of Copenhagen and even sadder love story of lady Grace. Personally I founed it satisfying to have all those dramatic events taken into account in Sharpe's life.

In Sharpe's Havoc our boys find themselves in Portugal with Captain Hogan, assigned to look for a missing British wine merchant's daughter and, with Hogan's arch insinuation, "to keep an eye on Christopher". Christopher is a Foreign Office operative assigned to feel out the Portuguese attitude towards the French invasion of their country. He has decided he has a higher calling, to manipulate relations within and without the the French leading officers to create peace between the three nations. Our Christopher has more than a little larceny in him, as he plans to marry the wine merchant's daughter, Kate, and get hold of her late father's company, and then some. I felt that Hogan suspected something, but if so, he certainly did not get that across to Sharpe who trusts the guy for an awfully long time. I kept shouting at the book, "Send someone to warn Hogan, for God's sake!" My exhortations did not help.

Sharpe almost obeys Hogan's other suggestion, not to fall in love with Kate. There is one kiss, then the book ends with someone else with her in his arms, implying I suppose that he gets the girl, not Sharpe. The novel starts with the French capture of Oporto, follows Sharpe and his rifles to a standstill in a small Portuguese town where he sits more or less idle while Christopher is off doing his dirty tricks. When Our Hero finally figures out he's been duped, it is almost too late. Her, Harper, Hagman, Tongue, Perkins and Harris, and the rest, as they say on Gilligan's Island, withstand the siege of a hill fort before Christopher and the French give up and head for Oporto with an unhappy Kate and not before murdering literally everyone in the small town. In a dramatic battle at a seminary the British now under the general command of good old Nosey, Sir Arthur Wellesley, retake the seaport and send the French scrambling for the Spanish border. It is of course Sharpe's official mission to stop the French from escaping and his private mission to kill Christopher, retrieve his stolen telescope, and presumably Kate.

The novel begins on a bridge and ends on a bridge. You can tell this is is a bridge in itself, written later than the earliest novels. For one thing, all the catch up and fill in. But also because it is even better written than those first Sharpe adventures. Cornwell wrote dozens of other novels in between, and it really shows. This is as smooth and mature a Sharpe novel as there is. Other than instances where I wanted to give Sharpe a blow upside the head for obtuseness, this is as satisfying a Sharpe novel as there are. It has all the anticipated treasures, battle, courtship, Sharpe's struggle to be a proper officer, the growing comradeship of the key rifles, and Sharpe's self-actualized comments and actions. Christopher says to him, "We are England. We don't assassinate." Sharpe replies, "I do."

My husband, Jim, as wild a fan of Cornwell as I am, after all my long and patient evangelism, read Sharpe's Havoc to me. It is available in hardback, paperback, and even a leather bound edition, on Kindle, and on audio VD and download. For blind and otherwise print impaired readers, you can find it at BookShare.org and from the National Library Service via your local library in cassette form as RC 58259 and download as DB 58259. This is not one of the novels made into a film.

Still great read
I love the Sharpe series.The books are infinitely better than the movies.Havoc is a bit predictable, but still great read.Since Portuguese is my mother tongue, I was disappointed to find several mistakes.Names like the mountain-man Andrêa or father Josefa--the correct spelling would be André; and Josefa is a woman's name.Ordenança is a word that has plural--ordenanças.(I found this same kind of small language mistakes in "Rifles" too, then in Spanish.)Apart from that, extremely enjoyable book.

not bad
seems to be a pattern in the books and one wishes that they were not quite so repetitive

Sharpe continues slogging along in the rain
This one is better than the previous couple of books in the series; maybe it's because Lieut. Sharpe is paying more attention to the war against the French and less attention to women and spies. By internal chronology, "Sharpe's Havoc" comes immediately after "Sharpe's Rifles" -- which actually was the first book Cornwell wrote in this series, but whatever. It's the spring of 1809 and Richard Sharpe, previously a private and then a sergeant, and most recently a regimental quartermaster (because the gentlemanly officers of his unit don't have much use for someone with his lack of family background), finds himself in command of a short company of rifles in northern Portugal. The British army has retreated south but a bridge across the Douro River gives way and Sharpe and his men are stranded on the French-controlled side of the river. A certain Colonel Christopher (he's really an opportunistic Foreign Office observer with personal ambitions) begins giving him orders and Sharpe follows them, but reluctantly -- at least until the bastard steals his prized telescope, and then all bets are off. The colonel turns out to be a cad in several other ways as well. Cornwell, as usual, sticks pretty close to historical events for the background of Sharpe's adventures, and it's kind of amazing just how much real-life improves on fiction in this case. Sharpe's riflemen find ways and places to lie low, aided by a very young, completely inexperienced Portuguese lieutenant, but who has the right attitude and good instincts. They have several opportunities to teach the French about the accuracy and range of the rifled barrel, and they benefit from the wrongly assured superiority of the French commanders. Sharpe's path crosses that of Sir Arthur Wellesley yet again, but at least the lieutenant doesn't find it necessary to murder anyone in cold blood this time. out. ... Read more

Product Description

The civil war that is tearing England asunder in the year 1643 has not yet touched Dorcas Slythe, a secretly rebellious young Puritan woman living in the countryside south of London. She aches to escape the safe, pious tyranny of her father—and the opportunity appears with the arrival of Toby Lazender, dashing scion of a powerful royalist family, who awakens her to her passionate destiny. Her adventure truly begins with the discovery of an intricately wrought gold seal—one of four that, when joined, will reveal a great secret. Suddenly grave danger lies before her—not from Cromwell's advancing armies, but from relentless enemies who covet the great treasure to which she now holds the key.

Customer Reviews (23)

Not a typical GOOD Cornwell book
I barely managed to finish reading it, whereas a typical Cornwell book is so excellent I can hardly put it down.

Well worth reading!
I've read most of Cornwell's books and love them.This one was no exception.Not sure if or how much his wife wrote of this work but Cornwell's style, talent and irreverant humor is clearly present throughout.I've just ordered the next book in the series and if that is as good as this one then I hope he'll follow it up with others. - Marc L. Paulsen, author of The Last Generation to Die and Wasteland.

Caution for Cornwell Fans
If you enjoy Cornwell's novels, as I do, you might purchase this book with misplaced expectations. This is a romance in the supermarket sense. Not my usual cup of tea but entertaining enough, and excellent, as are all his books, in terms of bringing to life another time and place.

Most of his books are historical action/adventure stories. The difference between those and this in my mind is the difference between an active versus a passive (mostly) main character. The heroine, Dorcas Slythe, personally moves the story forward only in a couple of places. Mostly things are done to her or for her by others, primarily men who are villians or men who love her. Sounds like a romance.

The plot driving the practical conflict is interesting and well-executed.

The author writes as though he has a personal beef with Puritans-- all of them are vile and vicous in this book, and the Royalists are 100% wonderful and helpful. Would have been a little more interesting with more conflicted secondary characters (in his "Saxon Tales", for example, there are "good" and "bad" Vikings, Saxons, etc.)

Novel, Bernard Cornwell
Another fictional history book.They seem to get better, or is my imagination...
Mr. Cornwell is a great writer and his books are all worth reading.

BORING
THOUGHT THAT IT WILL BE LIKE AGRINOT BUT I GOT MIXED UP IT HAS A LOT OF ROMANCE ... Read more

Product Description
The year is 1805, and the Calliope, with Richard Sharpe aboard, is captured by a formidable French warship, the Revenant, which has been terrorizing British nautical traffic in the Indian Ocean. The French warship races toward the safety of its own fleet, carrying a stolen treaty that could provoke India into a new war against the British -- and render for naught all that Sharpe has bravely fought for till now.

Customer Reviews (49)

Good action but an awfully contrived plotline
It's the summer of 1805 and Ensign Richard Sharpe (who, not so long ago, was Private and then Sergeant Sharpe) has been on duty in India for six years. Having grown up in a workhouse and then on the streets of London, he regards India as much "home" as anywhere -- but now he's heading back to England to join a newly-forming rifle regiment. (Although, having been a "redcoat" since he was sixteen, he's not happy about switching to a green jacket.) But first he has to get there, and that means four months at sea. And his timing is such that he's destined to be off the coast of Spain in October. Fans of Napoleonic naval fiction will recognize what that means. Sharpe's voyage is eventful, first on an East Indiaman that's captured by a French ship through the treachery of the English captain. Then, after a week as prisoners below decks, the passengers on the Indiaman are rescued by the intervention of a British ship-of-the-line -- which just happens to be commanded by a captain of Sharpe's previous acquaintance. The captain indulges in an ocean-spanning chase of the fugitive Frenchman -- which includes some of the best descriptions in the book for those who know Hornblower and Aubrey -- and they all arrive off the southern coast of Spain at just the right moment. Meanwhile, first on the Indiaman, then on the warship, Sharpe has been carrying on an affair with the beautiful young wife of a coldly arrogant peer, to the secret amusement of practically everyone on board except the lady's husband, who may or may not be ignorant of the adultery. Actually, the two plots don't overlap much. The love story seems unlikely, given the difference in station between Sharpe and the lady, and the naval plotline seems positively forced, being just a way to allow our hero to be present at one of the greatest marine confrontations in European history. The adventure is all very well, but it does stretch credulity. And believability is ordinarily one of Cornwell's greatest assets. (I wonder if Sharpe is going to be present at Gettysburg, too.)

Sharpe Learns to Look Out for Himself at Sea
In chronological order, Sharpe's Trafalgar is the fourth book in the series. You could also think of it as an out-of-sequence book because it has little to do with the stories about Richard Sharpe as a soldier. In fact, unless you want to read a little about what it was like to be at the Battle of Trafalgar, you could skip this book and not miss anything important in the way of character development. Unlike the India books where Sharpe was continually fighting off deadly threats to his life, Sharpe is more concerned here with sneaking around with a married woman, a remote cousin of Sir Arthur Wellesley, Lady Grace Hale.

The Napoleonic Wars were fought in Europe. Naturally, Sharpe has to leave India if he is to appear to save the day in all of those amazing battles on the continent. Naturally, he's going to pass by Trafalgar. Why not write a book about the battle and have Sharpe stumble into it? That's clear the thought process behind this book.

As a result, you end up with a lot of plot "development" that is sort of filler before the main battle. Having never studied the sea battle, I found that the explanations were interesting and the story helped make the technology and strategy easier to understand. Had this been a novella that focused on the last third of this book, I probably would have graded the book as a five-star effort.

The ins and outs of avoiding being swindled by ship chandlers, East India ship captains, and common seamen didn't seem all that interesting to me. The romantic side of the book wasn't too credible to me and didn't add much to my enjoyment of the story. If you think Bernard Cornwell's novels about Sharpe lack enough of a love interest, then you'll probably like this book a lot better than I did.

The writing is quite good in comparing naval battles with the kind of fortress breaching that Sharpe engaged in during the three books in India. I don't recall reading another novel from this era that made those comparisons quite so explicit and interesting.

By contrast, some of the dialogue is particularly bad. In fact, Cornwell makes fun of his own dialogue by putting words into the mouths of characters who don't agree that every ship's captain is a "fine fellow."

The unforgettable part of the book is the characterization of Lord Nelson who led his sailors to such a remarkable victory that day.

Fire!

How Did Anyone Survive Those Battles?
This book is BEYOND excellent!!! I can relate in a way to Sharpe; I am an old Marine Infantryman, and I'm very glad that my shipboard experiences were not like that of those souls on 19th century ships of war! As is typical, Cornwell is very graphic and totally accurate!
--Carl Johnoff/Kurt Niemann, author of "The Powder Blue Negligee: Memoirs Of A Probation Officer."

Commentary on Cornwell's Books Featuring Sharpe
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RLRXQO2Z8UEBQ A Sharpe book is a history lesson in a sugar coated pill!In this short video I discuss who will like Cornwell's books featuring Richard Sharpe and why.Join me! Frank Derfler author of A Glint in Time [...]

Excellent Historical Fiction
Cornwell is a master writer in style, depth of characters, and especially in his meticulous research of the period he is writing about.If learning history was always this much fun, I would have majored in it!Realistic descriptions of the carnage of war may spoil the books for those who cannot bear to look upon its presence through the centuries. ... Read more

Product Description
'Sharpe's Christmas' contains two short stories.In the title story Richard Sharpe, commanding the Prince of Wales's Own Volunteers, finds himself in a high, hard place with an enemy brigade on one side and a desperate force of Frenchmen fleeing their defeat in Spain on the other.

The second story, 'Sharpe's Ransom', is set in France, after the wars, when old enemies take Sharpe's woman and child hostage. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

Great Short Yarns
Two short stories, a good quick read and a must to keep your Sharpe collection complete.

Sharpe's Christmas
This was a golden nugget...did not expect to encounter yet another book in the Sharpe's series...really wish there were more, seeing how B. Cornwell is still living! Unlike P. O'Brian who I cannot resurrect.

Thanks to the friends of the Sharpe's series for pulling this together, and so timely...ie at Christmas.

LOVE this series of books
This entire series has been wonderful.Good action and also funny at times.Highly recommend this book and all the others to anyone who loves historical fiction.

Yoiks!It's small.
Cornwell was asked to write a short story in the Sharpe series, to be serialized in a newspaper during Christmas week (when the reporters who had seniority would be on vacation, and the newspaper would be hard to fill).The tale, somewhat expanded (according to the preface) is reprinted here in chapbook form.It's another rip-roaring Sharpe episode.If you're reading the books in chronological order, you won't want to miss this story.

2 Short Stories about Richard Sharpe
This book contains two short stories about Christmas and Richard Sharpe.I recommend it only to those who are Sharpe fans and need no introduction to the characters, or circumstances.For those of us who have read all of the Sharpe series, these two light stories are icing on the cake.Buy the book, spend about 2 hours of your time and just enjoy. ... Read more

Product Description
Sharpe's Story is Bernard Cornwell's own account of the Sharpe series; how it began and how it has evolved over nearly thirty years. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

How Mr. Cornwell Created Richard Sharpe
This book, like "The Hornblower Companion" does for C. S. Forester, tells the behind the scenes story of how Bernard Cornwell came to write the series of books about British soldier Richard Sharpe.While such an account can't be compared to the Sharpe stories themselves for entertainment value, it is still a helpful book because it shows us where the author got some of the names, how he did his research, and how there was feedback from the visuals of the TV series that influenced the author's later novels.

This book is a rather short, quick read, and for those who enjoyed the Sharpe novels is well worth your time.

The one respect in which it disappointed me is that it failed to give us the golden key to how, unlike most authors (and readers), Mr. Cornwell managed to create a character so different from ourselves, yet one that nevertheless grabs our interest.Perhaps he did it without fully understanding it himself?At all events, that mystery does not detract from our enjoyment of the books, so it is a minor quibble.

Behind the scenes of the Sharpe books
This books is just as it presents itself to be: the story of the writing of the Sharpe adventures.So it's a treat for us fans of Sharpe. We get to know both Sharpe and Cornwell at bit better.

One insight I picked up from Cornwall here is his observation that a historical story must have two stories: a small story [the personal story of the main character] and a big story [the historical epic], and the trick for the writer is to keep the small story in front of the big one.This explains why I was disappointed with Sharpe's Trafalgar, Sharpe's Waterloo and Sharpe's Devil.In all three, the focus is on Sharpe fighting the battle.There is no small story.Sharpie needs a personal villain with whom to battle.It says so in the scriptures.

This book also put my fears to rest that Cornwell might be getting tired of Sharpe.It's also a comfort to know that Sharpe and Harper will march again.

Sharpe Serendipitous
Bernard Cornwell tells the story of how he came to write his blockbuster Sharpe series.This is an interesting story up to a point.Unfortunately, for me, that point came just short of the end of the book.Still if yo are a Sharpe fan I don't think yo will be disappointed.

Just Perfect
This book is a perfect compliment and addition to the Sharpe Series of books.It is also a good one to have if you want an overview of Sharpe and his life.Once again, Bernard Cornwell does not disappoint.
I highly recommend this volume to any and every Richard Sharpe fan.

The Edge to Being Sharp
SHARP'S STORY is the mind behind Bernard Cornwell's fighting character, Richard Sharp. It is a behind the curtain look at how it all came about, the why of some things, and how some characters received their names, dispositions and fates. It is also a look at Cornwell, the author and how he views the characters that he summoned up, for good or evil.
This isn't a short novel or a long short story. It is similar to a one-on-one interview, answering some of the questions we readers seem to toss around in our heads after we have finished one of Cornwell's books.
It brings us all a little closer to the fictional SHARP we've come to know through the series and nicely fleshes him out. The CAKES AND ALE brief autobiography at the end of the book is a telling look at how the road to good intentions is paved with Hell. Children deserve better than what they sometimes get, but then in the formation and development of the writer the scars, painful as they are, need to be put to pen.
It's true that the 121 pages are thin for the cover price BUT in an age where we spend the same on a crappy movie or more for a less than satisfying lunch or for two double tall pretenditsitaliano's what we get with SHARP' STORY is far more entertaining, satisfying and keeps us buzzing for a good while.
If you enjoy the SHARP series (all 21 of them, at present) or know someone who does as well then forget the ugly Christmas sweater, singing trophy fish or overpriced coffee gift card, buy this book instead. It is reasonably priced and makes for a welcome present. It eh...says so in the scriptures. ... Read more

Product Description
Bold, professional and determined, Richard Sharpe embarks on a desperate mission. He must recover the treasure, vital to the success of the war, now hidden behind enemy lines. The gold is in the possession of a powerful guerrilla leader, feared by ally and enemy alike. And, he has no love for Sharpe, the man who has stolen his woman. But Sharpe's fiercest battles lie with the British officers, ignorant of his deadly secret and mistrustful of his ruthless methods. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (22)

Sharpe Strikes Gold...Again
This is easily one of my favorite books in the series. I highly recommend it.

Best Sharpe so far
Sharpe's Gold is my favorite of the series so far because Sharpe has to make a costly decision at the end, which illustrates the kind of antihero he is. The Sharpe series needs more moments like this one. Based on his usual heroic and romantic exploits, one might think that Sharpe is a classic hero; however, Sharpe's Gold reminds us that he is, in fact, a rogue, who does what needs to be done despite the consequences.

In Sharpe's Gold, Captain Sharpe has to acquire some money to aid Wellington under the watchful eyes of Spanish guerillas, French dragoons, and even British officers. As customary, he makes an archenemy, who for once is even deadlier than Sharpe, and meets a spirited young lady. What distinguishes this installment from the others is that Sharpe's mission is not neither honorable nor heroic. Wellington chooses him because he is a scoundrel and a killer, not because he is a capable leader or soldier.

After reading nine Sharpe novels (in chronological order), I believe that the books published first are superior to the more recent books. Sharpe's Escape and Sharpe's Gold are leaner, more compelling stories than Sharpe's Prey and Sharpe's Havoc. In the earlier books, Cornwell endangers Sharpe more effectively. I think that they also reveal more about Sharpe's character; however, that may be simple logistics, since the later books do not have to reveal as much character if the earlier books have already accomplished the task.

If you like adventure, action, and antiheroes, Richard Sharpe is your man.

Love the Sharpe Series
Sharpe's Gold is an installment of the Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell which takes place during the Peninsular War and one year after the Battle of Talavera .Captain Richard Sharpe is with General Wellington's army in Portugal where the British are in dyer need of money, food and supplies.Sharpe's mission is to steal gold to continue to fund the campaign.Sharpe finds himself stuck in the fortress at Almeida, Portugal and he must use all of his cunning to escape and help save the British army.

Sharpe in the "little war"
It's 1810 and a year has passed since the British victory at Talavera, and Capt. Sharpe's capture of a French eagle. And it hasn't been a good year for the Brits. The Spanish army has collapsed, the government has surrendered, and Wellington's army is heavily outnumbered and in retreat down the length of Portugal. And unless the commanding general gets an infusion of cash from somewhere, he knows Britain will be forced to give up its efforts on the Peninsula and Napoleon will control all of Europe. Fortunately, there's a large stash of gold coins tucked away in a mountain village, abandoned when the Spanish army whose payroll it was intended to be surrendered. Now Wellington needs that gold -- absolutely must have it to survive -- and he send Sharpe and the light infantry company he commands to fetch it. Well, to steal it, actually, from the Spanish partisans who presently have control of it. Sharpe's guide and contact is Major Kearsey, a religious zealot who has gone native and takes the side of the Spanish wherever they come into conflict with the needs of the British. Sharpe's trek through French-controlled territory is exciting, but nothing like as hair-raising as their later flight with the gold. To acquire it, Sharpe has had to disobey Kearsey, make an enemy of the leader of the guerillas, kidnap a dangerous young woman, and attack enemy forces that outnumber him sixteen-to-one. Of course, the girl becomes Sharpe's latest conquest (there's a new one in every book) and the closing chapters describing the destruction of the garrison of the besieged town of Almeida is astonishing. And it's based on historical fact, as all events of this caliber are in the Sharpe series. This volume has an especially tight focus, since it doesn't lead up to a set-piece battle, and Sharpe isn't necessarily a sterling hero. One of the better entries in the series so far.

A Hard Look at Ruthless Decisions
Following on the heels of Sharpe's Eagle, Sharpe's Gold (the 9th novel in chronological order of events) plays on the darker side of "doing one's duty" of winning at any cost. During the early part of the Peninsula Wars, the Spanish army ceased to exist and a payroll for the nonexistent army is left in limbo. After a scout learns that the partisans have the gold, Sir Arthur Wellesley decides that the money must be liberated to help save the British army from defeat in Portugal.

After an awkward interchange where Captain Richard Sharpe (promoted from Lieutenant in Sharpe's Eagle) interferes with a provost who wants to hang one of his men as a looter, Wellesley tells Sharpe that he "must" get the gold. An earlier foray with cavalry failed, but there is a British officer watching the gold along with the partisans (guerillas). All Sharpe has to do is lead his few infantrymen behind enemy lines, persuade the partisans (led by the dangerous and suspicious El Catalico) to give him the Spanish gold, and then carry it back through enemy lines again.

Naturally, the challenge is even more difficult than expected. The scout who accompanies him is immediately captured by the French and Sharpe decides to rescue him. After that, the Spanish partisans claim the French have the gold and that the British officer has been captured. In the ensuing battle, Sharpe saves and becomes entranced by a most remarkable young woman, one who fights better than most men and is also very beautiful.

In the story, Bernard Cornwell brilliantly uses a real historical incident to present Sharpe with one of those "someone will die no matter what I do" choices that often occur in war. If you read this book with a friend, you can have some fun debating what Sharpe might have done differently.

The story is way too dark to be totally satisfying to Sharpe fans. Otherwise, it's brilliantly done. But it pales compared to the remarkable Sharpe's Eagle that preceded it.

Enjoy! ... Read more

Product Description
Richard Sharpe and the Expedition to Copenhagen, 1807

The year is 1807, and Richard Sharpe is back in England, where his career seems to have come to a dead end, despite his heroics in Britain's recent victory at Trafalgar. Loveless, destitute, and relegated to the menial tasks of quartermaster, Sharpe roams the streets of London, pondering a bleak future away from the army.

Customer Reviews (37)

Only about the narrator
Bernard Cornwell is probably the best historical novelist alive today and his Sharpe series is superb.The reason for one star is the fact Patrick Tull is probably the worst reader I have ever had the misfortune to have to listen to.His style appears to be to mumble through sentences and then literally shout every name or 10-15th word.I suspect many folk listen to audiobooks while in the car and it's pure hell to try to understand what this guy is reading.If you turn the volume up enough to hear the mumbles then your eardrums are assaulted by the shouts.If you leave it low enough to hear the shouts then you miss everything else.Avoid this reader if at all possible but do enjoy all of Cornwell's works.

Bump in the road
I've recently become a huge Bernard Cornwell fan.My first Cornwell book was Sharpe's Enemy.I didn't know anything about the author or the series.I was bored, I picked it up and read it.I loved the story, but it would be another 5 years when I read the next one.I went back to the beginning and have just finished Shapre's Prey.

This is the first book in the series that I read and afterward breathed a sigh of relief.I was glad to have finished it.It was a good book, but overall the action disappointed.It seemed to me as if Mr. Cornwell didn't know where he wanted the story to go and made it up as he went along.He went AWOL, robbed and murdered a man and got selected for what would equate to a Top Secret mission.He got on a boat and sailed to a foreign shore where he was almost murdered.Then he managed to march himself from unknown location 1 to possible known location 2 while being pursued by native cavalrymen who knew the land.Then he got in the city; then he got out of the city; then he got back in; then he got back out.

Wow! I give Mr. Cornwell two thumbs up for an extraordinary imagination.But in a historical fiction I look for a steady line of logic and I didn't see it in this book.The here's and there's didn't ruin the book, but they made it frustrating.It almost felt as if I weren't reading a Sharpe Series book.

The good news is I'm half way through the next book, Sharpe's Rifles, and I'm very happy to say that in my opinion the series is back on track.

Brits will be Brits
It's 1807 and Lieutenant Richard Sharpe has been back from India for awhile, and he's rather at loose ends. He's also broke. Lady Grace Hale, with whom he reached an accommodation in the previous book, has died in childbirth (so has the baby), and her family's lawyers have taken what remained of his stolen jewels. He's thinking of selling his commission -- he's been a lousy officer since Grace's death -- then discovers that's not allowed, since he didn't purchase it in the first place, having been the recipient of a battlefield commission. Then an old acquaintance of senior rank looks him up and Sharpe finds himself involved in some semi-espionage in Copenhagen. Britain is demanding the Dane's turn over their extensive naval fleet to keep it out of the hands of Napoleon, who needs to replace his losses at Trafalgar. And if Denmark doesn't agree, the Royal Navy will bomb the crap out of Copenhagen. (The Danes really believe Britain is too civilized to do such a thing, but they would be wrong -- for the second time.) Not one of Britain's better moments. This has the potential for some derring-do, but Cornwell mostly blows his chance, for Sharpe can't seem to get anything right. There are some exciting bits, like the escape up the chimney, but mostly he just wanders around inside the town and out -- except for falling in love again, which it is apparently mandatory for every single book. Not one of the author's better efforts.

addictive
Sharpe's Tiger (Richard Sharpe's Adventure Series #1)
Hardest thing is to stop reading and the worst of it is that you must buy the other books to know how it goes on!

A Charming Despicable Villain Gives a Desperate Sharpe the Fits
The ground has shifted out from under Richard Sharpe's feet in the events that have occurred between Sharpe's Trafalgar and Sharpe's Prey. At the end of Sharpe's Trafalgar, Sharpe was in love with Lady Grace Hale, wealthy, and about to become a father in England. As Sharpe's Prey opens, Sharpe is penniless, downcast, and about to leave the army after his new regiment made him into a quartermaster. As the story develops, the reader is gradually told what happened to Sharpe's dreams.

Sharpe returns to his origins and we see more clearly how Sharpe became the man he is. Just when it all looks darkest, Sharpe is asked to take on a silly assignment . . . keeping a secret emissary alive who has been sent to Denmark to bribe the Crown Prince to give Britain the Danish fleet (the second largest in the world). In those days, Denmark included all of Norway and a good part of Germany and its commercial interests depended on extensive ocean trade.

Early in the story, we realize that the emissary, John Lavisser is really a crook . . . out to steal the bribe for himself. Sharpe finds himself taken in by Lavisser's easy charm but vows revenge. Sharpe has an ace in the whole, there's a British agent in Copenhagen; and Sharpe looks to the agent for aid and shelter. Instead, he discovers a beautiful new widow, Astrid Skorgaard, who begins to take Sharpe's mind off Lady Grace.

The main armed conflict in the story involves the British invasion of Denmark in 1807 to take the Danish fleet which Russia had agreed France could take. Desperately wanting to avoid the possibility of an invasion of Britain, the fleet becomes a top priority. Sir Arthur Wellesley makes a small appearance in the story as the head of a modest land engagement against modestly untrained Danish troops.

When the Danish refuse to surrender, the British begin to bombard Copenhagen's civilian population with thousands of mortars and rockets each night. Sharpe finds himself on the receiving end of the bombardment trying to steal the fleet and stop John Lavisser.

The story is more of a spy tale than a combat novel. As a result, you don't have the kind of stirring battle scenes that make the first four books (chronologically) in the series so interesting. Instead, much of the horror involves crime, spying, and civilian casualties. It's not quite the same.

But Lavisser is a marvelous invention as a villain for the piece. He makes the book rise above the average. If you don't take pleasure in original villains, you'll probably think this is an average or below-average story.

Some people may not like that Sharpe comes across as less of a hero here than in some of the earlier novels in the chronology. The theme seems to be showing the side of Sharpe that is a street thug. I suspect that his street fighter side isn't what attracted you to the series. The redeeming aspect of the story is that Sharpe seems to rise above his roots to become someone with redemptive qualities by the end of the book.

... Read more

Product Description
An unfinished duel, a midnight murder, and the treachery of a beautiful prostitute lead to the imprisonment of Sharpe. Caught in a web of political intrigue for which his military experience has left him fatally unprepared, Sharpe becomes a fugitive-a man hunted by both ally and enemy alike. REVIEW: Consistently exciting... these are wonderful novels. (Stephen King) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

A great series of novels
The entire "Sharpe's" series is more than worth your time.The series takes us from Private Sharp's service with the British army in the late 1700s to him being appointed commanding officer of his own regiment.Each book is a classic in its own right.But start from the first, then savor each succeeding one till finished.You'll never regret the purchase.

Not my favorite
I've been reading Sharpe's adventures (mostly) in order.This book is my least favorite thus far. Several characters (Sharpe included) seem to act out of character. Eventually I just wanted it to end as it became predictably boring.

Irresistible Lust, Pride, Greed, and Treachery Threaten Sharpe's Honor
"A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house." Matthew 13:57

Major Richard Sharpe is a living legend to the British Army, but he finds that others don't see him as even honorable. Not knowing the Biblical advice above, he takes it personally . . . and digs a deep hole for himself.

With the death of Sharpe's wife at the end of Sharpe's Enemy, the series was bound to take a new turn in the 16th book in the chronological order of events. It's a u-turn back toward the alluring charms of La Marquesa, the blond French spy whose treacherous wiles Sharpe cannot resist. Sharpe also has problems with temptations concerning his honor. Other men are even weaker when it comes to pride and greed in this entertaining look at the narrow line between doing the right thing and going off the rails.

Sharpe's Honor nicely balances several story lines that will entertain you:

1. The battle of Vitoria, one of the most important conflicts in the Peninsular Wars.

2. A French scheme to divide Spain from the British.

3. An act of revenge aimed by Pierre Ducos at Sharpe for breaking his glasses.

4. An attempt to re-institute the Spanish Inquisition.

5. A lust story involving Sharpe and the woman known as the Golden (lady who makes herself available to all comers).

6. A fascinating look at greed from several different several dimensions.

7. Sharpe's developing sense of self-worth. Now that he's a major, he sees himself differently from before . . . and wants to be better than his betters.

8. Deadly hand-to-hand combat.

Mr. Cornwell also mixes up his writing style. There are the usual sequences of blood-and-guts, but he also has some of the best comedy writing in the entire series. The mood shifts from deadly serious (almost depressing) to frivolous hilarity. These modulations in style and mood make this book much more entertaining than it otherwise would have been.

Other than the specific events involving what Sharpe does, the rest of the story is well connected to the actual events that occurred. As a result, the book provides more fascination than a mere fiction tail disconnected form history would.

Sharpe uses up another of his nine lives . . .
Richard Sharpe, once a private in the British army's ranks and now a major in a battalion of the South Essex Regiment, seems to spend more time these days as an intelligence operative than as a soldier. It's 1813 and the British under Wellington have finally pushed Napoleon's occupying armies almost back to the Pyrenees. But a revenge-seeking French spymaster whom Sharpe insulted in the last book arranges for him to be charged with murder. And the "soldier's soldier" is convicted and hanged. (The End.) Actually, his friend, Hogan, has sent him off to find out why the French are pursuing certain policies -- and to recover his own reputation and clear his name if he can manage it. The book ends with Sharpe returning from the dead just in time to take part in the stunning British victory at Vitoria -- arguably the most important engagement in the Peninsular Campaign -- but Cornwell gives it very short shrift indeed. So while the actual story isn't bad, I'd still rather Sharpe spend his time leading his men in battle. That's where Cornwell's greatest talent is, and he seldom has to invent more than the minimum amount of detail -- which tells you something about what the Napoleonic wars in Portugal and Spain were really like.

Sharpe faces the hangman as Spain's fate hangs in the balance
As France is slowly pushed north in Spain, France suddenly gets a lift from Napoleon's victories in northern Europe. Ducos, his spy chief in Spain, plots a coup that would restore the Spanish throne, ally Spain with France and evict Britain from the country.

Instrumental to it is the lovely and treacherous Helene Leroux, now remarried to a Spanish marquess, who does not object to his demise as long as she'll get to keep her wealth. She doesn't realize it means the demise as well of Sharpe, whom she retains a soft spot for.

Caught fighting an illegal duel with the marquess, Sharpe is jailed, his life in jeopardy, when his opponent is mysteriously murdered. Wellington is under pressure to hang Sharpe to appease the Spanish public. And La Marquesa, "the Golden Whore", is shut up in a convent.

France has been retreating towards its own border with its wagons stuffed with Spanish plunder, but France's Marshal Jourdan sees his chance to finally vanquish Wellington, who has made so many French generals look bad. Wellington has only a desperate chance to turn the tables on Jourdan and keep the slow liberation of Spain alive.Ducos and his collaborators, a Spanish Inquisition priest and his vicious partisan brother, do everything they can to destroy Sharpe and the bewitching woman he can't forget. It all comes to a head at the battle of Vitoria, where the French are so confident of victory they set up a viewing stand for their ladies and mistresses, with their wagons full of gold and treasure parked nearby.
... Read more

Product Description
A classic Sharpe adventure: Richard Sharpe and the Defence of Portugal, Christmas 1812Newly promoted, Major Richard Sharpe leads his small force into the biting cold of the winter mountains. His task is to rescue a group of well-born women held hostage by a rabble of deserters. And one of the renegades is Sergeant Hakeswill, Sharpe's most implacable enemy.But the rescue is the least of Sharpe's problems. He must face a far greater threat. With only the support of his own company and the new Rocket Troop -- the last word in military incompetence -- to back his gamble, Sharpe cannot afford even to recognize the prospect of defeat. For to surrender -- or to fail -- would mean the end of the war for the Allied armies!The Complete Sharpe Collection ... Read more

Customer Reviews (21)

Poor conversion to digital format
Lots of errors in the text diminish the pleasure of reading this eBook. The quality control needs to be improved to insure an accurate text.

Freakin' Great
Yeah, good stuff:

-Got it early
-Got it without a scratch
-Good read

Bad:

NONE

summary: Freaking FANTASTIC

An Exciting Fictional Story of the Peninsular Wars
I highly recommend that you read Sharpe's Enemy in the order of the chronology that it reflects. Although this book was number six in the original publication sequence, Sharpe's Enemy is fifteenth in chronological order of events.

As the book opens, Sharpe receives an unexpected message that changes his expectations quite a lot. He also gets a surprise when he's asked to evaluate a new unit, one employing Congreve's rockets (a la The Star Spangled Banner). From there, he is asked to perform the dangerous task of delivering a ransom for Lady Farthingale . . . without much expectation that this will work. Ever vigilant, Sharpe realizes that he will need to keep his eyes open for a possible later rescue. The ransom attempt brings two big surprises.

As the story develops, Sharpe finds himself in a typically uncomfortable position operating under a leader who is a fool and treats Sharpe with contempt. Eventually, the story develops into an extremely imaginative battle sequence that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Before the book is over you'll find your emotions going up and down like a yo-yo. It's great fun.

My only complaint about the book is that Mr. Cornwell mostly ignores actual history in developing his story. As a result, the developments lack the impact of realizing that amazing sequences are pretty close to what actually happened.

Pay attention to your instincts!

Good yarn -- too bad it's almost wholly fictitious
This one is something of a departure for the Sharpe series. All the books in the series thus far focus the plot on an historical campaign or battle, or even more than one. But the protracted holding action carried out by the newly promoted Major Richard Sharpe in the high, narrow valley in northwestern Spain, with its abandoned fortress and convent, never happened. The place where it happened never existed. Still, it's a rousing story and it gives Cornwell the opportunity to show off his hero's winning combination of leadership and inventiveness. The reason Sharpe's up there in the first place is to bring to book an "army" of deserters from both sides (yes, they did exist), and to rescue the female prisoners they Bad Guys are holding hostage -- an operation in which he cooperates under a truce with a French colonel very much like himself. But then the larger French force begins moving in and Sharpe knows he has to hold the pass against them as long as possible, to prevent the enemy from sweeping back into north Portugal. And he possesses a secret weapon in Congreve's Rocket System -- which also is real, "the rockets' red glare." Sharpe is amazingly successful, of course, and he's able, finally, to remove an old implacable enemy, but he's also stricken with personal tragedy at the vey end. Historical or not, this is a pretty good installment in the series.

Sharpe in all his glory
At last, Sharpe comes into his own! As a Major, he is now given the opportunity to command 800 men in a key battle to protect Portugal against Napoleon's invading forces. Many of Cornwell's themes re-surface in this novel: victory against overwhelming odds, clever use of military tactics, the ineptitude of British officers, the strange camaraderie of enemies. But what makes Sharpe's Enemy stand out among the rest is that for the first time in the series, Sharpe really shows his ability to lead. It is a moment we have all been waiting for. Cornwell seems to finally relax with his characters in this novel as well. The dialogue is witty, and some of the scenes are downright hilarious (especially the Christmas dinner between the French and British officers). The writing is smooth and effortless with never a dull moment. It appears that with this novel, Cornwell has finally come into his own - stepping right along with our hero, Sharpe. ... Read more

Product Description

As Napoleon threatens to crush Britain on the battlefield, Lt. Col. Richard Sharpe leads a ragtag army to exact personal revenge against a French general known for his acts of terror.

Sharpe's Battle takes Richard Sharpe and his company back to the spring of 1811 and one of the most bitter battles of the Peninsular War, a battle on which all British hopes of victory in Spain will depend. Sharpe is given responsibility to lead an Irish battalion of the king of Spain's household guard, ceremonial troops untrained and unequipped for battle. While quartered in the crumbling fort of San Isidro, they are attacked by murderous Brigadier General Guy Luop's elite French brigade. Sharpe has witnessed General Loup's despicable was crimes before; to put an end to them, and to settle another more personal score, Sharpe must lead his company into the blood-gutted streets of Fuentes de Oñoro, where thousands of French troops have amassed, in a battle to the death.

Customer Reviews (34)

Sharpe Starts a Vendetta, Meets a Spanish Mata Hari, and Avoids Political Threats
Bernard Cornwell outdoes himself in building a powerful plot to illustrate the stubbornness of the often-scarred Captain Sharpe. In many of the most complicated stories in this series, the plot seems like an attempt to fill pages. In Sharpe's Battle, the enemies are vivid, obnoxious, dangerous, and intriguing. Sharpe continually tries to do the right thing and is punished for his efforts. For me, those elements make this war story work a lot better.

French Marshal Massena has been pulling back from his failed thrust toward Lisbon. The question now becomes whether or not Viscount Wellington can march his troops into Spain. In Sharpe's Battle, Wellington chooses to besiege Almeida so that the French troops there cannot be resupplied or relieved by Massena.

As the book opens, the captured King of Spain has ordered his personal guards unit made up of exiled Irishmen to report to Wellington to fight. The troops are led by a man whose mother was famous for her support for Irish rebels. Wellington and Major Hogan are doubtful that this "gift" is anything other than a Trojan Horse designed to create problems from within.

Sharpe is leading his men across the countryside when he spots French troops murdering civilians. Two of the men stay behind to assault a girl, and Sharpe captures them. In contrast to the rules of war, Sharpe refuses to exchange them . . . having them shot instead in front of their commanding officer, Brigadier General Guy Loup, who swears revenge on Sharpe. Loup's brigade has been using terrorist tactics to offset the partisans, and Sharpe wants Loup's head as much as Loup wants Sharpe's.

Back with the army, Sharpe is assigned to "train" the new troops under the leadership of timid Wagon Master General Runciman. Soon, the troops are deserting like rats leaving a sinking ship, but Sharpe wants more out of them. Loup senses an opportunity and decides to attach the remote camp where the royal guard is housed with massed force . . . helped by a little inside information. In the aftermath, Sharpe finds that he was become a pawn in a political game between the Spanish allies and Wellington over who will lead the combined forces into Spain.

Will Sharpe be able to escape from the claws of the factions?

The book culminates in an absolutely thrilling account of the battle of Fuentes de Onoro which featured an uncharacteristic mistake by Wellington, some remarkable soldiering, and unbelievable hand-to-hand combat within a village on a hillside.

The book ends with some remarkable ironies that will leave you thinking for some time to come.

This book features great writing and an thoroughly engaging story to test all aspects of Sharpe's mettle.

Second half is excellent, but first half just limps along
Cornwell has written this series all out of order, which is okay, but his style also evolved somewhat as he went along. The later-written volumes are much cleaner and less "hammy." Which means if you read the series by internal chronology, as I've been doing, there's a certain amount of up-and-down from one volume to the next. Anyway, it's spring 1811 and Sharpe is back in Portugal commanding the badly depleted Light Company of the South EssexRegiment. Then he has to take responsibility for a battalion of exiled Irishmen who have been serving as a guard unit to the imprisoned King Ferdinand of Spain. They're all glitter and no substance and Sharpe is supposed to arrange for them to fail so Lord Wellington will have an excuse to send them packing without upsetting the Spanish. But of course, being a contrary sort of person, Sharpe decides to take them in hand and make them into an effective unit. Enter the French Loup Brigade, a specialized unit that hunts down partisans and makes broad use of terror to accomplish its ends, and its leader has a bone to pick with Sharpe regarding his summary execution of a couple of child-rapists. Add in Col. Runciman, the army's obese Wagon Master General, who knows he's no kind of soldier (his parents wanted him to become a bishop), whom Sharpe comes to like despite himself. And then there's a spy who's sleeping with the ne'er-do-well commander of the Irish battalion. All these plots and subplots come to a head in the little village of Fuentes do Onoro, where the British and Portuguese come within minutes of losing the battle to the much larger French army -- which will mean losing the entire war. All the melodrama with the Loup Brigade and Runciman takes up the first half of the book; it's not one of the author's better efforts, frankly. His account of the Battle of Fuentes de Onoro, on the other hand, is gripping in its nearly cinematic detail. No one can make you see the streams of blood flowing down the hill and taste the salt from the bitten-off cartridges like Cornwell.

excellent read
Ignore the picky reviews about this being patterned on the TV show.I watched the TV series, I have the DVDs, and I have read every Sharpe book I can lay my hands on either in hard copy or on my iPhone.I saw this on TV a long time ago and am reading it for the first time.Hate to lay it down.This is an excellent read.

Massena and Wellington get it on with Sharpe's career on the line
Sharpe faces repercussions after he executes two French soldiers caught committing a massacre. Not that Wellington wants to cashier the legendary rifle captain, but his testy Spanish allies are looking for any excuse not to make him overall commander against Napoleon, and Sharpe's reprisal could be just the excuse they need.

Meanwhile an Irish guards unit appears. Previously they were royal guards to the Spanish king, now a prisoner of Napoleon. Their appearance now, after years of occupation, is suspicious. Are these Irish troops loyal? Why were they allowed to leave? Do they really want to fight for the Protestant King George III? Or were they sent by the French to sow discord in the British army? Wellington and his intelligence chief, Sharpe's pal Hogan, conclude the latter, and want to ease them away from the front without offending the Spanish.

Hogan hopes to demoralize them and sends the no-nonsense Sharpe to train these parade-ground troops, but Sharpe thinks they have potential if properly led, and gets to like them. Their leader, though, is wrapped around the finger of a French spy ¬ Juanita, the scheming mistress of Guy Loup. He is the brutal and ambitious French commander of the two soldiers Sharpe executed, conductor of an atrocity filled terror war against Spanish guerrillas and civilians, and Sharpe's sworn enemy.

Marshal Massena maneuvers to finish Wellington by cutting off the British line of retreat, while Wellington commits a disastrous error threatening him with annihilation. The forces meet in a series of savage clashes. As usual, great battle detail, in a bigger battle than has so far served as the backdrop of the Spanish episodes. The hand-to-hand combat is described in chilling, smell-of-death detail. Also quite good is the depiction of how a dozen types of that era's units - infantry, riflemen, grenadiers, various types of cavalry and so on - intricately support each other in combat and how they are best used against the enemy.

Sharpe is the best
Any book by Cornwell is a well-written and enjoyable adventure.The Sharpe series is highly recommended. ... Read more

Product Description
The bitter rivalry of Richard Sharpe and the ruthless French swordsman, Colonel Leroux are brought to life against the vivid canvas of the Peninsula War. Richard Sharpe is once again at war. But, this time, his enemy is a single man - the ruthless, sadistic Colonel Leroux. Sharpe's mission is to safeguard El Mirador, the spy whose network of agents is vital to the British victory. So, Sharpe must enter a new world of political and military intrigue. And, in the unfamiliar surroundings of aristocratic Spanish society, his only guide is the beautiful Marquesa - a woman with her own secrets to conceal! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (23)

Sharpe Novels by Bernard Cornwell
The Sharpe series are really amazing. If you like reading about history or battle or thrillers or reading period you will like Bernard Cornwell. The Sharpes are about British exploits in India and europe against the French. You will learn history and enjoy great characters and sub plots. I read a lot from many authors but Bernard is my favorite.

From That's All She Read
Our Hero, Captain Richard Sharpe, has been a married man for a few months when this story opens and he meets the fabulous Marquesa Helena. She's beautiful, aristocratic , blonde and not quite what she seems, so you guessed it, Sharpe is a goner. And I suspect she has read several of the Bernard Cornwell books because she knows how to get him to do whatever she wants: while you are in bed with him, tell him someone is threatening to do awful things to you. Hey presto - he's yours.

The situation in Sharpe's Sword is this: Our Hero and his cohorts are responsible for a prisoner, a French dragoon officer, whom we already know is a master spy and nasty guy named Leroux in disguise. He is under the direct command of Napoleon himself, entrusted with finding a list of all the agents helping the British in Europe and beyond, and thereafter killing each and every one his favorite way: flaying. Sharpe is hot, more or less, on his trail after he kills first Ensign Expendable and then their current and well-liked Colonel Windham. The prisoner has taken refuge somewhere in Salamanca, which is mostly in British hands now. There he meets Jack Spears, one of Major Hogan's "exploring officers", a jocular, inveterate gambler . Spears befriends him, introduces him to la Marquesa, who invites him up to her chambers and her bed. No one much sees our dear Richard for a few days after that.

When our Married Man emerges from la Marquesa's bower, he has one more reason to kill Leroux. Besides the list of names, the fact that he killed the ensign and colonel and that he has the waycoolest sword ever and Sharpe wants it, Helena has told him the evil man plans to kill her. Bingo. Unfortunately when Sharpe tracks him down, the man manages to break Sharpe's own sword and stab him in the gut. He almost dies. In fact, Harper digs up the graves of all the dead soldiers from the battle, French, British, all of them, and does not find his body. That leads him and Hogan to look in the Death Room, where a quite historical alcoholic Irish sergeant is tending him. Though Sharpe is almost dead, they manage to revive him. All left to Our Hero is to rest and recover at the Marquesa's, where he learns the truth about her but finds it rather ameliorated by the fact that she has fallen in love with him. Oh, and there were some battles.

If you saw the BBC television movie, it bears little or no resemblance to the novel. The novel is, as with all of them, better than the movie. You get Sharpe at his most susceptible to blondes who welcome him to their beds, hey wait.. I used to be a blonde! Hmmm. You get the reverses, the revelation of an ally or two, the faithful Harper, the precise battle scenes, and more insight into the Peninsular Wars.

My husband Jim read the novel to me. We are already on to the next one, Sharpe's Enemy, complete with the odious Obadiah Hakeswell.

From That's All She Read, by Nan Hawthorne, [...]

What a wonderful series
My husband and I have now read the entire series.Cornwell is one of the best storytellers I have ever read - he takes you there.From the very first book of the series to the very last you are turning the pages as fast as you can read.As with Cornwell's other books you can't wait till the next book gets into publication.Mr. Cornwell, please keep Mr. Sharpe's adventures going.

Typical Sharpe
Not bad but at times one gets tired of the hero being put in seemingly hopeless situations which magically get solved.

Honor and Betrayal
As always, I encourage you to read the books in this series in the order of the chronology they describe rather than by publication date. Mr. Cornwell has come back again and again to "fill in" between books with other books. You'll enjoy the series more in a logical order.

At the current time, this is the 14th book in the chronological series.

After the desperate battles to throw the French out of Portugal and to enter Spain by breaching two fortresses, the British and their Portuguese and Spanish allies are near Salamanca looking to set up a battle that they can win decisively against the larger French forces.

As the book opens, the dangerous French Colonel Laroux has extracted some important information about a British spy ring through torture. But he's made a mistake and taken too long. He's at risk to be captured. Being a capable dissembler, Laroux soon has most of the British fooled . . . but not Sharpe. Laroux soon shows his true colors and the British realize it's essential that they contain Laroux's information before their spies are killed.

In the process, Sharpe becomes fascinated by Laroux's sword and begins to wish it were his. You'll begin to wonder how that might occur.

Next, Wellington has the relatively simple task of seizing three forts against far from extreme opposition after the main French army retreats. But it proves to be more difficult than expected. Someone has tipped off the French about when and where the attack will come.

Sharpe meanwhile is drawn into the party life of the Spanish aristocracy, finding himself drawn to the alluring La Marquesa despite being a newly married man. Is she also interested?

Sharpe is now asked to solely focus on Laroux, and a fascinating sequence of unexpected events ensues.

In the second half of the book, you'll find many more surprises than most Sharpe novels contain. As the historical note at the end indicates, many of these surprises follow the facts of the real history pretty closely. Within that framework, Mr. Cornwell has added his magic touch to weave some imaginary plots involving fictional characters that work seamlessly together. It's very nice!

Although the battle writing cannot be nearly as engaging as usual because the nature of the battles here provide a less interesting factual basis for the descriptions, there are still some pretty neat touches in giving us a sense of how Wellington won the day against the crafty and determined marshal Marmont.

... Read more

Product Description
Richard Sharpe and the siege of Gawilghur,
December 1803

Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe's Fortress -- the stunning successor to Sharpe's Tiger and Sharpe's Triumph -- marks the explosive finale in Richard Sharpe's trio of unforgettable adventures in India.

Richard Sharpe, now an officer in Wellesley's army, faces a battle of a different kind-this time among his own ranks. Uncomfortable with his newfound authority and unwilling colleagues, Sharpe is relegated to the tedium of baggage duty. But when he catches wind of a treasonous scheme devised by none other than his oldest and worst enemy, Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill, Sharpe has little choice but to take up arms, seek revenge, and regain his stolen treasure-the jewels of the Tippoo Sultan. Joining Wellesley's army as it prepares to lay siege to this fortress high above the Deccan Plain, Sharpe will risk his honor, reputation, and fortune on a battle that will test him as never before.

Treason, near-death experiences, cannonballs hidden in the tall grass "sticky with blood and thick with flies, lying twenty paces from the man it had eviscerated," these are the elements of Cornwell's war stories, which rely heavily on long, involved--and involving--battle scenes, marvelous description, and bawdy dialogue in the trenches (a highlight: arguments over whether there's such a thing as breasts that look like grapes). For readers who hunger for humorous, complex characterizations, Sharpe proves vivid and three-dimensional. He holds tightly to his dreams of treasure, eavesdropping on betrayers, ultimately hatching a desperate plan to make his way to the fortress in the sky, Gawilghur. Cornwell's hero is an honest soldier, and also a pragmatic one. He doesn't care as much about the medals and the glory as he cares about dodging cannon fire and finding a place to sleep. --Ellen Williams ... Read more

Customer Reviews (42)

Great read.
All the Sharpe books are wonderful and this is no exception. It reads like a newspaper--fresh, interesting, exciting--a real page turner. It is hard to put the book down, and before you know it, you are educated about 19th century life and warfare, along with a rousing good story. I loved it.

Insanity strikes
I bought the first two Sharpe books on kindle and now it says I cannot buy the third book in the series because it is not available in Canada!

It is available in the us only!

How absolutely pathetic - I feel cheated.

The price is a joke
The Kindle edition is exactly 8 cents less expensive than the paper version. That's not only a joke, it's a tremendous slap in the face to those of us who have invested in Amazon's eBook technology.

I like all the Sharpe's series.
These books are historical fiction and a great read.There is a series from PBS that is outstanding too and true to the books.Read the book and watch the series.

Simply amazing books!
How did I not know how amazing these books were until now?! Typically I lean to scifi & fantasy & some historical or contemporary fiction. But over the years I would hear about the "Sharpe" series - and that there were something like 18 of these books. Didn't sound like my cup of tea really. But then I caught part of one of the ITV tv episodes and it was well, just ok. Not great - but I understood more of what the series was about. An "everyman" enlisted soldier who had risen thru the ranks thru bravery and action. Plus Sean Bean was a terrific Richard Sharpe. I mean talk about perfectly cast.

So I started with Sharpe's Tigers - the first chronological of the series - and I devoured it. I was speechless at Cornwell's craft. The book seemed so... real. So vivid, this wasn't history - this was real. These characters leapt off the page and into action. Sharpe is amazing character. We see ourselves in him, from humble birth, but given a chance he takes control of his life. Loyal to his friends, charming to the ladies and never afraid of a fight. Who wouldn't follow this man into hell!

This is the third of his India series and frankly its hard to not want to sit and read this with a few strong cups of coffee and do nothing else.His revenge is at hand, the dastardly Hakeswell and Dodd are within his grasp! There is a scene towards the end when Sharpe comes up with a plan to storm the impregnable fortress and he rallies his former light company to action and its simply fantastic to watch him work. How he inspires the men, gives them confidence, he was one of them and they know it.

The detail in these books is simply fantastic. When the soldiers fire their guns or cannons, we learn quickly and succinctly thru Cornwell's deft hand what type of guns they are using and the difference say between a musket and a rifle in the art of war.We lean about 16 pounders and grapeshot and cannister! Every page has a word I've never heard of before and I am just soaking it up. Its like being there! Well ok not really but every now and then I shake my head in sadness at what the British soldiers endured. Amazing. ... Read more

Product Description
Major Sharpe should be fighting the French -- but his worst enemies are in England!Major Richard Sharpe's men were in mortal danger -- not from the French, but from the bureaucrats of Whitehall. Unless reinforcements could be brought from England, the depleted South Essex would be disbanded, their troops scattered throughout the army.Determined not to see his regiment die, Sharpe returns to England and uncovers a nest of well-bred, high-ranking traitors, any one of whom could utterly destroy his career with a word, or a stroke of the pen.Sharpe is forced into the most desperate gamble of his life -- and not even the influence of the Prince Regent may be enough to save him! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

Sexual and Political Intrigue at the Highest Levels of English Society Followed by a Rousing Attack
"He will repay my enemies for their evil." -- Psalm 54:5

Sharpe's Regiment is an unusually satisfying entry into this series because the book is literally crammed with evil doers who need comeuppance. And who will deliver that comeuppance, if anyone? Why, Major Richard Sharpe, of course, is at your service.

Unlike the other books in the series that take place during the Peninsular Wars, this one has relatively little action in Spain. Instead, Sharpe and Harper are mostly prowling the English countryside and London. It's an amusing change of pace to which Bernard Cornwell adds a rousing battle at the end in the epilogue. Like the best books in the series, it also pretty closely follows the real history.

So what's it all about? The campaign for Spain was settled by the Battle of Vittoria. Now it's time to mop up the remaining French and to invade France through the Pyranees. The South Essex is being starved for replacements and Sharpe learns that the unit is going to be disbanded. Wellington would rather have veteran units be reinforced rather than replaced and agrees for Sharpe to go to London to see what can be done.

The fun starts when Sharpe tries to tackle the bureaucracy and falls into the middle of political intrigue and financial peculation. There will always be those who seek to profit from war, and the British of this time were no exception. Sharpe begins to realize that even his hero's status cannot solve the problem without proof, and he goes undercover as it were to seek such proof.

The story features two beautiful women who find Sharpe attractive, an old friend, a greedy new enemy, a greedy old enemy, and many minor villains. Sharpe takes us from the top of British society to its dregs, and we gain a colorful, unforgettable portrait of England in the early 19th century. I was especially interested in the careful descriptions of how current and retired, injured soldiers were seen by the citizens they protected.

Bernard Cornell has packed the equivalent of about six novels into this one without making it seem overly dense.Keep your sense of humor as you imagine how Sharpe is reacting to all the fools around him, and you'll enjoy many good laughs from this very satirical and ironical story of beating Napoleon.

Have fun!

Pretty weak installment in the series
This installment begins about a week after the Battle of Vitoria, the set-piece battle of the previous volume, and it's rather a strange beast. Pending the arrival of a new lieutenant-colonel to replace the last one, Major Richard Sharpe is more or less in charge of the 1st Battalion of the South Essex Regiment. But because of accumulated battle losses, the battalion is badly under-strength and has been assigned temporarily to guarding warehouses. Inquiring where the expected replacements are, Sharpe is told there aren't going to be any -- and the regiment may just be chopped up and parceled out. Sharpe takes Sgt. Harper (newly promoted to regimental sergeant major) and a couple of dependable junior officers and heads back to England to find out what's going on -- and it almost gets him killed. It's a pretty good story, actually, and funny in places, and there's a romantic subplot, but it all seems just a little too unlikely. Cornwell's very good at describing battle scenes, and he manages to stay pretty close to the facts in the process, but this business is made up from whole cloth and it just doesn't have the usual believability of a Sharpe novel. And Cornwell's version of the assault on Nivelle is relegated to an Epilogue.

Sharpe gets a break from dusty Iberia
Fresh from the victory at Vitoria detailed in "Sharpe's Honor", Sharpe is sent back to England to solve a mystery. His regiment is in danger of being broken up because of its low numbers, the replacement battalion back in the homeland is being converted to a shell unit for new recruits and soldiers in transit, but meanwhile it's still showing up on the payroll at full strength. What's up?

Sharpe, accompanied by Harper and two others, goes back to find out, and finds himself in a political rat's nest that threatens him with oblivion, up against an unscrupulous minister, Sharpe'sincompetent former commander Simmerson, and a twisted martinet, who make thousands illegally selling recruits like cattle out of a secret training camp to hellhole tropical postings.

On the upside, he finds an unlikely ally in an English noblewoman deeply in debt - and also encounters Simmerson's niece, Jane Gibbons, whose enchanting likeness he had carried in a locket for years. Naïve in the ways of London drawing rooms, Sharpe has little going for him in London - except that he has one big fan: the Prince of Wales.

An enjoyable break from Sharpe's years in dusty Spain and Portugal.

Sharpe's Regiment
I ordered this item and received it on time and in excellent condition.Exactly what I had expected.

MMO Sharp 1
I have meticulously read every one of the Sharp series and also some of the TV series. The books could almost be standard reading on the Napoleonic & Indian wars for history buffs.
Well written, details not just of the battles but also gives a good insight into the army of those days in the 1800's. The map layouts are great, you can get a better picture of the terrain. ... Read more

Product Description
Richard Sharpe and the Peace of 1814.It is 1814. After a long and exhausting series of battles the British and Spanish armies are pushing into south-western France from Spain. Rumours abound that Napoleon has surrendered, been murdered, or fled. But before the French are finally defeated, and Sharpe can lay down his sword, one of the bloodiest conflicts of the war must be fought: the battle for the city of Toulouse.Sharpe's war is not over with the victory. Accused of stealing a consignment of Napoleon's treasure en route to Elba, Sharpe must elude his captors and track down the unknown enemy who has tried to incriminate him. Accompanied by his comrade, Captain William Frederickson, Major Richard Sharpe pursues with energy, venom and unflinching resolve an ingenious and devastating revenge. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

Sharpe Can Find No Peace
"Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY," says the Lord. -- Romans 12:19

War's end is always a mixed blessing for professional soldiers and sailors. They are tired of fighting, glad to be alive, but wonder if they can deal the peace.

At home, they may not get the respect they deserve. They may find that people have been plotting against them.

As the days ran out for Napoleon, those thoughts and issues were on the mind of Major Richard Sharpe as he arranged a duel ("grass before breakfast") to gain revenge against the naval Captain Bampfylde who abandoned Sharpe and his men behind enemy lines and arrogantly sought to claim credit for a victory that belonged to the army. Sharpe's wife Jane hates the thought of a duel and headed off to England angry.

After the duel, there's still a battle to be fought. Marshal Soult's army is defending Toulouse and Sharpe is given a staff position in the battle. But naturally, he soon finds himself wielding his sword. After the battle, there's bitter irony in learning that the Emperor Napoleon had abdicated several days before.

Then, it's time to head home. There's tragedy as all those women who married without a colonel's permission are denied transport to England.

Before he can leave, Sharpe and Captain Frederickson find themselves falsely accused of stealing an enormous treasure. How will they cleanse themselves of dishonor? Could it be that an old enemy is involved?

This story should be thought of as a continuation of Sharpe's Siege because most of the same characters are involved. At the same time, the main theme is about the fickleness of governments, armies, war, and fate.

I thought that this was by far the least interesting story in the entire Sharpe series. It meanders slowly around and seems to be more like a series of short stories than one smoothly connected novel. The battle scenes aren't nearly as interesting as in the best of the books. The story's development left me feeling a little dirty and disgusted . . . not feelings that I usually have been reading about Sharpe.

Unless you feel that you have to read every book in this series, you could probably skip this one and be none the worse for the decision.

A lead-in to Waterloo
In this penultimate installment - considering "Waterloo" to be the ultimate, which it is, although not the last - Sharpe and Harper fight one last battle in France, at Toulouse, only to find that peace has broken out with Napoleon's abdication and exile to Elba.But as the troops and their wives head for home, they are accused, in an intricate plot engineered by French archspy Pierre Ducos, of the theft of the French royalty's private emergency fortune, which Ducos himself has actually taken.

Sharpe, Harper and Frederickson, under arrest, escape and go searching for evidence to clear their names, a trail which takes them in search of the French commandant of the fort they took in "Sharpe's Siege". They must make their way as wanted men across a France full of robbers and thieves, peace notwithstanding. Sharpe's wife Jane meanwhile heads back to England with his fortune to buy them a house - the Dorset farm that Sharpe dreams of, or the smart London townhouse that Jane wants?- but all is not peaceful on that front either.

One of the lesser entries in the series
It's the early spring of 1814, Wellington has taken his Peninsular army across Spain and into southwest France, and seems like Napoleon's days are numbered. Richard Sharpe, now a major but without a command, is feeling his age, too; he's been a soldier fighting the French for more than twenty of his thirty-eight years, and he's beginning to wonder if he's finally used up. He knows he's more afraid before battle than he used to be, and he worries more -- but perhaps that's because he has a lovely young wife now, so he has a lot more to lose. Cornwell's real talent is in depicting the minutiae of the course of battle, and the book opens with the British assault on Toulouse, which actually took place after the Emperor's abdication. Then the plot goes off on a tangent (as it often does in this series) as Sharpe's nemesis, the French spymaster, Pierre Ducos, decides to rip off part of Napoleon's treasure and go off on his own. He arranges to blame the loss on the always convenient Sharpe, who is called on the carpet and seems to be facing arrest and court martial. Sharpe is dealing now not with the military but with the bean-counters from London, so, of course, he takes matters into his own hands and with Sgt. Harper and another officer and goes off to find the French officers who can testify to his innocence. He ends up in Normandy and becomes involved with a young, impoverished farm widow who also happens to be a vicontesse -- which is also convenient, since his own wife, back in London, has taken a lover and stolen the fortune Sharpe managed to steal after Vitoria a few months before. The three companions track Ducos to Naples and there's a rousing finish in which they combine their small force with a imperial-loyalist general in retrieving both the treasure and Ducos. It's all a bit far-fetched, actually. Toulouse is the only set-piece battle this time, but we all know what's coming in a year and a half.

Cornwell delivers
Richard Sharpe: the British soldier who just happens to be where history is being made.

Poignant "Sharpe's Revenge" says short-lived farewell to war and good riddance to Ducos
Bernard Cornwell has created a hero for the ages in Richard Sharpe, gutter trash raised from the ranks to become a Major in Wellington's army.For years, Sharpe has fought his away across land and sea, taking on enemies both mundane and exotic, and charming both men and women, friend and foe alike.

But after the novel opens with the vicious Battle of Toulouse.Not only was this battle a horrendous meat-grinder for both sides, it was particularly tragic because the battle was fought after Napoleon had already surrendered.Cornwell writes a stellar battle scene (as he always does), but the losses are even more horrific due to their futility.

Cornwell does not lighten the mood much after the battle, for the British army is now without a foe to fight, and therefore useless.The soldiers are packed off like so much cattle, and their Spanish and Portuguese wives and children are cast adrift - any British soldier who tried to dodge the lines to reunite with his family risked a firing squad.Cornwell is a proud Englishman, but he pulls no punches when describing his nation's occasional myopia.

Sharpe should be exulting in his good fortune, but his beloved wife Jane is in England trying to join society with the spoils of Sharpe's triumph at Vitoria.Not only that, Jane is soon to find her soulmate in the spoiled popinjay Lord Rossendale, whose job is to look handsome in uniform for the Prince Regent and to lose at cards.Jane, flighty as she is, soon shifts her affections from her rough soldier to the charming aristocrat.

And then there is Ducos, Sharpe's nemesis.Convinced that all is lost, Ducos steals a vast fortune from Napoleon and frames Sharpe for the deed.Soon, Sharpe is arrested by the provosts and seemingly doomed.Armed only with his courage and the strong rights arms of Sweet William Fredrickson and RSM Patrick Harper, Sharpe must fight across France to the Kingdom of Naples to clear his name.

A rather fantastic plot, to be sure, but one that Cornwell controls easily.The man must have about ten advanced degrees in the Napoleonic era, and the reader reaps the benefits of Cornwell's staggering research.

A must-read for all Sharpe fans, "Revenge" is a solid set-up to Waterloo. ... Read more

Product Description

Nick Sandman's spine was shattered by a bullet in the Falklands. He has no money and no prospects, only a dream of sailing far away from his troubles on his boat, Sycorax. But Sycorax is as crippled as he is, and to make her seaworthy again, Nick must strike a devil's bargain with egomaniacal TV star Tony Bannister. Signing on to the crew of Bannister's powerful ocean racer, Wildtrack, Nick is expected to help sail her to victory. But the despised celebrity has made some powerful enemies who will stop at nothing for revenge. . . .

Customer Reviews (4)

Ho Hummm
I'm surprised Cornwell wrote this book. I'm glad I bought it on my Kindle rather than book form. I have a library of all of his books.this one would not qualify for book space.The story reminded me of Don Brown's sea mysteries.It's like play it again Sam!

Great for the Nautically Obsessed
To fans of Cornwell's great historical fiction, the novels in the thriller series may disappoint. These are modern mysteries (inverted detective stories) with sailing themes and accurate accounts of seamanship and nautical lore. The thriller series includes "Wildtrack" (1988), "Sea Lord" (1989), "Crackdown" (1990), and "Storm Child" (1991) -- so these were published during the release of several novels in the Sharpe series. For the nautically obsessed, these are highly recommended.

New/Old Series?
I thought I was familiar with all of Cornwell's novels. Guess I was wrong. But I noted the copyright date of 1988 on this one, so it's been around for a while. Maybe he's got a new publisher. At any rate, this is very different from his historical novels. His main character is an ex-British Army Captain, severely wounded in the Falklands, who wants nothing more than to go to sea in his old, much-restored, wooden sailboat. There are hints of Nevil Shute's aviation-based stories, and of Dick Francis's racing stories -- essentially a story built around technical details of sailing and a reasonably plausible "thriller" plot. I noted in the Kindle edition a listing of five books in "The Sailing Thrillers" category. Think that I'll look for them. If you're looking for typical Cornwell historical fiction, this isn't it. If you like a nice read with modern sailing challenges, this is pretty good.

Another Star for Cornwell
The first thing the reader becomes aware of is that Cornwell really knows sailing.He know all the terminology, and ins and outs of sail craft.His characters are plausible and appealing.The plot develops well and has some surprising twists.Bernard Cornwell is a master story teller.Anyone who loves the sea and adventure stories will love this book.
Henry Stuart ... Read more