First read Jan 13, 2009: Love the battle, tactics, camaraderie, and the history. Seventh in the Richard Sharpe military fiction series revolving around a lieutenant promoted up from the ranks. The action encompasses a retreat from Soult out of Oporto just before Wellesly arrives. My Take It's an...
Richard Sharpe and the defence of the Tormes, August 1812It is the summer of 1812 and Richard Sharpe, newly recovered from the wound he received in the fighting at Salamanca, is given an easy duty; to guard a Commissary Officer posted to an obscure Spanish fort where there are some captured Frenc...
I appreciated this as a window on the famous 1815 battle, with Sharpe a Zellig-like figure at key turning points. However, I missed Sharpe’s personal story as the main focus of the narrative rather than getting a sense of him being used as a tool to illustrate historical events. If you have re...
3.5 Stars Random Ramblings In chronological order, Sharpe's Triumph, is the second book of the Bernard Cornwell's "Sharpe" series. This volume was written as part of prequels written about the Main Character, Richard Sharpe. Plot summary Sharpe has now been promoted to sergeant and been reassi...
First read: 2 Sept 2008. Love the battle, tactics, camaraderie, and the history. Fourth in the Richard Sharpe series set in 1805 and revolving around a jumped-up ensign who thinks he's better than he is. My Take I do so love Richard Sharpe! Okay, okay, so I fell in love with Sean Bean in the tel...
"He might not be a born officer, but by God he was a born soldier. He was the son of a whore, bereft of God, but a God-damned soldier."I've decided that the best way to approach the Sharpe series -- in which the publication order differs so radically from the publication order as to seem all but ...
Third in the Sharpe military fiction series set in the early 19th century. In this installment, Richard Sharpe has made Ensign while in India for saving Sir Arthur's life at the battle of Assaye.The StoryThe Mahratta confederation has rebelled against the English and it's Sir Arthur's job to subd...
Sixteenth in the Richard Sharpe historical military fiction series revolving around Major Richard Sharpe and the Peninsular War against Napoleon.My TakeIt starts brutally, slips into cleverness, and then wallows in the greed of a priest with dreams of becoming a cardinal. Being a priest is no gua...
I don't often encounter historical/military novels that themselves have a strong sense of prior history the way that Sharpe's Eagle has, for the Roman Empire strongly permeates the book, especially in its opening chapters.We open with Sharpe and his rifle company* being drafted into yet another w...
No. 10 in the Richard Sharpe series.[return][return]It s still 1810, and the British Army and Captain Richard Sharpe are still in Portugal. Bought by Sharpe s stolen gold, Wellington has had built enormous defences known as the Torres Vedras just north of Lisbon, constructed with Sharpe s stolen ...
No. 21, the final installment of the Richard Sharpe series.[return][return]Normally, when a series reaches a planned climax (in this case, the Battle of Waterloo), any books that come after are usually anticlimactic and have nowhere near the story-telling tension. Cornwell, however, true to form...
The year is 1812. Wellington's advance to Madrid has stalled at the town of Salamanca, blocked by the army of Marshal Auguste Marmont. As the two armies prepare for the battle everyone know is coming, Captain Richard Sharpe of the South Essex Regiment's light company captures, and then loses agai...
On April 10, 2009, I did a VERY short review: "Love the battle, tactics, camaraderie, and the history. "This time, I got into it a bit more, LOL:Seventeenth in the Richard Sharpe fictional military history series and revolving around Major Richard Sharpe and the South Essex. This one takes place ...
I've read and re-read the Sharpe series countless times. For me, they're arguably one of the finest collections of historical fiction written. Cornwell knows what he's doing and does it well. There are some easy potshots to take at the books. The biggest one is that each book is essentially the s...
First read 27 Jan 2009: Love the battle, tactics, camaraderie, and the history. Twelfth in the Richard Sharpe historical military fiction series revolving around Captain Richard Sharpe in the Peninsular War in May of 1811.My TakeOne of the subplots has Sharpe facing off with General Loup while t...
I've re-read it for the third time, so here goes. Minor spoilers ahead.Sharpe, now a Major of his regiment, begins the novel scouring the Spanish-French frontier of Napoleon's retreating troops. But after many battles in Portugal and Spain he begins to feel trepidation about his one -and possibly...
Once again Cornwell achieves a wonderful adventure focused on military action. This for me was perhaps the best of the six I’ve read from the 22 that feature Richard Sharpe, the brilliant and sardonic hero of a rifle brigade in Wellington’s forces during the Napoleanic Wars. In this, the 18th, ...
I don't know what it was about this one, but it felt a bit different from the mid-period Sharpe books so far. It just had a bit more grit and personality to it or something. Whatever it is, I could use a bit more of it--I always, always have a good deal of fun with Sharpe but lately the formulaic...
This entry in the Sharpe series is unusual, in that unlike most of the other books (Sharpe's Gold is the other notable exception) it is based on fictional events, albeit inspired by actual characters and circumstances. It's also a particularly strong entry in the series, and perhaps my favourite ...