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, it is 1814, and Wellington’s forces are bogged down in southeastern France. Sharpe, now a major, is tasked to accompany a naval captain and a peer officer with less than 200 army riflemen and marines to capture a fortress further north on the Bay of Arachon. The risky action is to serve as a feint to make the French believe the English intend to invade there by sea and take Bordeaux, thereby diverting French forces from Wellington’s strategy to bridge a river near Bayonne with a raft of merchant ships.Cornwell is masterful in portraying all the human and inhuman details of combat at the level of the common soldier. He does cover the big picture, but from Sharpe’s jaundiced eye:God only knows why politicians resorted to soldiers as a final instrument of policy; it was like wagering on a cockfight to decide the fate of empires.As usual, Sharpe, now a major, succeeds with impossible tasks due to his ability to lead his men and to outsmart the enemy with his verve and unpredictable craft. So why read more than one? The glory of his loyal compadres in action is one recurring pleasure. Such as his gentle, giant Irish master sergeant Harper. So congenial and sweet most of the time, but when his righteous, volcanic anger is released, he becomes an unstoppable killing machine. The other pleasure is in the personalities of his foes. Some he respects, like a dashing American privateer captain captured with the fort. The French spymaster Ducos returns as a nemesis, but the featured opponent here is corpulent General Calvet, fresh from the Russian campaign where he brags he engaged in cannibalism and scalp collecting. Another joy is Cornwell’s variation on the theme of the greed and perfidy among the aristocratic British officers. Here this role falls to pompous Captain Bampfylde, whose lust for glory leads him to repeatedly endanger Sharpe’s men over attractive enemy ruses and to hog all the credit for any of his successes. We know he will ultimately get outfoxed by Sharpe and meet his just desserts, but that doesn’t diminish the satisfaction of waiting for fulfillment of this destiny.The main focus of action in this tale is not Sharpe’s taking of a fortress, but a defense of it when he returns from an inland foray to find Bampfylde and his ships have abandoned him with minimal food and ammunition and with the fort’s cannons all spiked. Calvet’s division of 2,000 men is headed their way. Sharpe’s mind is having trouble focusing because of his worry that his wife, ill when he left, is dying from a fever. Pretty compelling fix he’s gotten into this time. Everyone deserves to read at least one from the Sharpe series, and there is no reason not to start with this. And if you get addicted, I recommend getting much the same pleasures by varying your fix with books from his Saxon Chronicles (set in 10th century Britain) or his Grail Quest series (set in 14th century France).
In a diversion from the main invasion of France, Sharpe's Siege has the protagonist Richard Sharpe taken from his beloved South Essex regiment and sent on a dangerous mission, to assist the navy in capturing a fortress on the French coast and weakening the enemy's supply lines by raiding their highways. A secondary mission, which he's having none of, is to march on Bordeaux and incite a monarchist rebellion against Bonaparte. The mission is compromised from the very beginning, not only by the incompetance of the operation's naval component but also the presence of the Comte de Maquerre, by all appearances a trusted monarchist ally of Britain but in reality an agent for the villanous French spymaster Pierre Docus. Abandoned by his allies, and with the fortresses defences stripped away, Sharpe and a rifle company are forced to endure the onslaught of an entire French army. The action scenes are bloody and vivid, but this is where the book lost me. This series is characterised by the fact that Sharpe will always win, against incredible odds, though a combination of great skill, tactical ineguinity, luck and stubbornness but Sharpe's Siege stretches the reader's suspension of disbelief beyond breaking point in a way that none of the other books I've read yet has.The odds here are simply unbelievable. He's outnumbered ten to one, in enemy territory and with dwindling supplies of food, water, and ammunition. No matter how often Cornwell stresses the competence of the seasoned riflemen versus the raw inexperience of the French conscripts, the numbers don't add up. I did, however, enjoy the ultimate solution to Sharpe's predicament, which was an inspired bit of trickery. The ending, as well as the subplot involving an American privateer named Killick, stopped the book from being a writeoff for me, although it's definitely one of my least favourite entries in the series.
What do You think about Sharpe's Siege (2001)?
I have by now posted reviews for several books in this cycle and they all say the same thing. Perhaps it's because all books about Richard Sharpe are very, very similar. They are repetitive, formulaic and predictable. And yet, once you start reading one of them, you're immediately hooked.This volume is no different from the rest, and if you've read any of its predecessors, you'll pretty much know how the plot will develop by the time you reach page 20 or 30. Not that it will matter, because by the time you reach that far, you're having too much fun to quit reading the bloody thing.
—Marcus
I'm sad that I am reaching the end of the Richard Sharpe series - three volumes to go. Next to the Patrick O'Brian authored Aubrey/Maturin series this is the best set of stories covering the Napoleonic wars that I have read. It is also one of the best historical fiction series I've run across.This story, taking place in 1814, details an incursion into France near Bordeaux, a joint venture between the British Army and the Royal Navy. After investing a fort guarding the approaches to the Bassin d'Arachon on the Bay of Biscay, Sharpe heads inland to harass any French troops he might happen upon. He successfully ambushes a brigade of conscripts but when he arrives back at the fort he discovers that he and his troops have been betrayed by a French double agent, deserted by the Navy and left to perish at the hands of the soon to arrive French in the destroyed fort.The architect of all of this is the arch-villain Pierre Ducos, who Sharpe keeps bumping up against and who wants nothing more than to see Sharpe destroyed. The usual supporting cast is present, Patrick Harper, Sharpe's loyal side-kick, William Fredrickson, a fellow officer, Jane, Sharpe's new wife, Michael Hogan, his mentor and sometimes protector, and in the background Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington and Commander-in-chief of the combined British and Portoguese forces. Other characters, drawn with Cornwell's usual skill, are Captain Bampfylde, an arrogant, self-serving Post Captain, Colonel Wigram a clueless engineer, Cornelius Killick, an American Privateer, Comte de Maquerre, a spy working for the British, Andre Lassan, French Commandant of the fort, and General Calvet, bloodthirsty French commander and survivor of the Russian campaign. The story unfolds quickly and is hard to put down. Once I got halfway through, I had to finish it even though it was after midnight. The battle scenes are, as always, compelling and exciting. The book is well-plotted and straightforward. Sometimes Sharpe's survival skills and luck strain credulity to the limit and this time is no exception. Nevertheless, this book like most of the others in the series is a delight to read.
—Ed
#18 in the Richard Sharpe series.[return][return]Back with Wellington s army, which is bogged down in southwest France, Sharpe is ordered on a mission, led by an ambitious captain of the Royal Navy, to capture a supposedly weakly-defended French coastal fort, cut Napoleon s supply lines, and assist in inciting the residents of Bordeaux to rise against Napoleon.[return][return]Naturally, nothing works out as planned. After taking the fort, it is attacked by a heavy French force, and Sharpe is forced to escape via the good graces of an American privateer captain. The sinister Ducos makes yet another appearance.[return][return]That s the background of the latest installment of the series. It s a somewhat offbeat story, a detour from Wellington s main thrust into France, but as usual, Cornwell imbues it with all the page-turning tension and excitement that characterizes the series. The escape is as good a scene as in any of the previous books. Harper and Sharpe continue to be lively and interesting protagonists, and the other characters all ring true. I don t think Cornwell can be equaled, never mind beaten, in this genre.[return][return]Highly recommended.
—Joyce Lagow
