What do You think about Sharpe's Sword (2004)?
Sharpe's Sword is a decent, bordering-on-the-brilliant installment in Bernard Cornwell's long-running series of horse-and-musket historical novels starring the rough-yet-heroic Captain Richard Sharpe. Sharpe finds himself embroiled in a cat-and-mouse game between warring intelligencers, with his trademark "bull in a china shop" approach proving to be ineffective at first, but eventually winning out in the end. Alas, this book feels the more like "running through the motions" as opposed to treading new ground. It doesn't help that the main Big Bad, Colonel Phillip Leroux, is a borderline Villain Sue who evokes a less effective version of an earlier Sharpe nemesis (Sharpe's Battle's Brigadier General Guy Loup). Still, fans of the series will enjoy this book and it can be a good starting point for people who want to try out Sharpe for the first time.
—Noel
#14 in the Richard Sharpe series.[return][return]Wellington s army and therefore Richard Sharpe is in Spain, near Salamanca, still fighting the French. But there s a new element in the mix Napoleon s personal intelligence officer, Colonel Leroux, who has been tracking down and eliminating the network of spies who supply information for Wellington s army. His latest coup is someone who will lead Leroux to the coordinator of the network, known only as El Mirador.[return][return]By accident, Sharpe encounters Leroux under disguise. Later, in another meeting, Leroux, with his sword made by Kligenthal, breaks Sharpe s cavalry sword and nearly kills Sharpe. Determined to get Leroux s sword, Sharpe pursues his nemesis through the intrigues that end up in the Battle of Salamanca.[return][return]Although this book gets off to a slow and somewhat awkward start, it soon picks up and Cornwell delivers a faced-paced, exciting story such as we have learned to anticipate. The plot is excellent. Of course, the usual battle is the piece de resistanceof the novel, and it lives up to all the other superb battle descriptions that Cornwell has written in the series. Sharpe is not the most sensitive hero in literature, but he continues to interest as he does evolve, if slowly. But then there are so many more books to go! Sgt. Harper continues to provide a foil for Sharpe.[return][return]As usual, there is an excellent Historical Note that provides more information on two characters in the novel that were historical figures. He waxes lyrical about Salamanca and, as usual, describes the battlefield as it currently exists. He also gives directions to the battlefield of Garcia Hernandez, the site of the magnificent charge of the King German Legion.[return][return]Another magnificent installment in this superb series. Highly recommended.
—Joyce Lagow
This story is set against the battle of Salamanca. When Sharpe captures a French officer, he doesn't imagine that his life is suddenly going to get very difficult. When the officer breaks his patrol and flees into Salamanca, killing two of Sharpe's superiors, Sharpe can't wait to track him down and exact revenge. But Colonol Leroux is more important than he can imagine, for the Frenchmen knows the true identity of El Mirador, the chief spy for England whose huge network of informers stretches all the way into Paris. Trapped in the besieged forts, it should be easy for Sharpe and his men to stop him escaping. Instead, Harper is knocked unconscious and Sharpe is missing, presumed dead and buried in an unmarked grave. Of course he isn't!! Instead, he gets to recover from his wounds with a beautiful Marquesa, but she has secrets of her own and even on his sickbed, Sharpe is pulled back into the world of war and espionage.This is a great story - I love the touch with the two swords and the twisting story around Helena is brilliant. Some of it a bit obvious - as a reader I was ahead of Sharpe on occasion, but that only heightens the tension.
—Dark-Draco
