Sharpe's Gold

Rating:
Summary: A Solid Entry, but Where Are the Repercussions?
Review: In this installment in Cornwell's Napoleonic War series, Sharpe and his riflemen are sent by Lord Wellington on a secret mission to recover a huge cache of Spanish gold deep in French held territory. At this point in the war (August 1810), the British have been driven from Spain, and French armies are marching on Portugal. Meanwhile, the army has run out of money and without the gold, the British will have to abandon Lisbon, and the war. Sharpe's mission introduces him (and the reader) to the uneasy diplomacy between England and Spain, as for the first time, Shape encounters Spanish partisans fighting the French. The partisans currently have the gold, and are loathe to relinquish it to the English troops, whom they don't trust. In each book in the series there is a main villain, here it is the partisan leader, a cruel warlord called "El Catholico." And, in each book in the series there is a beautiful woman, here Teressa, who will play an important and long running role in the series. True to form, she falls into his bed a little too readily, but that's par for the course in the series.

SPOILER WARNING << Read no Further: Plot Twists to Be Revealed! >>

As usual, even once Sharpe successfully extricates the gold and his company from the partisans, and then French forces, he still must battle his greatest foe: army bureaucracy. Holed up in the fortress of Almeida, he is ordered by the garrison commander to relinquish the gold to Spanish representatives. Unwilling to let that happen, he comes up with a rather drastic way to avoid the command--blow up the garrison, thus dissolving the commander's authority! Cornwell bases this on the real explosion of the magazine that destroyed Almeida, but it seems a rather extreme solution, even for the ruthless Sharpe. Pursing his "break a few eggs to make an omlette" plan, Sharpe's explosion ends up killing around 500 British soldiers--rank and file soldiers just like him. He grapples with his remorse momentarily, but it's a monumentally guilt-inducing event that seems not to have caused Sharpe many sleepless nights later in the series (at least the ones I've read so far). Considering Cornwell's has Sharpe's repeatedly recall his whipping in India, and other traumatic events from his past, it seems a slight misstep that the climax of this book doesn't affect him in later ones (although perhaps in working my way through the rest of the series, I'll find myself wrong).

In any event, it's a fairly solid entry in the series.

Rating:
Summary: A great story
Review: Out of all the Sharpe books I would say this isn't one of the best, it's got all the usual Sharpe features but it just lacks that certain something. Still though, it's an awesome book and well worth a read.

In this book Sharpe makes enemies with a powerful guerilla leader, El Catalico. El Catalico is a master swordsman and Sharpe is no match for him with a sword, and in the inevitable battle between these foes, Sharpe must rely upon his means of fighting.

The book is set during August 1810, you get some good education about what happened during that time Anglo-French war. Almeida, a huge fortress under British control is destroyed, you get a very detailed and highly visual description of the explosion that destroyed the fort in the book. The rest is in the book, but the story is great and well, typical Sharpe.

4 Stars

Rating:
Summary: Good Story and Lots of Fun
Review: Sharpe's Gold by Bernard Cornwell is an exciting adventure yarn about greed, guts and duty. This time the British army is defeated and General Wellington fears that his forces are being pushed out of the peninsula. In order for Wellington to continue the war he needs money and lots of it. There is gold in some remote Spanish village and once Wellington hears of it, he MUST have it. And who do you think the General would give this important assignment to...none other than Captain Sharpe (naturally). Spain may be lost to the French but there is one thing the British forces have that France does not and that is SHARPE. If there is one thing Sharpe hates is losing. So you know he will do what ever it takes to win. Cornwell's blending of fact and fiction are amazing. You get the sense of being there, you visualize the battles and the scenes at the fortress of Almeida are spellbinding. Of course Sharpe gets the gold, receives the praise (reluctantly) from Wellington and he even gets the pretty girl in the end. My only problem with the story is the ending. What Sharpe must do to get the gold is too ruthless to be imagined. If this is your first Sharpe book don't let it be your last, Sharpe's Rifles or Sharpe's Company are better. However, all of Cornwell's Sharpe books are good reads, you will not be disappointed.