Rating: 
Summary: Smooth Sailing for Sharpe
Review: Action, Excitement, and Temptations are only a few words that can help describe Sharpe's Trafalgar. Bernard Cornwell has now sent young Ensign Richard Sharpe on the high seas, and no matter what the situation, Sharpe does the only thing he's good at, killing. The book colorfully describes the Battle of Trafalgar with rich and flowing detail. Placing the book down for a nights sleep will keep you in suspense and longing for the next day to hurriedly arrive. In no movie theater on the face of this planet can excitement be as influential as in this epic. Bernard Cornwell has truly out done himself now by placing a young army officer in the middle of a boiling naval battle. French cannons are not the only aspect of danger to tear at Sharpe's heart, but love as well. An aristocrat married to another has done what no Indian warlord was capable of doing, subjugating Richard Sharpe. The callused heart and war torn body soon gave yield to love. Sharpe's Trafalgar is truly a must read.
Rating: 
Summary: Richard Sharpe on vacation!?
Review: After a gap of two years from FORTRESS, here we contemplate Richard Sharpe at his leisure on a pleasant sea voyage back to England: fighting Indian thugs, befriending an amusing naval captain, stiffing a lord, smelling treason, and falling into yearning love with Lady Grace. She utters the best capsule description of Sharpe: "You're like a weed, Richard. You can grow anywhere." Also, there's reminiscing of his orphan childhood, ignominious capture, rescue and pursuing the traitors, breakfasting with an admiral, and becoming a Marine for a crucial month. This is Sharpe "off-duty?" There are lots of interesting tidbits about fighting a sailing man-o-war, but little of the complex and esoteric business of sailing her that would confuse a lubberly admirer of the Sharpe series. The endpapers display a highly useful cutaway diagram of the type of ship in which Sharpe goes to battle. The description of ship-board battle during the crucial encounter off Trafalgar is better and bloodier than anything I've read in standard naval fare, focusing as Cornwell does on the stinking and bloodied men and not the cool captain as series hero. The French & Spanish line of battle was "capping the T," normally the decisive maneuver in sea battle, but Nelson smashed it with his audacity and firepower. The relative casualties of the French & Spanish vs. the British, given in Cornwell's historical note, are simply astonishing, given the mutual slaughter described here. Note: there has got to be at least one more book to get Sharpe into his Rifles and then to Spain (yeah!).
Rating:
Summary: Smooth Sailing for Sharpe
Review: After my own 2-year hiatus from Sharpe, this was a good re-introduction. The plot moves nicely - a bit padded here and there. Characters not quite up to his "Rifles" fellows, but still good fun.
Rating:
Summary: Sharpe at Sea!
Review: Bernard Cornwell continues his incredible adventures of Richard Sharpe. With the series having explored nearly every aspect of the Napoleanic period in which the British were invovled, the author is running out of historical chronology in which to insert his main character. Cornwell has been re-tracking Sharpe's career ever since he finished the Peninsular War and Waterloo. Its a credit to the author's genius that he manages to make it work, but the lengths at which he must go in order to do so are getting a little thin now. With this book Cornwell devles into Patrick O'Brien terrority with Royal Navy nautical lore. He seems to have the nautical jargon down pretty good, although this land-lubber wouldn't really know if he was off or not! All the ingredients of the Sharp series are here. Some stawart companions, arrogant aristos who always want to bring Sharpe low, treacherous characters who are not what they appear, and a lovely lady of the blue blood who falls for Sharpe's manliness! We have seen this all many times before in the earlier series, but Cornwell still somehow makes it work! The plot moves along with the usual on the edge page-turner writing and after the slow build-up we explode onto the carnage and horror of Trafalgar where Sharpe gets to meet Nelson first hand and compare him to Wellsley! The battle scenes are Cornwell's forte and the blood, sweat and tears of Trafalgar become vivd before the reader's eyes. The carnage among the Franco-Spanish fleet was truly horrible and even through the British suffered much less severely, the stress and strain of the battle was no less for them. Cornwell describes this very well, even though Sharpe's penchant for killing continues to stack the body count in his favor. In the wholes series Sharpe has probably killed close to several thousand people! A bit unbelieveable perhaps, but Cornwell's supurb action writing still manages to hold it all together. Next stop, Denmark and the 95th Rifles! After that, Sharpe series shouid get a much needed rest.
Rating:
Summary: Sharpe at Sea!
Review: Bernard Cornwell continues his incredible adventures of Richard Sharpe. With the series having explored nearly every aspect of the Napoleanic period in which the British were invovled, the author is running out of historical chronology in which to insert his main character. Cornwell has been re-tracking Sharpe's career ever since he finished the Peninsular War and Waterloo. Its a credit to the author's genius that he manages to make it work, but the lengths at which he must go in order to do so are getting a little thin now. With this book Cornwell devles into Patrick O'Brien terrority with Royal Navy nautical lore. He seems to have the nautical jargon down pretty good, although this land-lubber wouldn't really know if he was off or not! All the ingredients of the Sharp series are here. Some stawart companions, arrogant aristos who always want to bring Sharpe low, treacherous characters who are not what they appear, and a lovely lady of the blue blood who falls for Sharpe's manliness! We have seen this all many times before in the earlier series, but Cornwell still somehow makes it work! The plot moves along with the usual on the edge page-turner writing and after the slow build-up we explode onto the carnage and horror of Trafalgar where Sharpe gets to meet Nelson first hand and compare him to Wellsley! The battle scenes are Cornwell's forte and the blood, sweat and tears of Trafalgar become vivd before the reader's eyes. The carnage among the Franco-Spanish fleet was truly horrible and even through the British suffered much less severely, the stress and strain of the battle was no less for them. Cornwell describes this very well, even though Sharpe's penchant for killing continues to stack the body count in his favor. In the wholes series Sharpe has probably killed close to several thousand people! A bit unbelieveable perhaps, but Cornwell's supurb action writing still manages to hold it all together. Next stop, Denmark and the 95th Rifles! After that, Sharpe series shouid get a much needed rest.
Rating:
Summary: Sharpe's Trafalgar
Review: Bernard Cornwell is absolutely at his best when he is writing about either that lineal ancestor of James Bond, Richard Sharpe, or when he is writing about sailing. Well, here he does both and the result is truly satisfying. In the best tradition of the Sharpe's series, the odds against are enormous, but Sharpe wins through with a combination of brass nerves, lightning fast steel and a golden lady ready for the winning. Pay attention, another class will be in session to teach us Colonials one more lesson from the English book of battle history as horrifying chaos of Trafalgar unfolds as only Richard Sharpe could have seen it. I can end this with only one thought: sit back and enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: A Sharpe sea story
Review: I've marched with Sharpe since the very beginning. I've delighted in his exploits with Harper in Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, and South America; I sweated with young Sharpe along the dust and elephant-dunged trails of India.
Now, we have Sharpe all at sea with a beautiful woman, a blackguard or two, enough brio for a battalion of Bonds, and one of the most decisive and important sea-battles in history.
What more could a Sharpe fan want?
Rating:
Summary: Sharpe at sea
Review: Richard Sharpe is a soldier, and as such is much more comfortable on solid ground than upon the deck of a ship. That does not stop him from being in the middle of the battle of Trafalgar, however. The author is to be congratulated for getting Sharpe to be present at this historic fight, and also to be able to have a few moments of private conversation with Admiral Nelson on the eve of the battle. Cornwell writes quite knowingly about ships and sailors, and his account of the fight drips with authenticity. Sharpe, as usual, overcomes great obstacles, and aquits himself bravely. There's a love sub-plot, which adds spice to the story, and just the touch of class-consciousness that Sharpe has been experiencing since he became an officer. This series goes from strength to strength, and is well worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: Richard Sharpe and how to survive at sea!
Review: Richard Sharpe, fresh from the wars in India, is on his way hometo England, to sign up for a company that is called the "green jacket." He is young, carries stolen jewels, falls in love with a woman that he cannot have named Lady Grace Hale, he becomes involved in a piracy, and he becomes involved in the death of Lady Grace Hale's husband! He learns to fight on water, and he learns how to love, but he find that he does not like to fight on the sea and prefers land! Its Richard Sharpe at its best, its Sharpe getting his "sea legs" and its Sharpe in love with a woman that is a class above him. Enjoy the book, I did!
Rating: 
Summary: Cornwell is losing his touch
Review: Sad to say Cornwell is losing his touch. He's still trying to get as much money out of the "Sharpe" character as possible. To do this, he puts Sharpe in just about every battle of the Napoleanic Wars. If you've read the previous Sharpe books, or watched the films, you'll be disappointed with this book. There are even some rumors that Sharpe will see action at New Orleans in 1815 (Sharpe's 'Gator) which is a MAJOR stretch. What next Mr. Cornwell; Sharpe Goes to the Alamo ? If you MUST read this one, check it out at your local library, but I don't recommend buying it.
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