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Summary: Sharpe's Adventure begins!
Review: 'Sharpe's Rifles' is the first of Bernard Cornwell's orginal Richard Sharpe series and is a wonderful start. Here we meet for the first time the maverick British officer Richard Sharpe and his tough-as-nails companion Sergeant Harper. The story takes place during the British retreat from Spain in 1809. French victory seems certain. Lieutnant Sharpe is seperated from his unit and forced to command a rag tag company of riflemen, who have little love for thier new leader, though enemy territory back to the British lines. On top of these worries, Spanish partisans insist that the British escort them to a remote village where they believe victory over the French is possible. This is a novel that takes you back in time to the desperate days in the struggle against Napoleon. Even if historical novels aren't your thing the adventure alone is worth the read.
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Summary: Boney's Nemesis
Review: A great series, an addiction! These are great landlocked companions toAubrey/Maturin; hope O'Brian and Cornwell met before it was too late. Sharpe is the Everyman soldier; does his duty with sense of cause but a concern for his men. One question: If Aubrey was Cochrane, who was Richard Sharpe? Sharpe and Harper are heroes and Simmerson is about as evil as any character I have ever met. Read the series, don't forget India; then, get your best brandy " taken off the French at Oporto" and settle in with your VCR. Sean Bean as you never knew him!
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Summary: AIM!.........FIRE!.....FIX BAYONETS!
Review: After reading a number of C.S Forester's Hornblower series, I realized the appreciation I have for historical fiction that contains a main character's development throughout that particular historical era. The Sharpe's series is just another superb example of this. This book is the first volume of the series, but not the first chronologically in the series. I personally would have preferred to start with 'Sharpe's Tiger' which is where Richard Sharpe begins his career as a Rifleman as a Private. Then continuing the readings chronologically following his military career. In Sharpe's Rifles, LT. Richard Sharpe (formerly known as SGT. Sharpe) becomes the commanding officer of a small detachment of Rifleman whom becomes separated from a retreating British Army in Spain. While retreating, Sharpe is confronted with the difficulties of adjusting to the role of an Officer while being harassed from a persistent attachment of French Dragoons. His difficulties increase exponentially when Sharpe gains a common ally against France, a small attachment of Spanish Calvary. Sharpe learns that the Spanish Calvary attachment is on a quest to reunite Spain's demoralization with a sacred item that must reach Santiago to give Spain one last fighting chance against the invading French. The smell of smoke, the war cries of combat, and the fate of brave men are well embedded throughout the book. This is an action packed book, page-turner that I would recommend to all interested in this era!
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Summary: hear ye, hear ye, hear ye, Bernard is the man!
Review: Another fine book. Writer's like Cornwell, of which there are few, never cease to amaze. Prolific yet always profound. Dramatic yet believable. Characters at once unstoppable yet also fallible. Stories fictional yet grimly realistic. And he always pays a mind to the ladies. In this one I read quite amused as the central female character, an English girl separated from her overbearing Protestant missionary aunt and thrust into Sharpe's willing care, goes on and on to the hardened but smitten Sharpe about her love interests, while the screams of dying men echo about the city. Sharpe, heartbroken and shocked from not being the chosen one, shows his human side and heads off to get drunk and find cheaper love. This amidst the aftermath of another vicious battle. The author is so savvy and such a subtle teacher and so infinitely wise to the ways of men and women and life in this world, that you find his works not only entertaining but also instructive. You learn when you read his books. Sharpe is the ultimate warrior in a gruesome campaign to rid the peninsula of the murderous and treacherous French. I find his work somewhat formulaic at times, but it matters not if there is always a mysterious and devious villain, an alluring and attractive woman, a great fighter, a stalwart and able companion and the willing and able veterans of his green jacketed rifles. If you haven't gotten into Mr. Cornwell's works, then I can only tell you that a gold mine of literature awaits you.
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Summary: Cornwall is the Anthony Trollope of Napoleonic fiction!
Review: As graduate student in history, I have to admit I looked on these books with a bit of snobbish reserve. It took me a while to overcome my prejudice for historical fiction to read Patrick O'Brian. But I've got say, after reading this book,... it's good! I don't know enough about the Napoleonic Wars to say "that's wrong" or "this is wrong," but this book is a damn good read!I really got into it right away, and my disbelief was supended. I think that says a lot for Bernard Cornwall right there. You get interested in these characters and you care about them. Another important here: Cornwall keeps a pretty high level of suspense for historical fiction! I was wondering how Vivar and Sharpe were going to get away with it (I'm not going to give away the plot!). I am going out to the store and get the next two! One last note: Patrick O'Brian is a great writer, but I think this book is a lot more fun! If Patrick O'Brian is the Jane Austen of Napoleonic historical fiction, then Cornwall is its Trollope!
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Summary: It is the beginning of a wonderful adventure.
Review: Cornwell captures "everyman" in Richard Sharpe. He is a character that I could identify with. I could feel his hopes, fears and disappointments. I was gladdened by his successes. If a reader is willing to believe the character, they are in for a wonderful adventure. I suppose that if you won't believe, you would still be entertained by this and the rest of the series. As for me, I've read the entire series several times. Every time my "day to day" has become too stressful, I've gone off to the Peninsular Campaign with Sharpe and his Rifles.
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Summary: another great one
Review: Cornwell does what he does best in delivering another suspenseful, action-packed Sharpe book. Like all the others, I had a hard time putting this one down once I had jumped into it. It's rare that it takes me longer then 4 or 5 days to get through a Sharpe book.
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Summary: The Rocky for the 1800's
Review: Cornwell's depiction of Sharpe is an excellent example of pulling for the under dog. The guy you want to win, but has a great struggle in doing so. A man who in that time, has to fight his own army for respect as well as the French. Both want to kill him. The struggle for survival is epic. Well worth reading, and the historical accounts are very accurate. Highly recommended reading.
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Summary: sharpe's rifles
Review: Firstly this is an exellent book like all of the others in the sharpe series.It is hard to believe ,at the start ,that the Chosen men will one day respect and like sharpe,especially harper who really gets off on the wrong foot with sharpe,but will one day be sharpes best friend.sharpes objective is to find the armys missing banker,and is put under the command of major dunnet and captain murray who are both, along with most of the search party massacred by french cavalry, luckily sharpe and the chosen men survive.sharpe is left in an awkward position, with both other officers dead ,because the chosen men do not see him as a 'proper' officer.Fourtunately he joins forces with a group of spanish guerrillas, and finds he has another objective,to raise the banner of saint james to boost the morale of the spanish so they rise up against the french.
This storry is an amazing adventure and a great read and i'd reccomend it to any one!
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Summary: Wonderful Military History novels
Review: Have just finished the Sharpe's series as far as Waterloo, and strongly recommend it to all. Came to the series via Amazon recommendation - haven't seen any of the TV shows. If you have read CS Forester/Hornblower, or Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels, then you will love these books. For other more modern historical series, try the W.E.B. Griffin titles - The Brotherhood of War and The Corps.
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