Customer Reviews

Sharpe's Eagle: Richard Sharpe and the Talavera Campaign, July 1809

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Set around the Talevera campaign of July 1809, this first installment in the Sharpe saga deploys all the elements found throughout Cornwell's entertaining Napoleonic War series: the friendship between Sharpe and the Irish Sgt. Harper, their bravery and cunning, the ignorance and arrogance that pervaded the foppish upper class officer corps, a beautiful woman, and rousing battle scenes. Cornwell uses this first book to firmly establish the absence of meritocracy in the British army of the time, as armchair commander Simmerson needlessly leads the South Essex (including Sharpe and his Riflemen) into a debacle in which they lose the King's Colours, thus disgracing the whole army. Also clearly established is the tension between Cpt. Sharpe, who was promoted from the enlisted ranks for an act of heroism, and the upper class officer corps, who paid for their rank, irrespective of any actual military knowledge or ability. Simmerson and his toadying nephew Lt. Gibbons attempt to place the blame for the rout on Sharpe, and his only hope to save his rank is to perform an outrageous act of courage in battle at Talevera. Meanwhile, there's a beautiful Spanish woman he rescues from Gibbons and a crony, whose honor he must avenge. All is resolved at the Talevera, as Cornwell clearly and crisply recounts the military maneuvering on both a macro and micro level without getting overly technical. Also introduced in the book are Major Hogan, the Irish engineer who develops over the series into Lord Wellington's spy, as well as Lord Wellington himself, who is fond of Sharpe, but not hesitant to use his deadly skills. Above all, Sharpe is presented as a full action hero, strong, smart, roguishly handsome, honorable, deadly and ruthless. A perfect start to an engaging historical adventure series.

To be honest I am a confirmed fan of the works of Bernard Cornwell, including both the Sharpe series about the peninsular war against Napoleon, and the Copperhead series about the American Civil War. Sharpe's Eagle is the first of the Sharpe books written by Cornwell, though chronologically it does not come first. This is where he first introduced the charachter and his fellow riflemen to the world, hard-bitten, tough fighters to a man. We are shown how clever Sharpe is, what a good soldier, how loyal to his men and how contemptuous he is of superior officers who bought their commands and didn't earn them. I thouroughly enjoyed the book, following Sharpe's trials as he tries to keep an impossible promise made to a dying officer. As I said in my summary, I lost sleep over this book, and do not recommend it to anyone who has things to do.

Sharpe's Eagle details how our hero, Richard Sharpe, along with Patrick Harper capture the first French Eagle, a french standard, in the heat of battle to redeam the demoralized South Essex regiment who early in the novel lose one of their colors due to the bumbling of Col. Henry Simmerson. Sharpe utilizes this heroic act to save his career and gain a fame that gains him a place in the heart of even the Prince of Wales. A must read for any Sharpe fan and probably one of Cornwell's best novel's of all time!

This is an exciting that puts in the field with Richard Sharpe. From the scirmish where he retakes the regimental colors to the battle where he tries to capture a French Eagle to regain honor for the regiment and himself. Bernard Cornwell does an excellent job of keeping the story flowing smoothly and the action and excitement coming. I had a hard time putting it down and it wasn't long before I was reading it again. And the best part of it, you don't have to read the previous ones to know how those stories play into this one. Mr Cromwell does an excellent job of explaining all important information. His knowledge of history the soldier's mindset makes this story take on a life of it's own, as if Richard Sharpe could have really existed. A must read for anyone who like or loves history and adventure novels.

This is probably one of the best Sharpe novels in the series. It was one of the first that Cornwell wrote and his attention to the details of the Talavera campaign is excellent. Here we have Sharpe and his detached half-company of rifles doing standard duties on the skirmish line. There is a minimum of running around behind the enemy lines defying the odds as we so often get in the later novels. The episode at the bridge is a study of military incompetence. Sir Henry Simmerson, our classic snobby bad Anglo-aristo, becomes one of Sharpe's perenial enemies here. People like this did try to make life difficult for Wellsely in English politics and the novel picks up correctly on that, albeit a bit heavy handed at times.

The high-light of the story is certianly the build-up to the battle of Talavera in 1809. This was one of Wellsely's most difficult and dangerous battles, and his most costly after Assaye in India. The battle scenes are carefully constructed and taken heavily from Jac Weller's well known "Wellington in the Peninsular". Sharpe is cleverly inserted into the action in ways which are believeable and mesh with the history. His double confrontation with Messhrs. Berry and Gibbons illustrates how many old scores were likely settled during the confusion of battle.

Wellsley won a narrow victory at Talavera, winning his title of viscount Wellington, but losing a quarter of his army in the process. Cornwell does a great job describing the fascinating horror of Napoleanic combat. This is really his forte, and the descriptions of French columns slamming into British lines is right out of Jac Weller. This book is certainly vintage Sharpe, and remains one of the best.

It is a pity that the television version of this novel could not convey the scope of the battle. The tongue and cheek nature of the TV productions does a bit of dis-service to Cornwell in that way. Still, one of the best early Sharpe books.

"Sharpe's Eagle" is "The Triumph and the Glory" of the Napoleonic War novels. What Rustad's WWII novel does for the Second World War, Cornwell's skill has done for this earlier era. I'm more familiar with war novels about 20th Century conflict, but greatly admired Cornwell's Civil War books so thought I'd give his Richard Sharpe books a try. I'm glad I did! He brings his gift for drama, flair for characterization, and vouminous knowledge of the military art to the fore with "Sharpe's Eagle."

"Sharpe's Eagle" may have been the first Richard Sharpe novel that Bernard Cornwell wrote, but the formula of this novel permeates the entire series. For fans of "you are there" historical fiction of a military bent, that is a great thing.

I came late to Cornwell's Sharpe series, after having read many of the author's other works (the Grail Quest novels, the Warlord trilogy, "Stonehenge," and "Redcoat"). So I have been able to start at the "beginning" of the Sharpe saga with "Sharpe's Tiger" and the India trilogy. Accordingly, Sharpe and his fellow Riflemen as well as many of the commanders are familiar characters by now. It's interesting how smoothly "Sharpe's Eagle" fits into the series even though it was the very first novel.

"Eagle" recounts the British army's struggles in Spain against the French and, even more so, their Spanish allies. Look for some notorious Spain-bashing as Cornwell derisively depicts its rag-tag infantry led by lazy peacocks for officers, including a real historical event where thousands of Spanish infantry are spooked by their own musket barrage! Not much subtlety, here.

Fans of Cornwell's novels will also recognize the villain of the piece, fat Colonel Simmerson and his nephew, Lieutenant Gibbons. Sharpe, our admirable hero, has done a rare thing and won his officer's rank solely by merit, largely unheard of in the British army. Instead, most officers bought promotion after a suitable period in a given rank, and Cornwell is of the opinion, his idol General Arthur Wellesley notwithstanding, that this led to dozens of craven British officers, all of whom seem to encounter Sharpe during their career.

Colonel Simmerson leads his battalion, including Sharpe, to the ultimate disgrace - losing their battlefield colors. Foisting the blame onto Sharpe, Simmerson hopes to avoid shame himself as well as to send Sharpe to a death sentence serving in the disease-infested West Indies. But Sharpe has another idea - salvage the battalion's pride by doing the impossible - stealing one of Napoleon's eagle standards from the juggernaut French infantry.

An action-packed novel, "Sharpe's Eagle" also finds time for Sharpe to have a little romance, but this element of the story is entirely secondary to the main focus, which is Cornwell's unrivaled mastery of depicting a battle scene. A mere 270-odd pages, "Sharpe's Eagle" will defy your efforts to put it down.

I highly recommend reading these books in chronological order, and this was the recommendation of the good people over at Bernard Cornwell's website as well. Get reading!

I came to the Sharpe series by a winding trail. Someone told me that, if I loved the Flashman books, the only other author writing a series of comic historical novels, but who was completely different from Fraser, was Van Reid. I didn't want any copy-cats. Van Reid's Moosepath novels are some of the best books I've read in years, exciting as well as funny and in a surprising and warm communication with Mr. Reid, by way of his website, he suggested I try James L. Nelson. Right again! Top notch nautical adventures! Then on the cover of Mr. Nelson's latest book "Glory in the Name" I see a blurb from Bernard Cornwell. Well, if Mr. Cornwell has such good taste, lets see if his books are tasty! Right again! Sharpe has a little of the anti-hero thing going, and he reminds me of Flashman in his dalliances with women, but what Mr. Cornwell does best is put you right into the middle of a battle and scares the life out of you. It seems pretty stupid to say that you can smell the gunpowder smoke when you read a book, but let's just say, that I could *see* everything as if I were watching a movie. Mr. Cornwell's action is terrific, his dialogue sharp,if you'll excuse the awful pun, and the plot twisty and believable. Thanks Mr. Reid, thanks Mr. Nelson, and thanks Mr. Cornwell for blurbing a favorite author so that I could be led to your great series!

Sharpe's Eagle is the first of many books by Bernard Cornwell in which his character, Richard Sharpe is a member of the British army in the years around 1800. I didn't read the book in the order they were written, I read them chronologically, but this book is still the best regardless.

This book introduces Cornwell's fantastic writing style, he educates us of the British actions throughout many different campaigns. He is very detailed on a number of subjects, from how the battle was fought to the steps in which a cannon is loaded. After reading these books you feel like you know a great deal about such an important point in our history.

This book introduces us to the upper class in-adequacies surrounding the British army of the time. Rich upper class 'snobs' became commanders by buying their commission, this left a greatly trained army to be run by untrained commanders. In this book an arrogant Sir Henry Simmerson, thinking he knows best, goes on to disgrace his whole unit by losing the Kings colours. It's then down to Sharpe, with the help of his immense bravery and courage to restore his regiment's honour.

It's a great introduction to a truly interesting and gripping series.

5 Stars

The entire Sharp series is F*U*N*. The books are set during the Napoleonic Wars. Richard Sharpe--think in terms of James Bond with a muzzle loading rifle--is a rare bird indeed. He joined the army as an enlisted man, and through a series of heroic actions manages to become an officer. In the early 19th century, such promotions were exceedingly rare; but Sharpe saved the life of the future Duke of Wellington on the battlefield; this gave his career a jump start. Throughout his time in the military by dint of other feats of heroism, he continued to rise in rank.

Richard Sharpe is unrealistically romantic and dashing, but Bernard Cornwell inserts enough details of the life of the ordinary soldier in the early 19th Century British Army, to make this and other books in the series worthwhile reading.

Contemporary readers may find the fact that leadership positions in the British Army were purchased. Some of the officer class were outstanding--cf Wellington who never lost a battle. Cornwell describes in vivid detail what happens when an aristocratic idiot with no military experience attempts to command a regiment in battle. The inevitable result was a series of very stupid blunders that caused a lot needless suffering and death.

Cornwell's explainations of military tactics are clear and vivid; so are his descriptions of early 19th century miltary medicine (shudder).

Fans of the cartoon strip "Dilbert" will chorus "plus la change..." when they read about organizational and bureaucratic stupidity in the British Army.

I am thouroughly hooked on the series. The film adaptations which have appeared on Masterpiece Theatre and repeated on the History Channel do justice to the books.

I categorize the Sharpe books in the second rank of historical fiction. _The Name of the Rose_ is an example of what I consider first rate historical fiction. I put the Sharpe books in the same class as the many books written by Norah Lofts.

Thanks Mr. Cornwell--I finally understand what happened at Waterloo! Let me reiterate--you'll learn a lot from reading the Sharpe series, and you will have fun reading them.