Customer Reviews

Sharpe's Fury: Richard Sharpe and the Battle of Barrosa, March 1811

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

As Cornwell explains in his always enlightening 'historical note' he visted the Barrossa battlefield while on a personal trip to Spain and thus Sharpe and Harper were sure to follow.

Sharpe's Fury tells the tale of a crucial turning point in the Penninsular War against Napoleon's armies - the 1811 Battle of Barrossa. Spain (or the Spain that was allied with Britain) was reduced to a foothold in Cadiz. The British won (with virtually no Spanish help) and a tide was turned. The battle also featured the first 'eagle' (or cuckoo) taken by the British (Sharpe's Eagle notwithstanding).

I've read nearly all the Sharpe books (as well several other Cornwell novels) and I found Sharpe's Fury to be every bit as good as any of the others (well, except maybe Sharpe's Fortress, a personal favorite). The book features an exciting retelling of a famous Napleonic battle with numerous real historical characters (Thomas Graham, Henry Wellesley, and Sgt. Patrick Masterson to name a few) and of course a beautiful and intelligent woman.

Highly recommended for fans of Sharpe, historical action novels or the Napleonic wars.

If you are a first time fan of the Sharpe series, I believe that you will enjoy this new addition to the much loved series. But as a long time fan, I felt somewhat disappointed in this book largely for 3 reasons:
1. We have read this story before with the revenge motiffs and this story did not add a whole lot to this legendary motivation of Richard Sharpe.
2. No particularly compelling bad-guy--this book needed Pierre Ducos or Sgt. Hakeswill very badly!
3. No compelling love interest for Sharpe--a little fling for Sharpe in the first half--but no woman encountered who was all that interesting!

Having said all that, the last quarter of the book which describes the battle of Barrosa is extremely fine and exciting which elevates this Sharpe novel a bit. There are however, much finer Sharpe novels out there and I heartily recomend them-but Sharpe's Fury rates a C+ or a B- at best with me!

For those who have read all of the previously-published Sharpe novels, this is one of the weakest. The beginning is a pleasant refresher for people who haven't read a Sharpe story in a few years, but probably repetitious for those who are reading the novels in chronological order for the first time.

The best part of the novel is the second section, in which Sharpe once again bails his "betters" out of problems of their own making and meets, inevitably, a beautiful and inappropriate woman.

The third section, the actual battle of Barrosa, is one of the least exciting of the many recounted in the series. Much of the description seems like filler.

Nevertheless, any Sharpe story is welcome. I just hope that Bernard Cornwell can think of some new adventures, perhaps set after Waterloo, to keep Sharpe and Harper marching somewhere new.

I have read everyone of the Sharpe series and love them. This recent is a good book, but for me the least exciting. It appears that our favorite author may be getting tired of this series. Too much historical overview and battle activity without mention of Sharpe. I hope thiis is not the last, but maybe there are no good battles left for Sharpe to fight.

I have been a long time fan of Cornwell's Sharpe series and have been distressed by the decline in quality of both the plot lines and the writing. I had believed that his series departure, "The Gallows Thief" might have been the worst thing he had ever written, but this entry into Sharpe's history might win out. Sharpe has become an iconic figure of the Peninsular War and Cornwell's placing him in the Rifles was brilliant. The character has grown in the series with fleshing out of his past soldiering in India and revealed details of his life before the army.

This entry, however, seems as if it were phoned in. It seemed almost a pot boiler, with minimal effort applied. The plot, aside from the battle, was so-so, the final battle scene was excellent as is usual with Cornwell, period details were good, but almost everything else was tedious. This might have been better had it been 100 pages shorter! I sincerely hope that if this is an example of what we can expect with the series in future that Sharpe and Harper march no more. We already know what happened to Sharpe after the war and we know his beginnings. I don't think the character is served, nor the reader, by recounting each and every fight he was involved in -- particularly if it's not done any better than this account.

Something I've enjoyed for a number of years is the pleasure of Mr. Cornwell's Sharpes Rifles series. Recently I picked up Sharpes Fury to reacquaint myself with Mr. Sharpe and his erstwhile riflemen.

To help everyone get on the same page, Sharpes Fury takes place during the siege of Cadiz and the battle of Barrosa (1811). In this case, Mr. Sharpe and his riflemen aide a British gentleman in Cadiz; then the British troops at Barrosa (after all, what would a Sharpe book be without Mr. Sharpe helping out in the battle).

For me, this was a solid 4.5 star book. As always, Mr. Cornwell is direct and to the point with his actions. Mr. Sharpe is the type of officer who enlisted men love and fellow officers either love or hate. He's direct, brash, and unapologetic for his background or the way he is. This book does take a departure from the others in the series in that rather than having Mr. Sharpe command his company, Mr. Cornwell separates them and only permits Mr. Sharpe to have his trusty riflemen to fight the French (and yes, as always, one of the Frenchmen is a nemesis for Mr. Sharpe). Interestingly, Mr. Cornwell does an excellent job capturing the relations between the Spanish and the British, showing it nicely with the actions by Sir Thomas Graham, Father Montseny, and General Lapena. I was also happy to see the return of Lord Pumphrey. While all of this makes for an excellent read, I have a hard time raising this to 5 stars and reluctantly have to give it 4 stars. Btw, for those not familiar with the series, Mr. Cornwell's story is true to the history except where Mr. Cornwell documents it in the Historical Notes chapter at the end. Also, as with any in the Sharpes series, you don't have to read any of the predecessor books. This is pure, simple, and good fun that should be enjoyed with a nice brandy after a long day.

Several years ago I began reading Sharpe books aloud to my dyslexic husband. At the time, I was less than excited by military stories of any sort, but love makes you do all sorts of strange things, and over time I have become a fan of both Sharpe and his creator, Bernard Cornwell.

"Sharpe's Fury" is a solid entry in the series, a fast-moving and enjoyable read. However, it is not a typical Sharpe book. Instead of being in the thick of battle, Sharpe observes from the fringes--which is probably fitting since, as Cornwell points out in his historical note, Sharpe should not have been at Barrosa.

Even if he's not rampaging across the battlefield, Sharpe still has something to do (retrieving some indiscreet letters), and still manages to leave destruction in his wake.

As much fun as it is to watch Sharpe blow things up and bed pretty girls, it isn't until the last hundred pages that we get to the real meat of the story. Cornwell is a master of describing the bloody chaos of the battlefield and there was plenty of both blood and confusion at Barrosa. It is particularly fitting that the capture of a French eagle by Sergeant Patrick Masterson be included as Masterson's real life exploits helped inspire the character of Sharpe.

This book was boiler plate Sharpe. It lacked the craftmenship and scope of such fine books as Sharpe's Regiment and Sharpe's Waterloo which were two of Cornwell's best. I enjoyed it, however.

I am sad. "Sharpe's Fury" was my last Sharpe novel. I'd read the others in more or less chronological order, then gone back to read this, the most recently published and inserted midway in the series.

For me, there will be no more Sharpe wenches. There will be no more craven aristocrats, in commands they don't deserve, plotting Sharpe's demise, nor more admirable officers Sharpe and other men would follow through the gates of hell.

There will be no more moments where the Napoleonic Wars hang in the balance, no more Sharpe treasures plundered or lost, no more intrigues with French spies.

There will be no more riveting battle scenes, drawn in enough detail for the military buff but clearly enough for the novice to follow, with the human element so dramatically but naturally woven into the scene's fabric.

And no more chestnuts pulled out of the fire by Richard Sharpe, one of fiction's greatest soldiers, raised from the gutter to find the only thing he does well - fight. I feel a grief similar to that felt when finishing the Jack Aubrey series by Patrick O'Brian.

In this episode Sharpe and Harper, on a patrol near the border of English-controlled Portugal and French-held Spain, are separated with a few men and an injured brigadier, and end up in Cadiz, the only part of Spain not taken by France.

The British ambassador there, Henry Wellesley - brother of Lord Wellington - is embroiled in scandal. The love letters he wrote to a dubious woman are being made public by unknown enemies. Called in to handle the matter, threatening as it does England's delicate relations with Spain, is Pumphrey, the fey Foreign Office spy. Sharpe, available for the moment, is detailed to do what it takes to get the letters back - to guard Pumphrey in his meetings with blackmailers, or to steal them back if need be.

There are lots of good things in this book, probably the last Sharpe novel Cornwell will write. Sharpe's low background is brought to the fore: he's a thief and a murderer, but it is precisely those skills gentlemen need to protect a gentleman's honor. Wellesley's erstwhile lover Caterina Blasquez is a memorable Sharpeian wench, and without giving too much away is a key factor in the book's ending where a Sharpe antagonist gets his in a non-violent but amusing way.

This book portrays perhaps better than any of the others the deeply divided Spanish public - many wanting to make a separate peace with Napoleon in return for the restoration of the Spanish monarchy, but with many different reasons for doing so. Sharpe must operate in a Cadiz that's like a tinderbox, ready to go off against the English at any time.

An English night-time amphibious attack on French artillery shelling Cadiz from across the bay is well done. And while nothing in the series can top Cornwell's account of Waterloo, the Battle of Bussaco is a fine climax to this book. English troops, unassisted by their Spanish allies, face annihilation when cornered by a vastly superior French force. Cornwell pays tribute to the French in this battle scene, as one of his characters note the brave and relentless pressing of the battle characteristic of them.

Adieu, Sharpe.

I am a big Sharpes fan and have read everyone of the series. This one would not qualify as the best but is part of a long line of very well researched and written stories.