Customer Reviews

Sharpe's Prey

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

When Bernard Cornwell wrote Sharpe's Rifles almost two decades ago, it is obvious he did not intend to add novels before the peninsular campaign. Now there are four, with the most recent being Sharp's Prey, a story of the British 1807 bombardment of Copenhagen with Richard Sharp serving as a spy.

The story starts off slowly, with an explanation of Sharpe's experiences between Sharpe's Trafalgar and the current novel: his financial difficulties, the horror of London in 1807, and the introduction of the prey. It is not until we get half way into the book that the traditional Sharp appears, the battleground Sharp, although for the most part he is the spy Sharp. There is even a love interest.

Some of the supporting cast comes from Sharpe's Trafalgar, but most are unique to this effort-and they are well drawn and interesting. Unfortunately, they must disappear, as the remaining history between Sharp's Prey and Sharpe's Rifles is Wellington in Portugal, most likely Cornwell's next Sharpe story.

As always, Cornwell is a superb wordsmith. His descriptions of Copenhagen are real, and, from time to time, there are sentences that summarize a character-that say it all in shorthand. My only complaint is Sharpe's nemesis is not as evil as others in the series-I can almost like and understand this one.

As one of those who has the complete set of Sharpe, I preordered the book, and started reading it the same evening I received it. It is always nice to follow the story of an old friend such as Sharpe. The history of the early 1800's comes to life in these stories. Here we see the contrast between the poor of England and Denmark as Sharpe travels back to his childhood and settles old scores, and then to Denmark and sees the contrast in Denmark. Wonderful battle scenes.The story of a battle of the British/French wars that we know little about. We see Sharpe and Wellington as they meet after three years. Harper makes an appearence. Just a wonderful read. I always read these books through for the story and color, then go back and read it again for clarity. I look forward to more of Sharpe over the coming years. Highly recommended.

Sharpe's Prey starts with a bang, or rather a couple of bloody cuts. Richard is at his rawest and most vicious, thoroughly at wit's end with his degraded status, life, and prospects. Revisiting his orphanage, this is the fullest exposition we've had of just how low was Sharpe's start in life. The rest of the story doesn't consistently match this intensity, exposing a fundamentally sentimental outlook strange in a slum kid and a silent Victorian attitude to sex on Cornwell's part. The book becomes a series of loose episodes, a Danish interlude between Sharpe's years in India and serious work in the Peninsular Campaign, flitting here and there across Zealand and into Copenhagen. We get glimpses of series characters past like Wellesley (the Duke) or future, Rifleman Harper. The villain of the piece is a very smooth and deceptive traitor, quite unlike Sharpe's nemesis Hakeswill (absent here). One of the most terrifying sections describes what it was like to be on the receiving end of British platoon fire (while Sharpe is spying within the Danish ranks). This is almost as terrible to behold as the indomitable courage of the Scots at Assaye or the Forlorn Hope at Badajoz, pinnacles of battle writing elsewhere in the Sharpe series. We get to see a number of different susceptibilities to the presence of a vast treasure in gold, with Sharpe always rather close by. Another vignette features the first blooding of the Rifle Battalion as skirmishers. The hb cover art doesn't make much sense. Too bad the artist didn't choose the spectacular fireworks described for the bombardment of the city. But the two maps are really helpful (and also for Alexander Kent's mapless story of Nelson's earlier attack on Copenhagen: "The Inshore Squadron," Bolitho #13).

There are two years to go to Spain; shall we get another story before Sharpe appears there? Did I hear that there's one called Sharpe's Justice, righting wrongs on the Scottish Border?

The 18th Richard Sharpe book from the author I'm almost compulsive about.

Bernard Cornwell appeals to me the way the writers of the Boy's Own yarns appealed to me when I was a boy, in the 1950s. His tales are filled with derring-do, with people battling not only an implacable foe but also their own demons - and doing it all so wonderfully well.

Like a number of Amazon reviewers, I have read all the Sharpe books, and they all grace my bookshelves (with the exception of two, which are on loan). This is a worthy addition to the continuing saga.. and one in which Mr Cornwell allows his sense of humour to show.

He very gently, and very skillfully, pokes the borax at the Danes in this book, and his wit is as sharp as Richard's bayonet. Read the story for the adventure (and it's a rattling good yarn about a little-known time of shame for the Brits)and for the gentle japes Mr Cornwell makes at the expense of the Danes' extraordinary reputation for being nice.

And we also see that while Sharpe displays some traits of true nobility, he is also a gutter-raised bloody-minded murderer. This almost schizoid characterisation is difficult for an author to maintain, but Mr Cornwell manages to tweak the sympathies of his audience well enough that we are tempted to forgive Sharpe anything. And, we do.

Will there be a 19th volume of Sharpe adventures? I certainly hope so.

Exactly what we have come to expect from Mr.Cornwell - intriguing plot, bloodthirsty action, skulduggery, espionage and (of course) the usual healthy dose of lust, both carnal and pecuniary.
Although, in this little-publicised episode in British history, Sharpe seems strangely inept and less logical than normal, doubtless due to his recent bereavement and near-bankruptcy. At times we see the hard man reduced to tears at some small reminder ... this unmanning shows in the guileless way he goes about his task of ensuring that a chest of gold gets to the right place with the desired effect. Instead, he lets himself be duped - and almost killed - several times before gathering his wits; which he does in grand style, saving the day, finishing the job and settling a few scores - looks like it all turns out fine in the end, doesn't it? Read it and find out...
The writing, and the action, flows so well that the book is finished before one realises - leaving one gasping for more.
Once again the tale is based on historical facts, brilliantly dramatised; and summarised in an illuminating appendix - Mr.Cornwell's place at the top of the military history writers' roll of honour is assured. *****

This 18th installment in the Sharpe series is set in 1807, following the events of Sharpe's Trafalgar. The story kicks off in high gear with the cold-blooded murder of British officer in London at the hands of a traitorous fellow officer. Meanwhile, Sharpe is first encountered in a rather comic scene at the offices of a firm that handles the monetary affairs of military men. It comes as some shock to find that he is attempting to sell his battlefield commission in order to leave the army! It seems he is disenchanted with being a quartermaster and is penniless following various nefarious legal actions following the death of his paramour Lady Grace. Fortunately for the continuity of the series, selling a battlefield commission is not permitted (no matter how threatening Sharpe is to the priggish clerks!), and he's stuck in his position for the moment.

Larger events are at work however -- it seems Denmark has built a very nice fleet, which the French want in order to replace their losses at Trafalgar and the British want in order to keep the French from having it. Following a brief episode in which Sharpe revisits the orphanage he was reared in (the most unconvincing part of the book), he is assigned to replace the murdered officer as the bodyguard for the nefarious Captain Lavisser. Lavisser is an aide to the Duke of York who has been charged with a secret mission to take 43,000 guineas and bribe the Danish prince into "storing" his fleet with the British for safekeeping. Alas, he is also a traitor and French agent who is planning on killing Sharpe and making off with the gold.

And so Sharpe is tossed into a James Bond role as he attempts to stay alive, foil Lavisser, and boink the beautiful daughter of Britain's agent in Copenhagen. More suited to the battlefield than intrigue, Sharpe is generally a step or two behind Lavisser until he finally gets to go mano-a-mano with him in the midst of a bombardment. Ah yes... the British bombardment of Copenhagen... one of the earliest deliberate attacks on a civilian population using modern armaments. Not the finest moment for the British fleet, and Cornwell pulls no punches in describing the horror and destruction it wreaked.

On the whole I found the book to be as entertaining and gripping as any in the series. True, there's not as much battlefield action as some might prefer, but there is a well described action in which British regulars rout a rag-tag group of Danish militia. And you have to like the irony of Sharpe being on the wrong end of volley fire for once! There are also little cameos by series regulars Wellesley, Harper, and the first action of the riflemen. There's even the rather shocking scene of Sharpe weeping! All in all, a little bit of a hodge-podge, but one built solidly upon an obscure piece of military which Cornwell once again capably brings to light.

You have to give Bernard Cornwell credit -- for a Brit (albeit one who emigrated to Cape Cod) with a warm affection for his homeland, he sure is capable of giving it a stick in the eye. And what a sharp, brutal stick it is, too.

"Sharpe's Prey" takes place in 1807, a couple of years after Sharpe helped the British navy destroy the French at Trafalgar. That book, "Sharpe's Trafalgar," ended on a high note for Sharpe - triumphant, rich, and hopelessly in love.

Bliss lives a brief life in Sharpe's world, and "Sharpe's Prey" opens with Sharpe destitute and lost -- even his home, the British army, doesn't seem to want him anymore, putting him in the thankless and totally inappropriate role of quartermaster for the 95th Rifles.

But through a murder, hope springs anew for Sharpe, as an old friend sends Sharpe as hired muscle on an important mission to Copenhagen, Denmark. The Danes, though neutral, had the second-largest fleet in Europe, and the Brits learned that through a super-secret treaty, the Russian emperor gave Napoleon the Danish fleet. (Just think of the arrogance of the Russian and French leaders at that -- giving away a fleet that wasn't theirs!)

So Sharpe is charged with escorting a British agent and 43,000 guineas to Copenhagen as an inducement to the Danes to keep their fleet out of Napoleon's hands. Unfortunately for Sharpe, the British agent is a dastardly and lethal fellow named Lavisser, who has no intention of giving up 43,000 guineas or of letting Sharpe get in his way.

But the book really focuses on one of the black marks in British history, the firebombing of Copenhagen. As one can expect, the Danes resisted the British overtures and wanted to remain sovereign (recognizing the British offer for what it was). As a result, Sharpe finds himself amidst a Copenhagen that for three days becomes a raging inferno as the British navy launches thousands of firebombs per day into the city -- a city they knew held thousands of women and children.

Cornwell pulls no punches in his virtuoso descriptions of those hellish nights. "Sharpe's Prey" may be one of Cornwell's shorter novels (a mere 260-odd pages), but it is among his most powerful. And through it all, Sharpe marches on. This is a difficult yet valuable book.

Stupendous as always, with plenty of depth to Sharpe as we see him again after his great love affair has come to a tragic end. The details about the decmination of Copenhagen are first rate. Excellent suspense and another nice transition from the India novels to the Peninsular ones.

Once again, the author has given me a story that involves an aspect of the Napoleonic Wars about which I previously knew nothing, the bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807. Of course, he has put his intrepid hero, Richard Sharpe, right into the center of it, alongside actual historical characters. It's an exciting tale, as always with the Sharpe series, although we get to see a little of the softer side of Sharpe, as he grieves for his lost Grace, who died in childbirth. Sharpe is the early 19th century James Bond, always getting into and out of near-impossible situations, and always seeming to find a beautiful woman to share some time with him. The settings appear factual, and I assume that the details of the action are quite correct. Now that this tale is told, I wonder where Sharpe's adventures will take him next, for it appears that most of the time from 1807 until Waterloo has been covered by other books in this series. I can only hope the author finds other adventures for Richard Sharpe, for I would miss him terribly if there were no further works about him.

Not that this isn't good -- a Richard Sharpe story combines, adventure, history, and social commentary in a most enjoyable way. Cornwell is a natural story-teller, and unlike many modern novelists, he doesn't seem intent on making each book longer than the one before.

In this one, Sharpe is on a spying mission in Denmark. There are some interesting parts to it -- Sharpe's escape up a chimney is riveting. But the sense of danger just isn't there. The villians aren't menacing; just banal. The consequences seem minor. There are many places where Sharpe could just walk away from the situation.

These "early Sharpe" books make you appreciate how important the character of Patrikc Harper is to the series.