Customer Reviews

Sharpe's Revenge (Richard Sharpe's Adventure Series #19)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If I can grossly break Sharpe readers into two camps (those who read just for the battle scenes, and those who read for the story of Richard Sharpe, of which battle scenes are one thrilling part), then Sharpe's Revenge is definitely for the second group. Other than the surprisingly hard-fought battle of Toulouse at the start, Revenge concerns Sharpe's (almost) one-man adventures in post-war Europe.

It's a strange world for Sharpe (and the Sharpe reader), one in which the dogged British army we've come to admire through ten books of the Peninsula War is no longer the underdog fighting overwhelming odds, but is the overwhelming force itself. Everyone knows Napoleon is doomed. Indeed, it's sad to read about the bloodshed at Toulouse because sacrifices which seemed heroic a year earlier just seemed tragically unnecessary in April 1814. What a sad thing to be the last soldier killed in a war.

Like the army, Sharpe is changing. As he gets older (he's now 36), he's losing his relish for battle and finding it harder to keep down the fear. For much of the book, his friend Frederickson is the go-getter, as Sharpe struggles with self-doubt over his post-army role, his wife's infidelities, etc.

And, after victory, the army is broken apart and Sharpe is adrift in this new world. But, of course, not for long. There's one more adventure with Harper and out of it, Sharpe's post-war world takes shape.

'Sharpe's Revenge' takes the series' hero, Richard Sharpe, through the battle of Toulouse to the end of the war with France. But Sharpe's old enemy, Pierre Ducos, has yet another scheme cooking which will make him extremely wealthy and leave Sharpe implicated in the disappearence of Napoleon's fortune. To redeem his name Sharpe, Sergeant Harper, and Captian Fredrickson must roam a newly peaceful Europe in search of Ducos. A bit of a transition novel in the series, it does tend to stray a little from the battlefield adventures of the other books, nevertheless it is a fun and exciting story that paves the way for the next novel in the series, 'Waterloo.'

The war with Napoleon is finaly over and the Brittish troops are prepairing to return to England. Unfortunately Major Ducos has different plan for our hero Sharpe. Framed for stealing the treasures of Napoleon, Sharpe and Harper must travel to Italy and even fight along side the troops of an old enemy to clear his name and exact revenge. Cornwell does well in capturing the anger in Richard Sharpe. His writing style helps the reader to feel exactly what his characters are feeling. While the war with Napoleon is over there really can be no lasting peace for Richard Sharpe. Bernard Cornwell will never let Sharpe retire into a quiet life and thank goodness for us Sharpe fans!

Bernard Cornwell has created a hero for the ages in Richard Sharpe, gutter trash raised from the ranks to become a Major in Wellington's army. For years, Sharpe has fought his away across land and sea, taking on enemies both mundane and exotic, and charming both men and women, friend and foe alike.

But after the novel opens with the vicious Battle of Toulouse. Not only was this battle a horrendous meat-grinder for both sides, it was particularly tragic because the battle was fought after Napoleon had already surrendered. Cornwell writes a stellar battle scene (as he always does), but the losses are even more horrific due to their futility.

Cornwell does not lighten the mood much after the battle, for the British army is now without a foe to fight, and therefore useless. The soldiers are packed off like so much cattle, and their Spanish and Portuguese wives and children are cast adrift - any British soldier who tried to dodge the lines to reunite with his family risked a firing squad. Cornwell is a proud Englishman, but he pulls no punches when describing his nation's occasional myopia.

Sharpe should be exulting in his good fortune, but his beloved wife Jane is in England trying to join society with the spoils of Sharpe's triumph at Vitoria. Not only that, Jane is soon to find her soulmate in the spoiled popinjay Lord Rossendale, whose job is to look handsome in uniform for the Prince Regent and to lose at cards. Jane, flighty as she is, soon shifts her affections from her rough soldier to the charming aristocrat.

And then there is Ducos, Sharpe's nemesis. Convinced that all is lost, Ducos steals a vast fortune from Napoleon and frames Sharpe for the deed. Soon, Sharpe is arrested by the provosts and seemingly doomed. Armed only with his courage and the strong rights arms of Sweet William Fredrickson and RSM Patrick Harper, Sharpe must fight across France to the Kingdom of Naples to clear his name.

A rather fantastic plot, to be sure, but one that Cornwell controls easily. The man must have about ten advanced degrees in the Napoleonic era, and the reader reaps the benefits of Cornwell's staggering research.

A must-read for all Sharpe fans, "Revenge" is a solid set-up to Waterloo.

At first a little disappointed as Cornwell spends a lot of time away from the battlefield, but he cleverly drags us along as Sharpe's outlook changes, so does ours. Good story with more than the usual twists and turns, and perhaps and ending that is just a little bit too sweet. Excellent outing for Sharpe & Harper.

As usual, a fine bit of historical fiction from a master of the genre.

I appreciate the wit and flair of Cornwall's writing. This is a fine addition to the series.

In this penultimate installment - considering "Waterloo" to be the ultimate, which it is, although not the last - Sharpe and Harper fight one last battle in France, at Toulouse, only to find that peace has broken out with Napoleon's abdication and exile to Elba. But as the troops and their wives head for home, they are accused, in an intricate plot engineered by French archspy Pierre Ducos, of the theft of the French royalty's private emergency fortune, which Ducos himself has actually taken.

Sharpe, Harper and Frederickson, under arrest, escape and go searching for evidence to clear their names, a trail which takes them in search of the French commandant of the fort they took in "Sharpe's Siege". They must make their way as wanted men across a France full of robbers and thieves, peace notwithstanding. Sharpe's wife Jane meanwhile heads back to England with his fortune to buy them a house - the Dorset farm that Sharpe dreams of, or the smart London townhouse that Jane wants? - but all is not peaceful on that front either.

It's the early spring of 1814, Wellington has taken his Peninsular army across Spain and into southwest France, and seems like Napoleon's days are numbered. Richard Sharpe, now a major but without a command, is feeling his age, too; he's been a soldier fighting the French for more than twenty of his thirty-eight years, and he's beginning to wonder if he's finally used up. He knows he's more afraid before battle than he used to be, and he worries more -- but perhaps that's because he has a lovely young wife now, so he has a lot more to lose. Cornwell's real talent is in depicting the minutiae of the course of battle, and the book opens with the British assault on Toulouse, which actually took place after the Emperor's abdication. Then the plot goes off on a tangent (as it often does in this series) as Sharpe's nemesis, the French spymaster, Pierre Ducos, decides to rip off part of Napoleon's treasure and go off on his own. He arranges to blame the loss on the always convenient Sharpe, who is called on the carpet and seems to be facing arrest and court martial. Sharpe is dealing now not with the military but with the bean-counters from London, so, of course, he takes matters into his own hands and with Sgt. Harper and another officer and goes off to find the French officers who can testify to his innocence. He ends up in Normandy and becomes involved with a young, impoverished farm widow who also happens to be a vicontesse -- which is also convenient, since his own wife, back in London, has taken a lover and stolen the fortune Sharpe managed to steal after Vitoria a few months before. The three companions track Ducos to Naples and there's a rousing finish in which they combine their small force with a imperial-loyalist general in retrieving both the treasure and Ducos. It's all a bit far-fetched, actually. Toulouse is the only set-piece battle this time, but we all know what's coming in a year and a half.

While it starts off well with a duel and a rousing battle, "Sharpe's Revenge" gradually develops into an unusually morose entry in the Sharpe series. I particularly disliked the unpleasant turn it took with Sharpe's wife, and it doesn't help that Sharpe seems to betray an old friend. The plot also feels somewhat contrived and farfetched, even for Richard Sharpe. There's a very clever twist involving a light artillery piece at the book's climax, but the denouement felt perfunctory and unconvincing. This isn't my least favorite novel in the Sharpe series (that would be the equally morose and even more farfetched "Sharpe's Prey"), but it's far from one of my favorites.

This is another entry on the Sharpe series. It is fun, entertaining and very readable. Cornwell's research is as excellent as usual. He takes some licenses for the shake of the story and continuity, but this is OK. Some people are outraged by the portrait of some of the real historical characters, but historical characters are rarely depicted accurately in historical fiction, so I think this can be forgiven. Besides, usually a more serious account of these characters is given at the end of the book on the Historical Note.

Many people insist in compare this series with Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander. I don't think this is fair for any of the series, they are different entities. What they have in common is that once you start you may get hooked and devour one book after another...

And in the literary world today that is a rare and marvelous thing.