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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN num: 9780060932299
ISBN number: 0060932295
Label: HarperCollins
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 336
Printing Date: August 01, 1999
Publishing house: HarperCollins
Release Date: July 07, 1999
Sale Popularity Level: 42500
Studio: HarperCollins
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Product Description:
An honored veteran of the Napolenic Wars, Lt. Col. Richard Sharpe is drawn into a deadly battle, both on land and on the high seas.
The year is 1820, and military hero Richard Sharpe has quietly passed the years since the Battle of Waterloo as a farmer. Suddenly, his peaceful retirement is disturbed when he and the intrepid Patrick Harper are called to the Spanish colony of Chile to find Don Blas Vivar, an old friend who has vanished without a trace—and who just happened to be the captain-general of Chile. Sharpe and Harper embark on a dangerous journey that carries them very first to an unexpected interview with Napoleon, then on to Chile, a land seething with corruption and revolt. On land and at sea, Sharpe faces impossible odds, not only against finding Vivar, but against surviving in a time when tyranny rules, injustice abounds—Napoleon lurks on the horizon, itching to rekindle the world in a blaze of war.
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Rated by buyers 
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"Sharpe's Devil" is - so far - the final book in Bernard Cornwell's epic Richard Sharpe series in chronological terms. Cornwell has famously written many of these books out of historical sequence, but for the most part the novels formed a long, slow build to a magnificent climax with "Waterloo," when Sharpe finally faces Napoleon on the battlefield. "Waterloo" worked on many levels, but primarily as the perfect final act of Sharpe's long military career.
But Cornwell is a prolific writer, so say the least, and he must have felt that Sharpe and Patrick Harper deserved an entertaining epilogue of sorts, so here we have "Sharpe's Devil." The novel kicks off in 1820, and Sharpe has settled down in Normandy, content to live a farmer's life with Lucille and their two children. But a woman from Sharpe's past comes with a small errand - can Sharpe go to Chile to track down Don Blas Vivar, her husband? Don Blas had fought with Sharpe in Spain and they were friends of sorts. Lucille reminds Sharpe that they need money for the farm, and with this somewhat unconvincing prologue, Sharpe sets off for the New World with Harper - now obese after years of sampling his own wares at his pub in Ireland.
On the way to Chile, Sharpe and Harper meet Napoleon, who charms them and gives Sharpe a token to present to an "admirer" in Chile. This of course is false, and puts Sharpe at the mercy of the corrupt Spanish authorities in Chile because the token is actually a coded message from Napoleon to a local rebel.
The point of Cornwell's story is to have Sharpe fight alongside one of the era's true mavericks, Lord Cochrane. Cochrane is a famous sailour who has hired out his services to the Chilean rebels fighting against their Spanish overlords - he is the titular devil. Cochrane may have served as Patrick O'Brian's inspiration for Lucky Jack Aubrey, as the two characters are both audacious and lucky in battle as well as being completely useless in politics. But who could resist having Cochrane, the ultimate sailor, meet Sharpe, the ultimate soldier?
Unfortunately, while the novel has several promising elements - there is no such thing as a bad Bernard Cornwell novel - it does not hit the heights of the rest of the series. Perhaps most annoyingly, the Spanish foes Cochrane and Sharpe face have a disturbing tendency to run away. At several key moments, Sharpe and Cochrane would be dead if the local soldiers could mount a decent volley and bayonet charge, but instead they run away. Indeed, some forts are abandoned seemingly before they are even fired upon.
Ultimately, the enemies Sharpe, Harper and Cochrane face in "Devil" just aren't up to snuff. While the novel raises the intriguing notion of Napoleon heading to Chile to start another campaign, this obviously did not occur. Fans of Cornwell will probably read "Devil" anyway, but the book in no way constitutes an essential part of the Sharpe legend. Feel free to stop with "Waterloo" and check out Cornwell's other series if you haven't read them already.
Rated by buyers 
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I've read nearly all the full-length Sharpe books, and this is definitely the weakest. The plot is desultory and predictable, the characters thinly drawn, and worst of all, Harper is reduced to comic relief. I still read it - it's still Sharpe - but it's a disappointment. If you haven't read the other books in the series, I urge you to put this off until you can't stand waiting for Cornwell to come out with his subsequent book. Chronologically, that should be easy, since this book takes place after Sharpe's been retired for a good long time.
Rated by buyers 
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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 yesterday that is a rare and marvelous thing.
Rated by buyers -
Six years after the end of the Napoleonic wars, ex-Rifleman Richard Sharpe toils on his French wife's farm in Normandy. Times are a little tough, so when the fabulously wealthy wife of a former Spanish comrade asks him to travel to Chile to find her missing husband, he can't refuse the gold that comes with the request. Naturally, Sharpe rounds up the now-rotund and prosperous tavern-keeper Patrick Harper before setting sail for South America. Their vessel is a Spanish one, ferrying a number of patronizing and foppish Spanish officers who are off to fight the Chilean rebels (who are led by the intriguing half-Spanish, half-Irish gentleman Bernardo O'Higgins). These Spaniards decide to take a minor detour to St. Helena to gawk at the imprisoned Napoleon, and of course Sharpe and Harper can't resist the chance to pay their own respects. The ex-emperor is by now rotting away in his dank mansion, with peeling wallpaper, a poor wine-cellar, and a large British garrison to keep him company. Treated like a curiosity in a zoo, he is disdainful of the Spaniards, but is intrigued by Sharpe and Harper, who are clearly fellow warriors. Cornwell has a lot of fun with this section, as the two old soldiers talk shop, honor each other, and Sharpe, with his customary naivite is unwittingly drawn into intrigue.
Eventually, the ship arrives in Chile, where Sharpe is told the man he is seeking, Captain-General Vivar, is actually dead. Of course, Sharpe is suspicious when a body can't be produced, and soon he and Harper have run afoul of the thoroughly evil Spanish Governor-General Bautista. Events entertainingly run their course, and soon the dynamic duo find themselves on the side of the rebels seeking to eject the Spaniards from Chile. They come under the wings of Admiral Cochrane, a Scottish Lord turned rebel seaman, and all around adventurer. Cochrane is a wildly daring and bold leader, a real life figure of such improbability that many readers will want to rush out and read one of the biographies about his exploits (The Audacious Admiral Cochrane by and The Sea Wolf by being two). Once in Cochrane's company, the action ratchets up until the climactic battle at Valdivia, where the ragtag rebel navy crushed the entrenched and more numerous Spanish defenders in an audacious action, heralding an end to Spanish rule. The rout also allows Sharpe to unravel the mystery of what befell Captain-General Vivar, and of course, exact retribution on the nasty Bautista.
This is indubitably a change of pace and setting from the regular Sharpe books, but a welcome one. As always, the military action is well described, there are evil villains, interesting supporting characters, and a heavy dose of vivid personages from history on hand. It's hard to imagine anyone making the nominally drab topic of Chilean independence come alive more vividly than Cornwell does here. There's a lot packed into this one, and Cornwell even manages to raise the specter of one of history's more interesting "what ifs" via an audacious plot. All in all, great fun.
PS. Anyone interested in St. Helena is advised to read Harry Ritchie's excellent travel book, The Last Pink Bits, which has a good section on how the island fares in modern times.
Rated by buyers 
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Excellend adventure reading. I liked all Sharp stories.
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