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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9780140294293
ISBN number: 0140294295
Label: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 304
Printing Date: February 01, 2001
Publishing house: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Sale Popularity Level: 53940
Studio: Penguin (Non-Classics)
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
It's 1809, and Napoleon's army is sweeping across Spain. Lieutenant Richard Sharpe is newly in command of the demoralized, distrustful men of the 95th Rifles. He must lead them to safety-and the only way of escape is a treacherous trek through the enemy-infested mountains of Spain.
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Rated by buyers 
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This was my very first Bernard Cornwell novel, and I liked it so much I read it in one sitting, even though the napoleanic wars aren't my area of interest (though this series could change that). Cornwell actually has a subtle but unique style of prose, unlike so many contemporary writers who only hammer out the basic gutterals, yet his writing is not exposition or description-heavy, but moves along at a swift pace. The character of Lois, who in the hands of most writers would have come out as just the obligatory love-interest, is brought to life as a 3-dimensional character here even though her over-all role is relatively small. There is a sense of adventure to the proceedings and the events unfold realistically. I have already bought 7 more of his novels (Arthur trilogy, civil war quartet) and look forward to reading more about Sharpe. I see why he has such a large following.
Rated by buyers 
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Although I don't usually like military history, I did enjoy this book. That could have been because I completely love the "Sharpe" DVD series - though the book was nothing like the movie, so maybe not. The style drew me in - dry enough to fit the genre, but not so dry that I did not care about the characters or the events. Those coming to this book expecting it to be what the movie was will be disappointed; those who come to it expecting a good story will not be disappointed in the least.
Rated by buyers -
This enjoyable sixth series entry appears to have been written before the previous five. (And after eight later ones.) It's fun watching Cornwell make it all fit, no mean feat. The writing crackles with newness, not having yet settled into a lower-key long-distance pace.
We meet Sharpe - original readers really were meeting him for the very first time - in Spain's northwest Galicia region in 1809. His unit gets cut off while retreating from the French. Sharpe, as quartermaster the lowliest form of officer life, finds himself in command. He must win over men who expect officers to be gentlemen, not from the ranks like themselves and certainly not raggedly poor like Sharpe.
With escape to the nearby coast impossible, he must face down a mutiny to lead them toward Lisbon, where a British garrison remains. His biggest problem: the huge Irishman Patrick Harper, who wants no part of the English or Sharpe. They meet up with Spanish cavalry led by Major Vivar, a local aristocrat to whom peasants are loyal. This unlikely ally carries with him a mysterious chest the French desperately want to capture. He also teaches Sharpe about command. Sharpe's men learn he already knows how to fight.
Cornwell must have had plans for the earlier books. He touches lightly on earlier events, but mentions enough - the battles of Assaye and Seringapatam, the storming of Gawilghur, the fateful encounters with the Tippoo Sultan and General Arthur Wellesley - later written about. He avoids missteps which would then have had to be changed. He writes Sharpe strongly in the present tense, sort of like Hammett's Continental Op, avoiding the not-yet-written past, but also establishing Sharpe's lonely, poor and defiant persona. And this, finally, is where Sharpe gains command.
Rated by buyers -
SHARPES RIFLES
Sixth of Cornwell's peninsular war novels, containing the fictional personage carrying the series of selected battles under Wellington during the Napolianic war with Great Britain. Along wiih the other 10 novels in this series, the period recreation and battle accuracy are outstanding. As adventure, it contains sex and violence in sufficient detail to appeal to a large audience.
Rated by buyers -
I love the Sharpe series, as well as almost all the books by Cornwell. The problem with this audio version is getting past the narrator's poor endeavor to sound like characters he is portraying.
He would have been better off with a straight read than making Sgt. Harper sound like a scrawny weasel of an Irishman (definitely not my idea of him), or Blas Vivar who sounds like a throat cancer victim. I won't even expand on what he does to the heroine.
All in all though, it is a great way to pass the time if your driving or have time to wait for your girlfriend (my girl is always late). Don't let this put you off too much though, it is still a great story, and of coarse it's still Sharpe, Harper and the Rifles marching to Paris and killing sinister Frogs on the way. Ah, if life were only so simple!
God save Ireland!
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