Book 4, Sharpe's Trafalgar: Sharpe

On leaving India after his transfer to a newly formed regiment in England, our hero Richard Sharpe finds himself caught up in situations and adventures that eventually lead him to take part in the battle of Trafalgar alongside a detachment of British marines. The very fact that almost the entire story takes part at sea does give this book a different from the previous books in the series. I would also say that the pace of the book is a little slower. That is with the exception of the actual Battle of Trafalgar which is complete nail biting action for the last few chapters of the book. However, the storyline is gripping and keeps you turning the pages. Also Bernard Cornwall being the exceptional historical writer that he is, manages to give much interesting detail of the way of life on board ship in the early ninetieth century as the story unfolds. I really enjoyed this book and see no reason why I won’t go on to eventually complete the entire series.

I am becoming addicted to Bernard Cornwell's superb action-packed historically detailed fictional series about Richard Sharpe, an English foot-soldier in India and the Napoleonic wars at the end of the 18th and start of the 19th Century. This time Sharpe takes to the high seas and at the end of a long voyage home from India gets involved in the Battle of Trafalgar, the largest and bloodiest sea battle of the days of sail.

Richard Sharpe was born and raised in poverty and joined the British army and was sent to serve in India. He quickly made his mark as a Sergeant but was promoted from the ranks to become a commissioned officer for an "act of outstanding bravery" when he saved the life of General Arthur Wellesley (later the Duke of Wellington). At that time most officers purchased their commissions and looked down at Sharpe as an interloper with no class, and his men don't think he is a proper officer.

Sharpe is on his way back to England from India on "Calliope" an East India Company ship. Fellow passengers are Lord William and beautiful but very aloof Lady Grace Hale. Initially there is little contact between Lady Grace and Sharpe but her fascination with Sharpe's character and persistence (he is a rugged ladies man), Lord William's addiction to laudanum (an opiate) as a sleeping draft and the tedium a long voyage bring them much closer together.

Part way through the voyage the Calliope is hijacked by a French warship, the "Revanant", off Mauritius and the ship is left under the control of a small prize crew. When English man-of-war, the "Pucelle", finds them Sharpe takes control of the ship by cutting the steering ropes. He is reunited with Captain Joel Chase who became a friend in Bombay when Sharpe saved Chase from a very violent encounter with Indian businessmen who swindled both of them.

In a very clever literary move Cornwell sets the Pucelle in pursuit of the Revanant ending the chase in Spanish waters at a time when huge opposing fleets from England, and France and Spain, are about to meet in the Battle of Trafalgar. This is where Cornwell excels - authentically researched historical contexts and adrenaline-pumping action-packed description of battles. The reader is right in the centre of the naval battle, with the noise and recoil from broadsides of cannon; the destruction of sails, spars and masts; much bloodshed; sword fights and much bravery. Of course Sharpe is in the centre of it all.

While the book is nearly 400 pages it seemed much shorter because of the page-turning action. I have read that Cornwell has been called "The greatest writer of historical adventures today." I agree and I am already addicted to the Richard Sharpe series and plan to read all 22 of Sharpe's adventures in order whenever I get a spare moment. As I started with #4 in the series I need to go back first and read Sharpe's adventures in India (Sharpe's Tiger, Triumph, and Fortress).

In a previous review I had wished Cornwall would mix up the formula of his Sharpe series, proving the French proverb correct--I didn't at all enjoy getting what I wished for. Sharpe's Trafalgar is a hybrid novel of unlikely Romance and unlikely happenstance adventure wherein we are asked to suspend our disbelief that an army officer just happens to stumble upon the greatest naval battle since Actium. I did so grudgingly. After all can't Cornwall come up with his own interesting premises to drive a plot--or will we have Sharpe ricocheting across Europe in the Napoleonic Wars.

Not only does our hero stumble into the battle at Trafalgar but he is introduced to Nelson who (naturally) takes a shine to Sharpe offering sage advice about being unnecessarily modest. Sadly, this is the plausible part of our tale with a seedy and wholly unconvincing affair between a baroness and the ensign taking center stage. Apparently aristocrats in the 19th century risked all--wealth, status and comfort for a roll in the hay. Why? They are bored. And realize how disagreeable an arranged marriage can be.

Even if one assumes the Lady Grace is indifferent to class mores and proprieties, are we supposed to believe she is too horny to restrain herself in a venue that all but ensures discovery. Does it bother her 19th century sensibilities that she is an adulterous? Of course not. That her lover commits murder to silence blackmail? Whatever. It is all too absurd for words. Cornwall's strength was never character development but surely an editor could have pointed out that 21st century morality is inappropriate in a story taking place 200 years ago. I have no doubt adultery happened. I also have no doubt it didn't happen as described in ST.

What saves this from being a silly stinker is the genuinely interesting description of 19th century naval tactics and life above and below deck. The battle of Trafalgar is rousing and the devotion Nelson inspires is well done. However, Cornwall seems to have ventured into the realm of romance with this one, and that isn't, in my opinion, a good thing.

I have just started the eleventh (chronological) Sharpe series book by Bernard Cornwell entitled Sharpe's Fury. I am finished viewing all of the British TV series of Sharpe and have begun viewing The Video Diaries of Rifleman Harris created by actor Jason Salkey who played the educated Harris in the series. At this time, Sharpe's Trafalgar (the fourth book chronologically) has been my favorite. I think there are at least a couple of reasons. The first reason is that Mr. Cornwell wrote this book as one of the seven prequels to Sharpe's Eagle, but he wrote it in 2000. This was after he had written the majority of the series and I really enjoy his later writing style (not that it was not good previously, however). The second reason is that Richard Sharpe leaves India to go back to England and he has not yet fought in Portugal and Spain. The change of scenery from India and the hot battlefields and learning about one of the most important sea battles between the British Navy and the French and Spanish fleets was exciting. My hero, Sharpe, is leaving India to go back to England to join the Rifles, a new unit of skirmishers and marksmen. Lo and behold, on his way back, he gets embroiled in the famous Battle of Trafalgar.

The setting for Sharpe's Trafalgar was aboard a couple of ships as Sharpe was traveling "home." Home is a relative term for Sharpe, being as he is an orphan. Before finding and boarding the ship he chartered to take him home, Sharpe saved the life of a certain Captain Joel Chase. Sharpe had been taken advantage of by some shady Indian businessmen who had charged him to store his belongings and take them to the ship and then lost them in a "fire." He had to buy more gear and was suspicious of the merchants. Chase also smelled a scam and went to the Indians' home to confront them at the same time as Sharpe. Sharpe saved Chase's life and became fast friends with Chase. Sharpe was sailing on the transport ship Calliope and Chase was the captain of the Pucelle. Later, the Calliope was "taken over" by a French warship, the Revenant, and then Chase and his ship later encountered the Calliope and saved Sharpe and others. I used the term "taken over" lightly because the captain of the Calliope, Peculiar Cromwell, really was in cahoots with the French and steered a course where the ship could be captured. (A side note: Mr. Cornwell, the author, was adopted and grew up and lived with a religious group in England called the Peculiar People. I believe that has something to do with the name of his Calliope captain.)

Before the actual battle, Sharpe fell in love with Lady Grace Hale, one of the passengers on the ships. She was a beautiful lady married to Lord William Hale, a higher up in the political scene in London, who was a stuffy, cold man. Sharpe and Lady Grace managed to have a secret relationship throughout the journey. Of course, Sharpe had to take care of a blackmailer. However, Lady Grace's husband did find out about the relationship and tried to pay them back during the battle. Not smart with Sharpe aboard.

The battle itself and the strategies involved concerning the British versus the French and Spanish were very enlightening to me, someone who knew virtually nothing about this time period. Admiral Nelson makes an appearance in the book before his tragic death. Mr. Cornwell provided an excellent map of the positioning of the ships just west off of Cape Trafalgar at the start of the battle. There is also a diagram of a typical ship from the time period, denoting the different decks and quarters.

It is amazing that Sharpe seems to turn up in every important battle in India, Copenhagen, Portugal, Spain, and at the most important sea battle where Admiral Nelson meets his end. That is ok by me, but you have to know the total improbability of it. But I enjoyed seeing Sharpe out of his element aboard ships on the sea, in love with a well-placed woman of society who loved him despite his lower status, and yet still fighting and making a difference for England and King George.

The 4th book in the Richard Sharpe adventure series. Sharpe is taking a ship back to England to join a newly formed rifle regiment, the Green Jackets. His ship, the Calliope, is captured by a French warship and his jewels are stolen, which had been left in safe-keeping with the captain, who betrays their ship to the French. Also stolen is a treaty which, when delivered, could provoke India into a new war against the British. The Calliope is recaptured by an old friend of Sharpe, and now he and Captain Chase must find the French ship to avert a new war with India. The climax of their chase takes them into the Battle of Trafalgar itself, where the strength of the British navy meets the combined French and Spanish navies. A superb, action-packed tale.

Cornwell's main character, Ensign Richard Sharpe, came up through the ranks. He was awarded an ensign's commission due to his heroism in battle. Because he has not been schooled as a gentleman, he is looked down upon by his fellow officers. The enlisted men do not respect him because he was once like them. Sharpe is determined to make his own way. He is brave and treacherous. He does not suffer fools. And when someone has treated him unfairly, he holds a grudge, and takes his revenge when the opportunity comes.

In this installment of the series it is 1805. England, France, and Spain are battling for supremacy of the ocean. In the seas around India, the French warship Revenant has been been harassing English shipping. The English warship Pucelle has been assigned to stop the Revenant. Sharpe is on his way home to England. Before leaving India, he helps the Pucelle's captain to regain some purloined goods.

Sharpe has booked passage on the Calliope, an East India cargo ship. Traveling with him are several well to do merchants, Lord William Hale and his beautiful young wife Lady Grace.

As the Calliope sails eastward, Sharpe and Lady Grace become attracted to each other. Soon they are conducting a clandestine affair. Unfortunately, fate intervenes. The captain of the Calliope believes that England is doomed to lose the war. He arranges to have his ship captured by the Revenant. In doing so, he steals his passengers prized possessions, including Sharpe's valuable collection of gemstones. Also, Sharpe and Grace's affair has been discovered by Lord Hale's personal secretary. The secretary attempts to blackmail Sharpe and Grace.

Eventually, Sharpe, Grace, Lord William and his secretary are saved by the Pucelle. The Pucelle is pursuing the Revenant. As they chase the Revenant around the Cape of Good Hope and north toward Europe, Sharpe and Grace continue their affair. Just as they catch up to the Revenant, they find the British, French and Spanish fleets gathered for what will become the Battle of Trafalgar.

As the battle rages around the ship, Sharpe fights for his life. Deep in the bowels of the ship, Grace also fights to survive. Lord William reveals to Grace that he knows about the affair. The climax of the novel reveals who will survive this day of terror and treachery.

The last 60 pages of the novel describe the terrible sea battle that was Trafalgar. The pages fly by as Cornwell's description of the fighting draws you into the battle. You are there with Sharpe as he participates in the desperate struggle. Sea battles of this time were not fought as they are today. In this era ships fought side by side. Sharpe battles in a hailstorm of musket balls, grape shot and cannon balls. Cornwell's prose keeps you reading to learn the fates of Sharpe, his shipmates, and his lover.

In my opinion, "a real page turner" is an often overused phrase used in book reviews. For me, I found that this description of Cornwell's novel was literally true.

I enjoyed this book. It was a real page turner. And I highly recommend it.

In chronological order, Sharpe's Trafalgar is the fourth book in the series. You could also think of it as an out-of-sequence book because it has little to do with the stories about Richard Sharpe as a soldier. In fact, unless you want to read a little about what it was like to be at the Battle of Trafalgar, you could skip this book and not miss anything important in the way of character development. Unlike the India books where Sharpe was continually fighting off deadly threats to his life, Sharpe is more concerned here with sneaking around with a married woman, a remote cousin of Sir Arthur Wellesley, Lady Grace Hale.

The Napoleonic Wars were fought in Europe. Naturally, Sharpe has to leave India if he is to appear to save the day in all of those amazing battles on the continent. Naturally, he's going to pass by Trafalgar. Why not write a book about the battle and have Sharpe stumble into it? That's clear the thought process behind this book.

As a result, you end up with a lot of plot "development" that is sort of filler before the main battle. Having never studied the sea battle, I found that the explanations were interesting and the story helped make the technology and strategy easier to understand. Had this been a novella that focused on the last third of this book, I probably would have graded the book as a five-star effort.

The ins and outs of avoiding being swindled by ship chandlers, East India ship captains, and common seamen didn't seem all that interesting to me. The romantic side of the book wasn't too credible to me and didn't add much to my enjoyment of the story. If you think Bernard Cornwell's novels about Sharpe lack enough of a love interest, then you'll probably like this book a lot better than I did.

The writing is quite good in comparing naval battles with the kind of fortress breaching that Sharpe engaged in during the three books in India. I don't recall reading another novel from this era that made those comparisons quite so explicit and interesting.

By contrast, some of the dialogue is particularly bad. In fact, Cornwell makes fun of his own dialogue by putting words into the mouths of characters who don't agree that every ship's captain is a "fine fellow."

The unforgettable part of the book is the characterization of Lord Nelson who led his sailors to such a remarkable victory that day.

Fire!

An homage to Patrick O'Brian's "Master and Commander", the series based on the British Navy of the same period. The fan of both will see numerous similarities.

Sharpe's new friend, Captain Joel Chase, is the spitting image of Jack Aubrey. He's a bluff, good-natured fighting captain whose men would follow him through the gates of Hell, and he personally feels the same way about Admiral Lord Nelson. Sound familiar? He rarely flogs erring sailors. He loves his coffee. He pays for extra powder and shot out of his own pocket so that his crew can practice gunnery. And he's loyal to friends like Sharpe, who comes to Chase's rescue during a Bombay brawl with a dishonest merchant who cheated them both.

There are other touches as well. Sharpe's struggle to climb the masts and perhaps avoid using the maintop's "lubber hole" refers to the same running gag about Stephen Maturin, Aubrey's friend and intrepid but without sealegs.

Sharpe, a soldier, doesn't really belong at Trafalgar. But Cornwell contrives a plausible way to get him there, as Sharpe returns to Britain in 1805 to join a rifles regiment. The India books were fun but, after we've seen all those city walls stormed, all those rajahs plundered, and all those hideous Oriental tortures meted out, it's time to move on. Putting Sharpe on a ship, with its backstays and quarterdecks and scuppers pouring blood during battle, is a fine change of pace.

Cornwell's battle detail is typically gripping. And in this book Sharpe finds a romance that, one senses, may be more fateful than those he's had in previous books.

It's the summer of 1805 and Ensign Richard Sharpe (who, not so long ago, was Private and then Sergeant Sharpe) has been on duty in India for six years. Having grown up in a workhouse and then on the streets of London, he regards India as much "home" as anywhere -- but now he's heading back to England to join a newly-forming rifle regiment. (Although, having been a "redcoat" since he was sixteen, he's not happy about switching to a green jacket.) But first he has to get there, and that means four months at sea. And his timing is such that he's destined to be off the coast of Spain in October. Fans of Napoleonic naval fiction will recognize what that means. Sharpe's voyage is eventful, first on an East Indiaman that's captured by a French ship through the treachery of the English captain. Then, after a week as prisoners below decks, the passengers on the Indiaman are rescued by the intervention of a British ship-of-the-line -- which just happens to be commanded by a captain of Sharpe's previous acquaintance. The captain indulges in an ocean-spanning chase of the fugitive Frenchman -- which includes some of the best descriptions in the book for those who know Hornblower and Aubrey -- and they all arrive off the southern coast of Spain at just the right moment. Meanwhile, first on the Indiaman, then on the warship, Sharpe has been carrying on an affair with the beautiful young wife of a coldly arrogant peer, to the secret amusement of practically everyone on board except the lady's husband, who may or may not be ignorant of the adultery. Actually, the two plots don't overlap much. The love story seems unlikely, given the difference in station between Sharpe and the lady, and the naval plotline seems positively forced, being just a way to allow our hero to be present at one of the greatest marine confrontations in European history. The adventure is all very well, but it does stretch credulity. And believability is ordinarily one of Cornwell's greatest assets. (I wonder if Sharpe is going to be present at Gettysburg, too.)

In chronological order, Sharpe's Trafalgar is the fourth book in the series. You could also think of it as an out-of-sequence book because it has little to do with the stories about Richard Sharpe as a soldier. In fact, unless you want to read a little about what it was like to be at the Battle of Trafalgar, you could skip this book and not miss anything important in the way of character development. Unlike the India books where Sharpe was continually fighting off deadly threats to his life, Sharpe is more concerned here with sneaking around with a married woman, a remote cousin of Sir Arthur Wellesley, Lady Grace Hale.

The Napoleonic Wars were fought in Europe. Naturally, Sharpe has to leave India if he is to appear to save the day in all of those amazing battles on the continent. Naturally, he's going to pass by Trafalgar. Why not write a book about the battle and have Sharpe stumble into it? That's clear the thought process behind this book.

As a result, you end up with a lot of plot "development" that is sort of filler before the main battle. Having never studied the sea battle, I found that the explanations were interesting and the story helped make the technology and strategy easier to understand. Had this been a novella that focused on the last third of this book, I probably would have graded the book as a five-star effort.

The ins and outs of avoiding being swindled by ship chandlers, East India ship captains, and common seamen didn't seem all that interesting to me. The romantic side of the book wasn't too credible to me and didn't add much to my enjoyment of the story. If you think Bernard Cornwell's novels about Sharpe lack enough of a love interest, then you'll probably like this book a lot better than I did.

The writing is quite good in comparing naval battles with the kind of fortress breaching that Sharpe engaged in during the three books in India. I don't recall reading another novel from this era that made those comparisons quite so explicit and interesting.

By contrast, some of the dialogue is particularly bad. In fact, Cornwell makes fun of his own dialogue by putting words into the mouths of characters who don't agree that every ship's captain is a "fine fellow."

The unforgettable part of the book is the characterization of Lord Nelson who led his sailors to such a remarkable victory that day.

Fire!

An homage to Patrick O'Brian's "Master and Commander", the series based on the British Navy of the same period. The fan of both will see numerous similarities.

Sharpe's new friend, Captain Joel Chase, is the spitting image of Jack Aubrey. He's a bluff, good-natured fighting captain whose men would follow him through the gates of Hell, and he personally feels the same way about Admiral Lord Nelson. Sound familiar? He rarely flogs erring sailors. He loves his coffee. He pays for extra powder and shot out of his own pocket so that his crew can practice gunnery. And he's loyal to friends like Sharpe, who comes to Chase's rescue during a Bombay brawl with a dishonest merchant who cheated them both.

There are other touches as well. Sharpe's struggle to climb the masts and perhaps avoid using the maintop's "lubber hole" refers to the same running gag about Stephen Maturin, Aubrey's friend and intrepid but without sealegs.

Sharpe, a soldier, doesn't really belong at Trafalgar. But Cornwell contrives a plausible way to get him there, as Sharpe returns to Britain in 1805 to join a rifles regiment. The India books were fun but, after we've seen all those city walls stormed, all those rajahs plundered, and all those hideous Oriental tortures meted out, it's time to move on. Putting Sharpe on a ship, with its backstays and quarterdecks and scuppers pouring blood during battle, is a fine change of pace.

Cornwell's battle detail is typically gripping. And in this book Sharpe finds a romance that, one senses, may be more fateful than those he's had in previous books.

It's the summer of 1805 and Ensign Richard Sharpe (who, not so long ago, was Private and then Sergeant Sharpe) has been on duty in India for six years. Having grown up in a workhouse and then on the streets of London, he regards India as much "home" as anywhere -- but now he's heading back to England to join a newly-forming rifle regiment. (Although, having been a "redcoat" since he was sixteen, he's not happy about switching to a green jacket.) But first he has to get there, and that means four months at sea. And his timing is such that he's destined to be off the coast of Spain in October. Fans of Napoleonic naval fiction will recognize what that means. Sharpe's voyage is eventful, first on an East Indiaman that's captured by a French ship through the treachery of the English captain. Then, after a week as prisoners below decks, the passengers on the Indiaman are rescued by the intervention of a British ship-of-the-line -- which just happens to be commanded by a captain of Sharpe's previous acquaintance. The captain indulges in an ocean-spanning chase of the fugitive Frenchman -- which includes some of the best descriptions in the book for those who know Hornblower and Aubrey -- and they all arrive off the southern coast of Spain at just the right moment. Meanwhile, first on the Indiaman, then on the warship, Sharpe has been carrying on an affair with the beautiful young wife of a coldly arrogant peer, to the secret amusement of practically everyone on board except the lady's husband, who may or may not be ignorant of the adultery. Actually, the two plots don't overlap much. The love story seems unlikely, given the difference in station between Sharpe and the lady, and the naval plotline seems positively forced, being just a way to allow our hero to be present at one of the greatest marine confrontations in European history. The adventure is all very well, but it does stretch credulity. And believability is ordinarily one of Cornwell's greatest assets. (I wonder if Sharpe is going to be present at Gettysburg, too.)

Only Richard Sharpe could get caught up in a fleet battle on the way home from India and find romance on a Royal Navy line-of-battle ship. But he does, and it's a highly entertaining read.

Sharpe's Trafalgar is set at the conclusion of the trilogy of novels in India in which he obtains some treasure, gets promoted to be an officer after saving the life of General Wellesley (the future Duke of Wellington), and deals with the traitor Dodd. Shipping home to join the 95th Rifles, Sharpe initially takes passage on an East Indiaman, and finds an old opponent as one of the passengers. Treachery follows and the ship is captured by the French.

However, as the story is about Sharpe's Trafalgar, we know that he will not remain a prisoner of war for long. And sure enough, after an involved series of events, including the obligatory rescue of a lady in distress, Sharpe and his fellow passengers find themselves guests on a Royal Navy 74 gun ship of the line, chasing a French battleship half-way round the world. Until both ships arrive off Cape Trafalgar on 21st October 1805 ...

As usual Bernard Cornwell has done a great deal of research so that the Napoleonic era battles he describe seem real, and in the historical note at the end he explains that many of the events described during the battle of Trafalgar were based on things which really happened.

The next novel after this in the chronological sequence is "Sharpe's Prey," the main action of which is set two years later in 1807 when Napoleon's continental blockade results in war between Britain and Denmark. That book also tells you what happens to Sharpe's relationship with Grace, the heroine of "Sharpe's Trafalgar".

If you liked the other Sharpe books, you will like this one.

Readers following Sharpe's exploits in chronological order will by now be familiar with the formulaic nature of these books. There is a climactic battle, a new girl, a troublesome villain and Sharpe finally prevails on all fronts. It never fails to be exciting and is always a lot of fun. This book is no different. The challenge, though, was to place Sharpe, a soldier on land, at the great sea Battle of Trafalgar. Well, Sharpe is now going home to England after three books of Indian adventures, and sure enough, he finds himself on a ship involved in the battle. Along the way he also comes face to face with Nelson. The improbable series of coincidences apart, what makes the book noteworthy is the comparison of sea battle to land battles, as seen through the eyes of a soldier. The shipboard routine will be familiar to readers of the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian and certainly this book reads like one of those. I am a big fan of O'Brian and being familiar with naval cannon from his books have always been puzzled by the puny cannon used by the land forces of the Sharpe novels. In this book the point is driven home that a single line-of-battle ship in Nelson's fleet carried more guns than entire land armies laying siege to forts in India, and these were much larger guns by far. This is all the more amazing to modern readers when we consider the frail wooden nature of these sailing ships. Here then, is an illustrative example of true naval power.

The book is historically accurate. Readers interested in an eyewitness account of the Battle of Trafalgar should try Tom Pocock's non-fiction `Trafalgar: An Eyewitness History' released in 2005 for the bicentennial of the battle.

Bernard Cornwell continues his incredible adventures of Richard Sharpe. With the series having explored nearly every aspect of the Napoleanic period in which the British were invovled, the author is running out of historical chronology in which to insert his main character.
Cornwell has been re-tracking Sharpe's career ever since he finished the Peninsular War and Waterloo. Its a credit to the author's genius that he manages to make it work, but the lengths at which he must go in order to do so are getting a little thin now. With this book Cornwell devles into Patrick O'Brien terrority with Royal Navy nautical lore. He seems to have the nautical jargon down pretty good, although this land-lubber wouldn't really know if he was off or not!
All the ingredients of the Sharp series are here. Some stawart companions, arrogant aristos who always want to bring Sharpe low, treacherous characters who are not what they appear, and a lovely lady of the blue blood who falls for Sharpe's manliness! We have seen this all many times before in the earlier series, but Cornwell still somehow makes it work! The plot moves along with the usual on the edge page-turner writing and after the slow build-up we explode onto the carnage and horror of Trafalgar where Sharpe gets to meet Nelson first hand and compare him to Wellsley!
The battle scenes are Cornwell's forte and the blood, sweat and tears of Trafalgar become vivd before the reader's eyes. The carnage among the Franco-Spanish fleet was truly horrible and even through the British suffered much less severely, the stress and strain of the battle was no less for them. Cornwell describes this very well, even though Sharpe's penchant for killing continues to stack the body count in his favor. In the wholes series Sharpe has probably killed close to several thousand people! A bit unbelieveable perhaps, but Cornwell's supurb action writing still manages to hold it all together. Next stop, Denmark and the 95th Rifles! After that, Sharpe series shouid get a much needed rest.

The 17th Richard Sharpe book finds author Cornwell touched with a bit of "Flashman" syndrome�that is, the desire to place a swashbuckling title character on the scene of every major event of their lifetime, meeting all manner of historical personages. In George McDonald Fraser's Flashman series, this is acceptable, as the whole enterprise is comedic. However, the Sharpe series is a much more serious and realistic effort at historical fiction, and it detracts from it to have Sharpe shoehorned into the defining naval engagement in the history of the British empire. That said, the book is still fairly entertaining stuff sure to please any fan of the series.
The gist of it is that Sharpe is making his way from service in India to join the 95th Rifles, the green-jacketed regiment that is his home for most of the series. Loaded down with jewels looted from the Sultan Tipoo, he books passage on an East India Company ship. There's the usual cast of characters here, a bluff Englishman or two who like Sharpe, a Lord who very much doesn't, a pretty young woman to fall in love with, and a few people who aren't what they seem. Intertwined with various shipboard skulking and skullduggery is a plot involving a French raider. This eventually leads to Sharpe's transfer to British naval ship. a lengthy cat and mouse game with the raider, and ultimately a meeting with the legendary Admiral Nelson and finally the great battle.
The shipboard fighting is all extremely well described, and one gets a full sense of the terror and horror of naval warfare of the era. Similarly the shipboard deceit and treachery is ingenious and nasty. Less interesting is the love affair of Sharpe's, and given the intensity and outcome, it doesn't dovetail with the earlier written, though chronologically later Sharpe books. All in all, it's wonderful to have another Sharpe book, but one wonders how the series can continue without Cornwell having to shoehorn him into more and more unlikely venues.

Non-stop seafaring warfare action at its best! Richard Sharpe is the author's heroic army officer who boards a ship expecting a noneventful return trip to England after staving off rebellion against the British government in India. Instead, he finds himself involved in the Battle of Trafalger.
The action never stops as Sharpe fights for the rights of outbound ship passengers, fights for the love of a beautiful woman and fights for his country. The patriotic fervor and courage of navymen is palpable as Corwnell writes of the daily rigors and dangers of serving on the ships of the day. But, at the same time, the brutality and goriness of war is described exquisitely. I was lifted by small victories and winced at death and injury.
Most impressive in this novel is Cornwell's attention to historical detail. He even, much to his credit, includes a postscript at the end of the book to explain which parts of the book are fact and which are fiction. The characters are consistent and honestly portrayed. Sharpe, though heroic, is far from a saint. He breaks rules and laws to get what he wants just as he learned to get along as a homeless child. The wealthy in the book take advantage of the less fortunate to advance their desires. There is no adaptation of modern values and experience to distract from the time period here.
But this is an adventure novel first and foremost. I had a difficult time putting this book down and was left wanting more when it ended. This is, unfortunately, the first book I have read in Cornwell's Sharpe series. After reading Trafalgar, it will definitely not be my last.

The year is 1805 and Ensign Richard Sharpe is preparing to return to England in order to join the newly formed 95th Rifle Regiment. In the course of his preparations , he encounters Captain Joel Chase of HMS Pucelle at the home of a slimy Indian merchant who is attempting to cheat the two officers. The two officers become friends in spite of the vast disparity in rank , and their fortunes are intertwined in the course of this somewhat contrived tale.
Sharpe sails on the East India Company's ship Calliope , has an affair with the lovely young wife of an aristocratic English lord , encounters Anthony Pohlmann (who we remember from "Sharpe's Triumph" as the leader of the Mahratta confederation armies) , and falls prey to a French warship , the Revenant. In order for Sharpe to be present at Trafalgar , Cornwell has the Calliope recaptured by Joel Chase and the Pucelle and young Sharpe joins in the sea chase for the Revenant which culminates at the battle of Trafalgar.
The saving grace of the entire tale is Cornwell's description of the epic battle at sea! Even tho' some of the other writing is not up to the standard we expect from the author , it is more than compensated by the battle scene.
I personally believe this novel to be a bit of a "fill-in" novel in order to get Sharpe to another theater of activity. Not one of my favorites in the series , but still three stars-plus.

Sharpe's Trafalgar is a recent addition to the Sharpe saga although one of the earliest in chronology. While I had seen some of the Sharpe movies on TV, Sharpe's Trafalgar was my introduction to the books. As much of the action occurs at sea, it is has a quite different setting than the other works. Fortunately, the novel works well in the tradition of novels pioneered by C.S. Forester.
Sharpe's Trafalgar begins with Sharpe making friends with a Captain of a third rate Royal Navy ship. Rating refers to the number of guns as the captain and crew are first rate. Sharpe books passage back to India on a commercial vessel and after some chicanery participates in a sea chase around the Cape of Good Hope and up the Atlantic, arriving at Cape Trafalgar on October 21, 1806. On board there are intrigues but it all takes a back seat to the Battle of Trafalgar.
Cornwell has done a good job of writing a novel of wooden ships and iron men. Unlike the heroes of Forester, Woodman or Kent, his Sharpe has no official standing in the ship although we know that Sharpe won't miss out on any of the action when it comes. However, by establishing a friendship with the captain we are privy to much of the inner workings of the ship. Cornwell also provided a sketch of a typical ship so that a reader unschooled in naval literature will understand where everything is. The sailing details are minimal but I get bored with reading about the t'gallants being let out or the royals being reefed. If a reader found O'Brian impassible then Sharpe's Trafalgar might be a welcome introduction to the genre.
Cornwell also does a superb job of describing the Battle of Trafalgar. Unlike the most notable writers of the genre Cornwell does not describe a naval battle in elegant terms. Essentially naval warfare is like a vicious, bloody street fight in which the two fighters get in close and kick, gouge and bite until one falls. The kicking of the downed fighter only stops when it is sure he will no longer get up. Trafalgar is brutal savage butchery and Cornwell excels in blood and gore.
While Sharpe is the hero of the novel, not all of his actions are justifiable. Some of his actions are totally inappropriate and totally unacceptable even under the circumstances. Perhaps that's part of the interest in the series is that the hero doesn't always do the right thing. Paradoxically, I had the most sympathy for one of the villains when he gave his traditional- I'm gonna kill you and here's why- speech. The man made some good points. However, Sharpe's Trafalgar is a novel where the good guys wear white hats and the bad guys wear black, so to speak. Having a hero who does some unconscionable things and a villain who has some legitimate motivation for his evil, make it a little more interesting.
One thing that Cornwell communicates very well is Nelson's charisma. Sharpe's Trafalgar has the best presentation of Nelson of any novel of the era that I have read. Not only does he present Nelson's power to the reader but he also shows how the Royal Navy would follow him without question. The brief passages that include Nelson are almost inspiring and certainly very inspired.
Although Cornwell does not typically write in the hearts of oak genre, he could. Perhaps Sharpe won't go back to sea but let's hope that Cornwell's pen does.

This is the (chronological) fourth book in the Sharpe series. It follows the third immediately, so please start at the beginning if you have not done so. For those of you who have read the previous Sharpe books, review follows.

On his way home to England, Sharpe sails with one Captain Peculiar Cromwell, and meets up with his old cordial enemy, Pohlmann. He also begins an affair with an aristocrat's wife. But traitors have sold the ship to the French, and he is captured. Once Sharpe and the crew are rescued, the hunt is on, which leads them to meet Nelson and fight in the Battle of Trafalgar. This is another very good entry in the series, even though I don't care for nautical fiction as much as I do reading of land battles. As always, the historical details of ships, battles, dress and speech are mostly meticulously rendered, mixed in with a perhaps more modern action-hero sensibility (perhaps some of Sharpe's actions, as a mere ensign, might have been frowned upon in reality). It is true that the characters in this entry are painted in broader strokes than in the previous ones (thus the 3 rather than 4 stars): the heroes are all brave, good and dependable and the villains are all duplicitous and craven. Still, it's a swashbuckling yarn, and great reading fun. Recommended.

As a General Rule I adore Bernard Cornwell's books. I've read all but one of his Sharpe and Starbuck books and have all of the Sharpe movies as well. As a big Hornblower fan I welcomed Sharpe's Trafalgar but found myself left wanting.
The book opened well (the first scenes in India were first rate) I found the characters enjoyable sans a few minor flaws such as the pressing of East India men (forbidden by law) without hesitation and repeating it to Nelson. The willingness of at British Capt to try to break a blockade in a French SOL, (Given the realities quite a stretch but in keeping with the captians name.) The fights were not as inspiring as normal. (I think Cornwel may be out of his element here as was Sharpe.) These were small and wouldn't mean much if fact these at might not occur to people unfamilar with Forester's Hornblower books. But there was one scene which stopped the book for me cold.
During one vital scene the Sharpe confronted a foe armed with a pistol in the dark bowels of a ship foils him by dashing the oil lantern to the floor now forcing his for to confront him in a darkened room with only one shot. A proper re-write of the page would be someting like this:
'...Sharpe realized his mistake just as the lantern left his hand shattering on the dry wood, in a moment the dry deck fed by the oil and flame leapped to a firey life as the most feared foe of all wooden ships made itself plain. His foe screemed as the fire began to consume him, his struggles feeding the flames and spreading them to the baggage...'
Cornwell could have made Sharpe come above decks, pretend he heard the shouts and alert the crew in time to save the ship but not in time to save the clumsey fool who dropped the lantern, but he didn't. Perhaps the book deserved another star or a half but I can't give it.

Richard Sharpe, the heroic rifleman, was created by Bernard Cornwell as a way of following the career of the Duke of Wellington in the Peninsular war.
When that proved a roaring success Cornwell embarked on the production of some Prequels to show how Sharpe had risen from the ranks in India, and to show the early career of Wellesley at Seringapatam and Assaye.
But Sharpe had to be moved from India to Spain, and Cornwell cheekily hijacked this opportunity to introduce his diamond in the rough to the other great British war hero of the Napoleonic era, Admiral Nelson. In the process Cornwell slips another ship of the line into the battle of Trafalgar on either side.
Sharpes Trafalgar is a great swashbuckling novel in the best tradition of Hornblower. It moves from Conmen in India to Pirates on the high seas. There follows a nailbiting sea chase between two 74 gunners, culminating in the Battle of Trafalgar.
Along the way is a love story, deception, blackmail and revenge, all the usual depth and richness of Cornwells back plots. And on the trip we learn a lot about the day to day routines of the great days of sail.
Wonderful and colourful stuff. It's not literature, but it is great!

This book centers around how Richard Sharpe left India and eventually found himself in the middle of the Battle of Trafalgar, the most defining naval battle during the Napoleonic Wars. The book is predictable though, the side plot of Sharpe and a prominent female character is filler to an otherwise muindane journey. The author though describes a good picture of how its like to be on a ship two hundred years ago. He describes the parts of a ship pretty well and the sounds and smells of the ship pretty well. The interactions between the characters in the book were pretty predictable, you just knew that the characters would now do anything surprising, the heroes would behave heroic, the aristocrats would behave like snobs, and the cicophants would behave cowardly. Despite it all, the book was pretty enjoyable and would probably be good for younger readers more than older readers. The book reminds me of a hollywood movie that uses a recycled plot with high profile actors. But despite all of the mediocre shortcomings of this particular book, I got out of it a good impression of a slice of life in the 19th century where all the evolution of today's world came.

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.

Another outstanding addition to the classic Richard Sharpe series. With Sharpe departing India and sailing aboard an English warship, he soon becomes embroiled with a renegade, an unfaithful wife, a wealthy and jealous husband, a scattering of nautical characters worthy of Kent and Pope not to mention some terrific descriptions of life at sea aboard a King's ship. The author once again demonstrates his uncanny ability of placing our hero in some dangerous prediciments, with some splendid details about ship board hazards and some rousing sea battles and some rather torrid romantic interludes as well. A worthy addition to the collection, filled with adventure, thundering battle and splintered decks, romance and sudden death. I hope that Mr Cornwall considers doing a few books featuring a new naval hero, his writing style would capture that quite well. Once again, Sharpe marches on.

Yes, Cornwell has to jump through some literary and historical accuracy hoops to get Sharpe -- confirmed landlubber extrordinaire -- to Trafalgar, but, here, it just plain works. After a few preliminaries, Cornwell uses the heart of the book to tell the story of Trafalgar through the eyes of the redoubtable Ensign Sharpe. Yes, Sharpe gets more tail than your average movie star . . . and, yes, some traditional British cliches are present -- the nasty sneering aristocrat, and so forth, but Cornwell's sheer story-telling ability makes it one of the finest (along with Waterloo) Sharpe novels yet. The final hundred pages, even though the feature ships are fictional, tell the story of the great naval battle in more readable style -- while getting all the important details correct -- than any non-fiction book I've yet encountered. As the afterword teases, our hero must march again. If I can kick in my two cents, I'd suggest sending an aging Col. Sharpe to help the Greeks win their independence from the infidel Turks. All in all, a great read.

Bernard Cornwell is a historian first and storywriter second, at both he is superb. Trafalgar is possibly the most famous naval battle in British history and it just so happens to fit in with the Sharpe timeline. Naturally as a historian Cornwell would want to put Sharpe in this position and am glad he did. I found this book to amazingly interesting. The account of the naval battle is both detailed and gripping. He recounts the events with such accuracy its amazing how he made it seem so interesting and not just a report from a history book.
The book has all the ingredients that make the Sharpe series so great, you just have to read it to love it.
I give this book 4 stars, and it's well deserved.

Sharpe's Trafalgar puts Richard Sharpe directly in the most important naval battle of the Napoleonic Wars. Sharpe is on his way home from India when he meets up with the captain of the HMS Calliope. After helping the captain get some money back, Sharpe finds out that his shipmates aboard the ship home include a former enemy, a member of parliament accompanied by his aloof wife Grace. Filled with stirring battles, suspense and passionate love, Sharpe's Trafalger is a rolicking adventure yarn where Sharpe meets the great Admiral Nelson in a battle to save England from invasion. This is a fun book, but it is not one of my favorites. I have no problems with it except that sometimes the story is overdramatic. However, this is an important addition to the Sharpe's series as it establishes much of what happens later in the series.

We'll start with the obvious. Richard Sharpe has no business being at the battle of Trafalgar. Despite this, Bernard Cornwell gives us an interesting and plausible story to get him there.

It's still a bit contrived, but you'll forget all about it because the richness of the storytelling will have you feeling the deck swaying under your feet and you smelling the gunpowder in the air. I find this to be the most immersive Sharpe novel yet.

There is a significant amount of the novel dedicated to the actual engagement at Trafalgar as you would expect from a Sharpe. It is terrifically paced and remarkably well explained at the same time. No mean feat. The movements of the vessels and the ebb and flow of the battle are easily understood. It's probably the best description of a battle I have ever read, including textbooks on the subject.

Objectively I should only give the book 4 stars because Trafalgar is not where Richard Sharpe belongs. As reviews are subjective, I'm giving it a 5 because its brilliantly written and I'm a big softy so I really enjoyed the love story within this one.

Really enjoyed this as I do all of Bernard Cornwells books, Sharpe is on board ship and gets involved with a married woman. She and her husband are gentry but of course, she falls for Sharpe's good looks and rough demeanor. I found this a little hard to believe, especially taking place aboard ship with little opportunity for quiet and intimate meetings to develop the relationship. In the end, Sharpe has to handle the complications of keeping his affair a secret, and oh yes, the Battle of Trafalgar intervenes. Actually, the battle scene is handled well as is typical for Cornwell.

Richard Sharpe, fresh from the wars in India, is on his way hometo England, to sign up for a company that is called the "green jacket." He is young, carries stolen jewels, falls in love with a woman that he cannot have named Lady Grace Hale, he becomes involved in a piracy, and he becomes involved in the death of Lady Grace Hale's husband! He learns to fight on water, and he learns how to love, but he find that he does not like to fight on the sea and prefers land! Its Richard Sharpe at its best, its Sharpe getting his "sea legs" and its Sharpe in love with a woman that is a class above him. Enjoy the book, I did!

In this book of the Sharpe series Richard Sharpe returns to Europe just in time to be involved in the battle of Trafalgar. Another great historical tale that gives a participant's view of history. I really enjoyed the little details in this story, such as the ship's cats looking curiously at where the stove used to be that was dismantled and stored below the waterline. Cornwell is a superstar in this genre and I have yet to read a bad work by him.

Cornwell's heroic character falls to new levels of debauchery in this, one of the author's poorer efforts. Killing off the opposition comes a little too easily in this tale, and the adulterous, implausible hookup of Sharpe and his new romantic interest are far too rank for good entertainment. Sharpe is no angel in other Corwell novels, but in this one, he appears more the bad guy, full of deceit, passion, and revenge.

Meanwhile, the battle scenes and nautical information are great. Like someone suggested, it might be better to skip the first part of the book.

In the series beginning with Sharpe's Rifles, Bernard Cornwell took his hero Richard Sharpe through the battles of the Peninsula Campaign against Napoleon's armies, and on to Waterloo. Then, after backgrounding Sharpe's rise to officerdom in India with a four book series, Cornwell was faced with transitioning Sharpe from India back to England, and then to Spain. He starts this series of adventures by putting Richard in the middle of a major sea battle (move over, Hornblower!). We last left Richard Sharpe after the Siege of Gawilghur, where he revenged himself on the renegade officer he was pursuing, but his colonel decided that Richard was just not going to fit in the Officers' Mess. The colonel persuades Richard to accept a transfer to one of these new fangled rifle regiments that are being formed back in England. After all, that isn't the real army and maybe there will be a place for someone who isn't a real officer. After the merchant ship on which Richard, and a snooty Lord and his beautiful wife, are traveling becomes separated from their convoy, they are captured by a French ship of the line-under suspicious circumstances. The captain of the merchant ship sails away with the Frenchman, and takes Richard's poke of jewels with him. Sailing under a prize crew and as captives, Richard and his traveling companions are rescued by a ship of the Royal Navy that is chasing the Frenchman. Joining the navy vessel, and working as an honorary Royal Marine, Richard and the Royal Navy pursue the Frenchman around the Cape of Good Hope and almost to Spain. Just as they might catch up, they run right into the French fleet being chased by Lord Nelson on the way to the Battle of Trafalgar. Both ships join up with their respective fleets and participate in the historic battle. By a quirk of fate, of course, the two ships end up in battle and Richard gets his jewels back, and the girl, of course. Richard Sharpe is for the army what C. S. Forrester's Hornblower was to the navy - and I think the stories and the character are better. We still don't know how Ensign Richard Sharpe, with his poke of jewels and the girl, ends up as an impoverished quartermaster lieutenant in a beaten British army in Spain. There must be several more exciting tales to come, and I am looking forward to them.

I've marched with Sharpe since the very beginning. I've delighted in his exploits with Harper in Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, and South America; I sweated with young Sharpe along the dust and elephant-dunged trails of India.
Now, we have Sharpe all at sea with a beautiful woman, a blackguard or two, enough brio for a battalion of Bonds, and one of the most decisive and important sea-battles in history.
What more could a Sharpe fan want?

As I finished reading the book, which is really good, I only have one question. Why does the cover say Sharpe traveled home aboard the "Revenant" and meets Admiral Nelson. The only time Sharpe met Nelson was aboard the "Victory". Although the "Revenant" is captured, Sharpe never traveled in it because he returned home aboard the "Pucelle", and Nelson was already dead by the time of the capture of the "Revenant". Can someone explain this?

A great adventure story following our hero in yet another famous battle. Cornwell manages to introduce a thoroughly hilarious character in Captain Joel Chase. I really enjoyed the book, like pretty much enjoy all of the Sharpe stories, and this one perhaps a little more than the others.

Action, Excitement, and Temptations are only a few words that can help describe Sharpe's Trafalgar. Bernard Cornwell has now sent young Ensign Richard Sharpe on the high seas, and no matter what the situation, Sharpe does the only thing he's good at, killing. The book colorfully describes the Battle of Trafalgar with rich and flowing detail. Placing the book down for a nights sleep will keep you in suspense and longing for the next day to hurriedly arrive. In no movie theater on the face of this planet can excitement be as influential as in this epic. Bernard Cornwell has truly out done himself now by placing a young army officer in the middle of a boiling naval battle. French cannons are not the only aspect of danger to tear at Sharpe's heart, but love as well. An aristocrat married to another has done what no Indian warlord was capable of doing, subjugating Richard Sharpe. The callused heart and war torn body soon gave yield to love. Sharpe's Trafalgar is truly a must read.

Bernard Cornwell is absolutely at his best when he is writing about either that lineal ancestor of James Bond, Richard Sharpe, or when he is writing about sailing. Well, here he does both and the result is truly satisfying. In the best tradition of the Sharpe's series, the odds against are enormous, but Sharpe wins through with a combination of brass nerves, lightning fast steel and a golden lady ready for the winning. Pay attention, another class will be in session to teach us Colonials one more lesson from the English book of battle history as horrifying chaos of Trafalgar unfolds as only Richard Sharpe could have seen it.
I can end this with only one thought: sit back and enjoy!

Sharpe's Trafalgar brought the naval battle to life, even more than going through the wax work museum thirty years ago. Then I was impressed by the noise and the graphic details. Reading Sharpe's Trafalgar the strategy and detailed research Bernard Cornwall did, came together in the perfect blend of history and adventure. Perhaps it seems a little far fetched Sharpe would be there, but to have read about the battle through his participation, was terrific.

I dont enjoy reading books out of historical sequence, and I think BC struggles to find Sharpes Sea legs on this one - still a great read but not as enjoyable as the land based Sharpe's with his riflemen. I think BC tried too hard to simply get the Battle of Trafalgar as one of the stories in his series. But if you are a BC fan you will still enjoy.

This book is BEYOND excellent!!! I can relate in a way to Sharpe; I am an old Marine Infantryman, and I'm very glad that my shipboard experiences were not like that of those souls on 19th century ships of war! As is typical, Cornwell is very graphic and totally accurate!
--Carl Johnoff/Kurt Niemann, author of "The Powder Blue Negligee: Memoirs Of A Probation Officer."

Bernard Cornwell once again out does himself with Shape's latest adventure in the era of the French Revoloution. This is one of the best in the series so far. Cornwell is an excellent author and i highly suggest that everyone read all of the books in the serier.

Action packed, Historical, Informative, Entertaining to the max and Sharpe's cunning is eye opening. I developed Goose bumps at the mention of Lord Nelson and HMS Victory ( During my active duty in the U.S. Navy on board the USS Manitowoc, we pulled into Portsmouth, England where I toured the very large and beautiful HMS Victory..a stunning memory ); Sharpe's Trafalgar was this and more. Very well written.

Deforest