Spring 1809 (Richard Sharpe's Adventure Series #7)

I have been enjoying the Richard Sharpe books from the beginning. This is the seventh book in the series. Cornwell does a great job with these historically based novels. If you like history, action and suspense, then you will enjoy this series.

If you get up early in the morning for work, or to get the kids off to school, this book and other Cornwell books are not for you. They is are impossible to put down.
They are proverbial page turners.
My wife, here-to-fore, has been contented to read the "classics"; all of the English writers and most Vampire novels. But
now, she can't put the Sharpe series down. My only regret is that we didn't find out about Cornwell earlier. Excellent writer.

The story was just what you'd expect a Sharpe series story to be: entertaining, and making you learn about the history of the Napoleonic wars while making you feel as if you were in the front lines.

Note that this is the large print edition (I didn't notice or expect this when ordering it), which is mildly irritating to read if you are used to read books in regular font.

This is another well written adventure in the Sharpe series which depict in an excellent fashion the British army and attitudes of both the officer class and the men of the army of this era. I enjoyed the realistic background that Bernard Cornwell has created for the continuing adventures of his hero, Sharpe. The battle scenes bring to vivid life the warfare of the Napoleonic era.

The story was just what you'd expect a Sharpe series story to be: entertaining, and making you learn about the history of the Napoleonic wars while making you feel as if you were in the front lines.

Note that this is the large print edition (I didn't notice or expect this when ordering it), which is mildly irritating to read if you are used to read books in regular font.

This is another well written adventure in the Sharpe series which depict in an excellent fashion the British army and attitudes of both the officer class and the men of the army of this era. I enjoyed the realistic background that Bernard Cornwell has created for the continuing adventures of his hero, Sharpe. The battle scenes bring to vivid life the warfare of the Napoleonic era.

Again Cornwell does his homework and paints a detailed picture of the horrors of napoleonic warfare. The writting is excellent, and as always entertaining. A good choice to inspire interest in the period for those who have little knowledge of the era.

A friend turned me on to Cornwell two years ago and I've read almost everything, including all the Sharpe books.

I am a huge fan, but was hugely disappointed with Sharpe's Fury. I'm actually having a hard time believing Cornwell wrote this one. Cornwell has a certain style and vision with regard to Sharpe and this book in not at all consistant with his other writings.

Cornwell's books, even some of the not so great ones, all have a readability and flow to them. Sharpe's Fury does not.

I don't want to discourage anyone from reading Cornwell (the Sharpe books and Arthur tales in particular) because they are outstanding. But this book is poorly written and not indicitive of his real tallent.

Mr. Cornwell, if this is the type of Sharpe book you are going to churn out in the future, please don't publish it. If you are using a ghost writer, as I suspect, get someone who has read all your stuff and loves the character as much as the rest of us do.

I have read everyone of the Sharpe series and love them. This recent is a good book, but for me the least exciting. It appears that our favorite author may be getting tired of this series. Too much historical overview and battle activity without mention of Sharpe. I hope thiis is not the last, but maybe there are no good battles left for Sharpe to fight.

item arrived in timely fashion and was without defect. played well in vehicle cassette player. the seller purchased this item from a library. the quality of this item was excellent not what i am used to from libraries.

I have been reading the Sharpe series in chronological order, so this is my 11th adventure with Richard Sharpe. I’ve followed him from a private soldier in India, to his present rank of captain as he continues to fight under Lord Wellington in the Peninsular Wars against France in the early 19th century. The Sharpe series does settle into a very definite formula. He always appears to be embroidered in an internal conflict with established figures within the British army, as well as having to deal with nasty villains aligned to the French army. And there is nearly always a beautiful woman that he becomes involved with. However, none of this seems to matter. I again found this latest installment, well written, easy to read and highly entertaining, with an excellent historic backdrop. If Bernard Cornwall does take liberties regarding historical facts for the sake of the storyline, he will always inform you in his excellent historical notes at the end of the book. I would personally advise reading this series in chronological order, however, all the books in the series can be read as stand alone novels.

This ranks at the very top of the very long series of Sharpe novels by Bernard Cornwell. I have read several of the Sharpe books and I liked this one perhaps best of all. He has his hero killing Frenchmen in large numbers, which we like. Sharpe gets mixed up in the battle for Porto in Portugal in 1809. As often happens to the leader of crack riflemen, he gets lose from the British command and spends most of the book on his own, behind enemy lines. He gets into and out of sticky situations and encounters a range of evil doers as well as staunch allies in the war against the madman Bonaparte.
Cornwell at his best (here) brings a high level of excitement to his reader while showing the author's skill at presenting the action as something that could actually happen, given the right set of circumstances. I enjoyed this novel more than some other Sharpe books and more than some of his other writings of other eras.

Bernard Cornwell has written another page-turning historical adventure featuring Lieutenant Richard Sharpe, a foot soldier in the Napoleonic Wars between France and Britain, this time during the campaign in northern Portugal in the spring of 1809.

Sharpe is leading a very small company of riflemen cut off in Portugal from the main English army when French Marshall Soult takes the key city of Oporto, a key stepping stone to taking the capital Lisbon. While it is an almost impossible task to fight his way back to British lines, Sharpe is ordered to follow Lieutenant Colonel James Christopher (a Foreign Office agent) and find Kate Savage, a 19 year old English girl who has run away from her mother to a town under attack by the French. On the way Sharpe joins up with a group of 37 Portuguese soldiers who have also been cut off during the attack on Oporto.

At last Sharpe is beginning to make his mark as an officer, despite the distrust of his peers of someone who was born into poverty and his troops towards someone who started out as a humble private. Sharpe achieved his promotion to an officer through bravery in the field and gets the respect of his troops through tough and skilful leadership under almost impossible conditions.

Sharpe, his men and the Portuguese group fight their way out of danger against far superior French forces and track down the renegade Colonel Christopher who has suddenly become an ally of the French. Their only hope is that General Arthur Wellesley (the future Duke of Wellington) will arrive with relief forces in time to drive the French out of Portugal.

This is another great adrenaline-filled page-turning authentic historical re-enactment with Richard Sharpe taking a front-seat role in the battles for the control of Portugal. 4.5 stars.

I have resolved to read all of this brilliant series - so far I have read 9 with only 13 to go. I read this book as part of 3 book Sharpe Kindle bundle available in the Australian region.

I just read this one in the last week after purchasing it a number of years ago and I enjoyed it immensely. I felt that Cornwell's descriptive writing was among his best and left few slow areas. In particular, the battle scenes seemed more tense and graphic than ever. The one factor that most impressed me though was the heavier discussion on the various regiments involved in the Battle of Barossa and its prelude. As an American I always find this fascinating and have seldom found the sort of historical discussion of these units since the great Byron Farwell retired in the early 90s. Of particular interest here was the great 28th Gloustershire Regiment which performed so outstandingly and heroicly with the US Army in Korea at the Battle of the Imjin, a hundred and fifty years later. The mention of the 87th and 88th, Irish Regiments is also noteworthy, since they get so little attention in modern times after 1922. Cornwell has given Sharpe a long vacation and hopefully he'll be making a return in the near future. If the next work matches up with this one, it will be well worth the effort.

Richard Sharpe entered the British Army as a regular soldier. When he saved the life of Sir Arthur Wellesley he was given a commission as a lieutenant. In the British army of the nineteenth century commissions were usually purchased by wealthy families for their sons. Very few soldiers every made the jump from soldier to officer. Those who did were usually looked down upon by the other officers, and treated with disrespect by the soldiers under their command. So Sharpe has had to continuously fight for the respect he deserves.

In this novel, Sharpe and his men are in Oporto, Portugal fighting the French. Sharpe has been ordered to find Kate Savage, the daughter of a rich wine maker. Operating behind enemy lines, must first battle their way out of Oporto as the French forces move in. Then, they need to find their way to the small village where Kate is believed to be. As they travel across country they need to avoid the French.

When they find Kate they discover that she has eloped to marry a British officer. The officer orders Sharpe to defend the village from the French. While protecting Kate, Sharpe learns some distressing facts about Kate's husband.

Eventually Sharpe's squad has to fight their way back to Oporto where they meet up with the British army. In the end, an intelligence officer orders Sharpe to provide a final solution to the problems Kate's husband has been causing.

This novel is an action packed military adventure story. Cornwell's descriptions of the battles are exciting and realistic. For me, this novel was a well written page turner that was hard to put down.

The 11th Richard Sharpe adventure story. The British army is defending a small part of Portugal. All but the coastal city of Cadiz has fallen, so it appears that the French are going to win their war. Captain Richard Sharpe has a mission to destroy an enemy-held bridge. He succeeds, but is double-crossed by the dishonorable French Colonel Vandal. Sharpe is then sent on a secret mission to steal letters which would incriminate Lord Henry Wellesley and possibly destroy Spanish faith in their British allies. Meanwhile, the French intend to take advantage of the Spanish General's reluctance to fight and trap the British between them and the sea. The British, badly outnumbered 3-to-1 and without help from the Spanish, must find a way to defeat the enemy. A superb story.

This is Cornwell's 21st novel in his Richard Sharpe series. This prolific author has published nearly 40 historical novels. All of them are excellent. They are excellent reads. They are excellent literary works. They are excellently researched.
I love history. I love reading good historical fictions, based on real events. I love reading anything written by Cornwell. I especially love reading his series featuring Richard Sharpe, during the Napoleonic Wars.
Why? The writing is excellent. The story flows. The reader is eager to turn the pages. Three hundred plus pages pass by in mere hours with few breaks. The reader just wants to keep reading. One is drawn back into the past. One can feel the intrigue & smell the smoke of battle. BUT, besides that, Sharpe is a man other men aspire to be or become. List a whole plethora of positive values & they total Richard Sharpe.
Loyal, humble, brave beyond measure, a great friend, up from the ranks, not pompous, not wordy, always willing to fight no matter the odds he faces, honest, loaded with common sense, & someone you want to have your back in any fight. Yet, he has his faults. He kills when he has to; sometimes with a bit too much relish. He steals when he has to; but, it always seems as if he's stealing for a good cause. He usually spits in the face of authority & they usually deserve it; yet, he can bend his knee to authority, when necessary.
Sharpe is surrounded by a core group of supporting characters; from the always feisty Irishman, Sgt. Harper, to the rest of his green jacketed riflemen & even including periodic appearances by the Duke of Wellington who seems to regard Sharpe as a friend while the rest of the officers look down their noses at Sharpe because he's risen from the ranks & not born to privilege. I love character-driven novels. This recurring cast of characters in these Sharpe novels always add to my enjoyment. Cornwell is able to seamlessly add new characters into this group of regulars.
This book again finds Sharpe in precarious situations, facing treachery & intrigue & then taking part in a battle where the British forces are vastly undermanned; yet manage to win - with Sharpe & his men always having a major part in the victory.

I've been reading Richard Sharpe novels since just after high school, when I first picked one up and enjoyed it thoroughly. I'm not an expert on the British intervention in the Peninsula, but Cornwell apparently is one of those guys who's made himself an expert by reading everything he can, without any sort of formal training. As a result, the books he writes are very interesting and detailed, and if they're a bit pro-British it's not surprising and the stories are well-told enough that it makes up for any shortcomings the author might have.

In this episode, Sharpe's half-company of British riflemen are holed up in Oporto, the second city of Portugal, when the French attack. The Portugese can't hold the city, Sharpe is sent on an errand by his superior officer (a semi-spy named Captain Hogan) and then diverted by another, even more superior officer. He gets trapped with his men on the wrong side of a river, can't retreat, and has to hole up in a village nearby until circumstances change, and this leads to all sorts of adventures. When the situation eventually changes, Sharpe and his men must pursue the enemy, with revenge on their minds.

This is a very well-written entry in the Sharpe series. The author has a sort of formula, with Sharpe and his men being trapped behind enemy lines, and having to make their way on their own. He's done it before, and it works well as a formula, if you're willing to overlook the probability of this happening repeatedly. This is a very well-done book, quite fun.

The 7th Richard Sharpe adventure story. While in Portugal, Sharpe is given a mission to find 19 year-old Kate Savage, who has apparently run off with Colonel Christopher. He is a British officer who is secretly trying to negotiate peace by having one of Napoleon's generals declared King of Portugal. Sharpe senses that Christopher might be acting on his own or is a traitor. Then Sharpe and his rifleman are cut off from the main British army and must defend themselves against large odds near a small Portuguese village. He is assisted by Lieutenant Vincente, a lawyer and poet-turned-soldier, and his ever-loyal, ever Irish, Sergeant Harper. A very enjoyable book.

That's All She Read [...]

This is only the seventh book in the Richard Sharpe Adventure Series if you line them all up in chronological order by battles. I suspect Sharpe's Havoc was written after the three India, one shipboard and one Denmark novels were written, themselves a jump back fromn 1814 to 1798 and soon after to fill in Sharpe's early years. Sharpe's Havoc provides a place for Cornwell to tie up a loose end or two and acknowledge events, like the battles in India, the surprising presence of Sharpe at Trafalgar, the sad love story of of Copenhagen and even sadder love story of lady Grace. Personally I founed it satisfying to have all those dramatic events taken into account in Sharpe's life.

In Sharpe's Havoc our boys find themselves in Portugal with Captain Hogan, assigned to look for a missing British wine merchant's daughter and, with Hogan's arch insinuation, "to keep an eye on Christopher". Christopher is a Foreign Office operative assigned to feel out the Portuguese attitude towards the French invasion of their country. He has decided he has a higher calling, to manipulate relations within and without the the French leading officers to create peace between the three nations. Our Christopher has more than a little larceny in him, as he plans to marry the wine merchant's daughter, Kate, and get hold of her late father's company, and then some. I felt that Hogan suspected something, but if so, he certainly did not get that across to Sharpe who trusts the guy for an awfully long time. I kept shouting at the book, "Send someone to warn Hogan, for God's sake!" My exhortations did not help.

Sharpe almost obeys Hogan's other suggestion, not to fall in love with Kate. There is one kiss, then the book ends with someone else with her in his arms, implying I suppose that he gets the girl, not Sharpe. The novel starts with the French capture of Oporto, follows Sharpe and his rifles to a standstill in a small Portuguese town where he sits more or less idle while Christopher is off doing his dirty tricks. When Our Hero finally figures out he's been duped, it is almost too late. Her, Harper, Hagman, Tongue, Perkins and Harris, and the rest, as they say on Gilligan's Island, withstand the siege of a hill fort before Christopher and the French give up and head for Oporto with an unhappy Kate and not before murdering literally everyone in the small town. In a dramatic battle at a seminary the British now under the general command of good old Nosey, Sir Arthur Wellesley, retake the seaport and send the French scrambling for the Spanish border. It is of course Sharpe's official mission to stop the French from escaping and his private mission to kill Christopher, retrieve his stolen telescope, and presumably Kate.

The novel begins on a bridge and ends on a bridge. You can tell this is is a bridge in itself, written later than the earliest novels. For one thing, all the catch up and fill in. But also because it is even better written than those first Sharpe adventures. Cornwell wrote dozens of other novels in between, and it really shows. This is as smooth and mature a Sharpe novel as there is. Other than instances where I wanted to give Sharpe a blow upside the head for obtuseness, this is as satisfying a Sharpe novel as there are. It has all the anticipated treasures, battle, courtship, Sharpe's struggle to be a proper officer, the growing comradeship of the key rifles, and Sharpe's self-actualized comments and actions. Christopher says to him, "We are England. We don't assassinate." Sharpe replies, "I do."

My husband, Jim, as wild a fan of Cornwell as I am, after all my long and patient evangelism, read Sharpe's Havoc to me. It is available in hardback, paperback, and even a leather bound edition, on Kindle, and on audio VD and download. For blind and otherwise print impaired readers, you can find it at BookShare.org and from the National Library Service via your local library in cassette form as RC 58259 and download as DB 58259. This is not one of the novels made into a film.

I am sad. "Sharpe's Fury" was my last Sharpe novel. I'd read the others in more or less chronological order, then gone back to read this, the most recently published and inserted midway in the series.

For me, there will be no more Sharpe wenches. There will be no more craven aristocrats, in commands they don't deserve, plotting Sharpe's demise, nor more admirable officers Sharpe and other men would follow through the gates of hell.

There will be no more moments where the Napoleonic Wars hang in the balance, no more Sharpe treasures plundered or lost, no more intrigues with French spies.

There will be no more riveting battle scenes, drawn in enough detail for the military buff but clearly enough for the novice to follow, with the human element so dramatically but naturally woven into the scene's fabric.

And no more chestnuts pulled out of the fire by Richard Sharpe, one of fiction's greatest soldiers, raised from the gutter to find the only thing he does well - fight. I feel a grief similar to that felt when finishing the Jack Aubrey series by Patrick O'Brian.

In this episode Sharpe and Harper, on a patrol near the border of English-controlled Portugal and French-held Spain, are separated with a few men and an injured brigadier, and end up in Cadiz, the only part of Spain not taken by France.

The British ambassador there, Henry Wellesley - brother of Lord Wellington - is embroiled in scandal. The love letters he wrote to a dubious woman are being made public by unknown enemies. Called in to handle the matter, threatening as it does England's delicate relations with Spain, is Pumphrey, the fey Foreign Office spy. Sharpe, available for the moment, is detailed to do what it takes to get the letters back - to guard Pumphrey in his meetings with blackmailers, or to steal them back if need be.

There are lots of good things in this book, probably the last Sharpe novel Cornwell will write. Sharpe's low background is brought to the fore: he's a thief and a murderer, but it is precisely those skills gentlemen need to protect a gentleman's honor. Wellesley's erstwhile lover Caterina Blasquez is a memorable Sharpeian wench, and without giving too much away is a key factor in the book's ending where a Sharpe antagonist gets his in a non-violent but amusing way.

This book portrays perhaps better than any of the others the deeply divided Spanish public - many wanting to make a separate peace with Napoleon in return for the restoration of the Spanish monarchy, but with many different reasons for doing so. Sharpe must operate in a Cadiz that's like a tinderbox, ready to go off against the English at any time.

An English night-time amphibious attack on French artillery shelling Cadiz from across the bay is well done. And while nothing in the series can top Cornwell's account of Waterloo, the Battle of Bussaco is a fine climax to this book. English troops, unassisted by their Spanish allies, face annihilation when cornered by a vastly superior French force. Cornwell pays tribute to the French in this battle scene, as one of his characters note the brave and relentless pressing of the battle characteristic of them.

Adieu, Sharpe.

Something I've enjoyed for a number of years is the pleasure of Mr. Cornwell's Sharpes Rifles series. Recently I picked up Sharpes Fury to reacquaint myself with Mr. Sharpe and his erstwhile riflemen.

To help everyone get on the same page, Sharpes Fury takes place during the siege of Cadiz and the battle of Barrosa (1811). In this case, Mr. Sharpe and his riflemen aide a British gentleman in Cadiz; then the British troops at Barrosa (after all, what would a Sharpe book be without Mr. Sharpe helping out in the battle).

For me, this was a solid 4.5 star book. As always, Mr. Cornwell is direct and to the point with his actions. Mr. Sharpe is the type of officer who enlisted men love and fellow officers either love or hate. He's direct, brash, and unapologetic for his background or the way he is. This book does take a departure from the others in the series in that rather than having Mr. Sharpe command his company, Mr. Cornwell separates them and only permits Mr. Sharpe to have his trusty riflemen to fight the French (and yes, as always, one of the Frenchmen is a nemesis for Mr. Sharpe). Interestingly, Mr. Cornwell does an excellent job capturing the relations between the Spanish and the British, showing it nicely with the actions by Sir Thomas Graham, Father Montseny, and General Lapena. I was also happy to see the return of Lord Pumphrey. While all of this makes for an excellent read, I have a hard time raising this to 5 stars and reluctantly have to give it 4 stars. Btw, for those not familiar with the series, Mr. Cornwell's story is true to the history except where Mr. Cornwell documents it in the Historical Notes chapter at the end. Also, as with any in the Sharpes series, you don't have to read any of the predecessor books. This is pure, simple, and good fun that should be enjoyed with a nice brandy after a long day.

The style and tone of this book carry lighter than earlier written novels that portray a more anxious Richard Sharpe, the hero of this book. This Sharpe seems more confident than the one met earlier, more kind and generous, less of a hardass. Why I am not sure but I suspect it has something to do not with the character development chronology but the time and order in which they actually were penned. This Sharpe seems more mature by a longshot than the immediately preceeding one. Somehow Dick's gone over to a more ossifer-like demeanor, overall.

Nevertheless, its a fun tale of soldierly mayhem. Enthusiasts of rifle shooting may find it especially pleasing since there is an accounting of the special virtues of rifles over muskets and the effects that had on various tactical situations in historical battles.

Fans of Cromwell will enjoy and it's recommended. It would be best however to pick up the series with Sharpe at his earliest. The situation with two or three different publishers is very confusing and I have wasted a lot of time trying to piece together a chronologically correct succession of these books. I often wish that I could have one similarly bound and printed series available in supply at my big box store. Thankfully we have the store to piece disjointed sequels together.

Sharpe's Havoc is for long-time fans of Richard Sharpe who want to know about all of his fictional adventures. As usual, looking after the interests of the local British causes Sharpe lots of problems.

If you are reading these books in the order of the chronology of the events rather than the order of their publication, this book follows Sharpe's Rifles where Sharpe rises to command a small band of the 95th Rifles after his superiors are killed in the disastrous retreat from Spain. Sharpe has attached himself to a surveying team that is preparing maps for the British.

As the French prepare to capture Oporto under Marshal Soult, Sharpe is ordered to help locate a missing woman who may have gone to her family's country home. No sooner does he receive this order than it is countermanded by the shadowy Colonel Christopher who orders a retreat in the opposite directions. After receiving his orders in writing, Sharpe begins to retreat . . . only to find it's too late. There is no safe way out of the city. So he takes his men and they take their chances.

The scenes involving Portuguese people leaving Oporto are pretty gruesome. You won't soon forget them.

Eventually, Sharpe and his men (alone with some Portuguese allies) find themselves where the missing woman may be found. Once there, Colonel Christopher begins playing dangerous games at the expense of the British and Sharpe. He also misleads the woman into believing she is married (even though Christopher is already married). The consequences are fatal for many of those who rely on Christopher.

At the book's end, Sharpe and his men play a key role in the recapture of Oporto by Sir Arthur Wellesley (Sharpe's not-so-friendly friend in high places).

There are three battle scenes that you'll enjoy in the book. The various machinations of Christopher and Sharpe being caught in stasis don't provide for much interesting reading. As a result, the middle of the book (between the first and second battle scenes) may not appeal to you.

If you don't like to read about gruesome mistreatment of innocents, this book won't be for you. It's pretty explicit.

If you are a Francophile, don't read this book. The French army comes in for some pretty strong condemnation for its ways of "living off the land and the local people."

This one is better than the previous couple of books in the series; maybe it's because Lieut. Sharpe is paying more attention to the war against the French and less attention to women and spies. By internal chronology, "Sharpe's Havoc" comes immediately after "Sharpe's Rifles" -- which actually was the first book Cornwell wrote in this series, but whatever. It's the spring of 1809 and Richard Sharpe, previously a private and then a sergeant, and most recently a regimental quartermaster (because the gentlemanly officers of his unit don't have much use for someone with his lack of family background), finds himself in command of a short company of rifles in northern Portugal. The British army has retreated south but a bridge across the Douro River gives way and Sharpe and his men are stranded on the French-controlled side of the river. A certain Colonel Christopher (he's really an opportunistic Foreign Office observer with personal ambitions) begins giving him orders and Sharpe follows them, but reluctantly -- at least until the bastard steals his prized telescope, and then all bets are off. The colonel turns out to be a cad in several other ways as well. Cornwell, as usual, sticks pretty close to historical events for the background of Sharpe's adventures, and it's kind of amazing just how much real-life improves on fiction in this case. Sharpe's riflemen find ways and places to lie low, aided by a very young, completely inexperienced Portuguese lieutenant, but who has the right attitude and good instincts. They have several opportunities to teach the French about the accuracy and range of the rifled barrel, and they benefit from the wrongly assured superiority of the French commanders. Sharpe's path crosses that of Sir Arthur Wellesley yet again, but at least the lieutenant doesn't find it necessary to murder anyone in cold blood this time. out.

I would tell you to skip this book, but you deserve to read the wonderful story of the Battle of Barrosa which the British won single-handed against horrible odds while the Spanish troops rested nearby. In the real-world history of the Peninsular Wars, this was the occasion when the British first claimed a French Eagle.

Before that, the book opens with a sequence where Sharpe is treated badly by a new foil, Brigadier Moon, who doesn't want any competition for credit from Sharpe. Naturally, it all comes apart and Sharpe has to save the day . . . but at what cost to his pride and to himself?

Eventually, Moon, Sharpe, Sergeant Harper, and a few men reach Cadiz, which is the tiny remnant of Spain that is not under French dominion. The Spanish expect Cadiz to fall soon to the surrounding French, and British influence is at a low ebb. Further problems arise when the British ambassador (Lord Wellington's younger brother, Henry Wellesley) finds himself being blackmailed and embarrassed by some letters he wrote to a woman he believed to be a Spanish lady, but who was not. Sharpe is pressed into temporary duty to pay the blackmailer. If that doesn't work, he's expected to steal the letters. The intrigue involves the future of Spanish politics as well as British-Spanish relations.

The opening sequence ends up being more interesting than it starts, but Brigadier Moon is more of an annoyance than a real threat to Sharpe . . . which undercuts the power of the story. The intrigue in Cadiz would be good if this were primarily a spy series, but it's not. So the intrigue mostly distracts from the opportunity to write more about the Battle of Barrosa, which is a far more interesting tale.

Sometimes authors can try to be too clever and hurt their books. I fear that's what Mr. Cornwell did here.

If you find your interest waning in the beginning or middle, just skip ahead to the part where the British and Spanish leave Cadiz by sea to attempt to attack the besieging French from behind.

This is one of the more self-indulgent in the Richard Sharpe series about a roguish British rifleman during the Napoleonic wars. It could also have been more accurately titled "Sharpe Gets Really P.O.'ed," since that's more or less the theme. It's a boring period in the French siege of Lisbon, so Sharpe's light company is detailed to escort a party sent to destroy a pontoon bridge near Cadiz, down in the corner of Spain. Things go wrong and the captain and five of his men are carried downstream on a runaway section of the bridge, have to flee farther south to avoid capture, and end up in blockaded Cadiz itself. Sharpe's more fundamental talents are called on to help the governor recover some incriminating love letters, but Cornwell kind of leaves that section of the story hanging. Sharpe then takes his squad off to get involved in the Battle of Barrosa, just down the peninsula from town, in what he admits is not his fight. But the author wants to tell the story of Sir Thomas Graham, a real-life hero who humiliated the French with less than half as many troops, so there we are. The battle itself is described with Cornwell's usual brio and close attention to important detail, but the book wouldn't have been long enough with just that -- hence the blackmail conspiracy. I'm continually amazed that the French -- especially Napoleon, who was far from stupid in military matters -- never caught on that arraying their battalions in column instead of widespread lines prevented most of their troops from being able to fight at the same time. Had they adopted the British infantry line, to which they lost battle after battle, the French would probably have taken and held all of Europe. Anyway, we never do find out what happened to Lieut. Bullen, except that he's apparently a POW at the end of the book. And I also have doubts that a brigadier would have been put in charge of such a small party on such a relatively minor errand.

This one is better than the previous couple of books in the series; maybe it's because Lieut. Sharpe is paying more attention to the war against the French and less attention to women and spies. By internal chronology, "Sharpe's Havoc" comes immediately after "Sharpe's Rifles" -- which actually was the first book Cornwell wrote in this series, but whatever. It's the spring of 1809 and Richard Sharpe, previously a private and then a sergeant, and most recently a regimental quartermaster (because the gentlemanly officers of his unit don't have much use for someone with his lack of family background), finds himself in command of a short company of rifles in northern Portugal. The British army has retreated south but a bridge across the Douro River gives way and Sharpe and his men are stranded on the French-controlled side of the river. A certain Colonel Christopher (he's really an opportunistic Foreign Office observer with personal ambitions) begins giving him orders and Sharpe follows them, but reluctantly -- at least until the bastard steals his prized telescope, and then all bets are off. The colonel turns out to be a cad in several other ways as well. Cornwell, as usual, sticks pretty close to historical events for the background of Sharpe's adventures, and it's kind of amazing just how much real-life improves on fiction in this case. Sharpe's riflemen find ways and places to lie low, aided by a very young, completely inexperienced Portuguese lieutenant, but who has the right attitude and good instincts. They have several opportunities to teach the French about the accuracy and range of the rifled barrel, and they benefit from the wrongly assured superiority of the French commanders. Sharpe's path crosses that of Sir Arthur Wellesley yet again, but at least the lieutenant doesn't find it necessary to murder anyone in cold blood this time. out.

I would tell you to skip this book, but you deserve to read the wonderful story of the Battle of Barrosa which the British won single-handed against horrible odds while the Spanish troops rested nearby. In the real-world history of the Peninsular Wars, this was the occasion when the British first claimed a French Eagle.

Before that, the book opens with a sequence where Sharpe is treated badly by a new foil, Brigadier Moon, who doesn't want any competition for credit from Sharpe. Naturally, it all comes apart and Sharpe has to save the day . . . but at what cost to his pride and to himself?

Eventually, Moon, Sharpe, Sergeant Harper, and a few men reach Cadiz, which is the tiny remnant of Spain that is not under French dominion. The Spanish expect Cadiz to fall soon to the surrounding French, and British influence is at a low ebb. Further problems arise when the British ambassador (Lord Wellington's younger brother, Henry Wellesley) finds himself being blackmailed and embarrassed by some letters he wrote to a woman he believed to be a Spanish lady, but who was not. Sharpe is pressed into temporary duty to pay the blackmailer. If that doesn't work, he's expected to steal the letters. The intrigue involves the future of Spanish politics as well as British-Spanish relations.

The opening sequence ends up being more interesting than it starts, but Brigadier Moon is more of an annoyance than a real threat to Sharpe . . . which undercuts the power of the story. The intrigue in Cadiz would be good if this were primarily a spy series, but it's not. So the intrigue mostly distracts from the opportunity to write more about the Battle of Barrosa, which is a far more interesting tale.

Sometimes authors can try to be too clever and hurt their books. I fear that's what Mr. Cornwell did here.

If you find your interest waning in the beginning or middle, just skip ahead to the part where the British and Spanish leave Cadiz by sea to attempt to attack the besieging French from behind.

This is one of the more self-indulgent in the Richard Sharpe series about a roguish British rifleman during the Napoleonic wars. It could also have been more accurately titled "Sharpe Gets Really P.O.'ed," since that's more or less the theme. It's a boring period in the French siege of Lisbon, so Sharpe's light company is detailed to escort a party sent to destroy a pontoon bridge near Cadiz, down in the corner of Spain. Things go wrong and the captain and five of his men are carried downstream on a runaway section of the bridge, have to flee farther south to avoid capture, and end up in blockaded Cadiz itself. Sharpe's more fundamental talents are called on to help the governor recover some incriminating love letters, but Cornwell kind of leaves that section of the story hanging. Sharpe then takes his squad off to get involved in the Battle of Barrosa, just down the peninsula from town, in what he admits is not his fight. But the author wants to tell the story of Sir Thomas Graham, a real-life hero who humiliated the French with less than half as many troops, so there we are. The battle itself is described with Cornwell's usual brio and close attention to important detail, but the book wouldn't have been long enough with just that -- hence the blackmail conspiracy. I'm continually amazed that the French -- especially Napoleon, who was far from stupid in military matters -- never caught on that arraying their battalions in column instead of widespread lines prevented most of their troops from being able to fight at the same time. Had they adopted the British infantry line, to which they lost battle after battle, the French would probably have taken and held all of Europe. Anyway, we never do find out what happened to Lieut. Bullen, except that he's apparently a POW at the end of the book. And I also have doubts that a brigadier would have been put in charge of such a small party on such a relatively minor errand.

Bernard Cornwell writes fast. That's nine parts good--we get to read lots of his work--and one part bad--if we read his work fast, we find a bit of formula, a touch of repetition. And it's difficult not to grab everything he does as soon as it's out.
He's good.
Historical fiction, if it's action fiction, or military historical fiction, has a peculiar requirement.
It is the fate of most soldiers, in any war, to spend the bulk of their campaign plodding along, watching the pack of the soldier in front of them. Eventually, they fight. But fights have small, furiously intense scenes, if the soldier wants to survive.
My father, an Infantry officer from WW II, can tell you a great deal about WW II in Europe, along a path, as he says, three hundred miles long and three hundred yards wide.
It would be difficult to write a novel about Waterloo from the point of view of an artillery battery commander who sees troops to his front, or not, fires, or not, is wreathed in blinding smoke, is frantically trying to make up gun teams as casualties mount, and won't know who won for at least a day. It would be a fascinating story, primarily for those whose ancestors have cocked the cannon for generations. But not for many others.
Historical fiction protagonists must, to see the things and participate in the action that the story offers the reader, move across events, rather than along with them as a soldier in a column must.
Cornwell is particularly good at this. His Sharpe character is involved in small-unit actions, is cut off behind enemy lines, is chosen for special independent missions either because he's good at it or because the more socially connected in the Mess can do without him.
In the run-up to the Battle of Assaye, Sharpe does not move with his regiment, but instead is assigned to aid and protect a wandering intelligence officer from the East India Company, thus taking him crosslots to the events of the period.
In Cornwell's Saxon chronicles, Uhtred has several things going on which would not be likely for the Saxon warriors. He has a small patrimony of land of which he should be chief but has been robbed of it by the Danes. He wants it back. He fights for Alfred against the Danes. He is sometimes given independent tasks taking him far from the center of power--and back again. He is almost pathologically stubborn and defiant of authority. And Uhtred is not following the pack of the Saxon warrior in front of him, marching back and forth across England, trying to fend off the Danes.
So, with Sharpe, and Uhtred, and the English archer in the Hundred Years War, Cornwell moves his characters across events, giving us clear, well-researched views of how the world of that time worked and looked.
Cornwell's characters are introspective, without losing the power of instantaneous decisiveness. Some of what they do appears ruthless, and from our(for now) more civilized viewpoint, unnecessarily cruel. But a moment's thought will indicate that there was no other choice.
In this case, Sharpe, left with a few Riflemen inside a besieged city for perfectly understandable reasons, becomes the point man for some serious intrigue. He hides, surveys, bribes, steals, kills and generally saves the part of the day which needed saving. His relationships with historical figures seem realistic.
True to Cornwell's practice, we see at least one small battle or raid, almost a military procedural, and then the book ends with a huge, decisive battle--a real one--in which Cornwell partly abandons Sharpe's point of view to give the reader a broader view of the fight.
It must be said that Cornwell loves the British soldier and, in this final battle, the author drops Sharpe altogether while he describes the fighting and the soldiers who struggle with such incredible courage.
His practice of providing an afternote on the historical details he's used in his books is invaluable. It demonstrates that, although he is fast, he works very hard at his craft.
There is no reason to think he gets it wrong.

Bernard Cornwell's titanic Richard Sharpe series continues with "Sharpe's Havoc: Richard Sharpe and the Campaign in Northern Portugal, Spring 1809." Leading the beefy Irishman Sergeant Harper and the remainder of the 95th Rifles that survived "Sharpe's Rifles," Sharpe finds himself still cut off from the British Army during the Peninsular War. As one can expect from Bernard Cornwell, rollicking adventure ensues.

In "Sharpe's Rifles," Sharpe earned his leadership position with the 95th Rifles, and his hold on his soldiers is stronger here, although by no means complete. And it's fair to say that the Rifles are a wee bit stressed, nearly falling to the French army of Marshall Soult as the French sack the Portuguese city of Oporto. But thanks to Sharpe's courage and notorious luck, the Rifles win through and receive new orders.

Sharpe and the Rifles are to accompany one Colonel Christopher, a Shakespeare-quoting villain from the British Foreign Office. A typically-slick Cornwellian villain, Christopher not only plays both British and French sides for his own profit, he covets the beautiful British ex-pat, Kate. Sharpe, charged with finding the wilful Kate and returning her to her mother, goes into a murderous rage when the cad Christopher marries Kate minutes before Sharpe catches up with her (or so she thinks . . .), only to be even more enraged as Christopher's traitorous nature becomes clear.

"Sharpe's Havoc" provides all the usual thrills and chills in a Sharpe novel. From the sack of Oporto to Sharpe's lonely defense of a hilltop redoubt to a pitched battle against thousands of French troops with Sir Arthur Wellesley to a murderous race through the mountains of Portugal to halt a fleeing French army, "Sharpe's Havoc" has action and to spare.

Look for lots of fun as Irish bait the English, who bait the Portuguese, while everyone hates the dastardly French and their obscene ideas of rationality and reason. Guaranteed to keep the pages flipping quickly, "Sharpe's Havoc" is a darn good read, even if it doesn't really break any new ground for the Sharpe series. Check it out.

Picking up where "Sharpe's Rifles" leaves off, this installments finds Sharpe and his unit in Portugal. They've been under the benign command of Captain Hogan, who surveys the land in anticipation of French invasion. Sharpe happily delays arriving in Lisbon and returning to formal army command, which he fears will strip his battlefield command from him to return him to the quartermaster work he loathes.

As Oporto evacuates before the French invasion, they are sent on a wild goose chase to retrieve Kate Savage, the errant daughter of a wealthy British widow, and to accompany the mysterious Colonel Christopher. He's a foreign office representative who doesn't want their company and we soon learn the nefarious reasons why.

Once again they find themselves cut off and surrounded. Unable to find a way across a river towards Lisbon, they must defend the Savage country house against an overwhelming number of French attackers. Sharpe by now has won his men's respect, and they, his. They do notice, as we the readers already have, that Sharpe has one great weakness - falling in love with regularity.

We get our expected dose of great battlefield detail as fortunes surge back and forth between the British-Portuguese alliance and the French enemy. We get another visit from the Foreign Office's fey Lord Pumphrey, who once again has a dicey mission for Sharpe. And, predictably, British fortunes improve once General Arthur Wellesley, Sharpe's reluctant patron, arrives in Iberia to take command.

Historically, this is an interesting period. The Spanish and Portuguese resistance to Napoleon is considered the first guerrilla war, and Iberia is considered to have been his Vietnam - a large land he conquered but could not hold, sapping his strength in the attempt.

After leaving the Peninsular Wars behind for the last several Sharpe books, Cornwell returns to the roots of the series with this 19th entry, which occupies part of the gap in time between the first two (Sharpe's Rifles and Sharpe's Eagle). Here we find Sharpe and his riflemen in Portugal, detached from the army which has retreated from Oporto. They've been assigned by Col. Hogan to help the mysterious Col. Christopher locate a young Englishwoman who has gone missing during the evacuation of the city. Christopher is a shifty fellow, not Army, but actually a Foreign Office envoy with a vague brief to suss out the political landscape. Early on, something smells fishy about Christopher, and when he arrogantly dismisses Sharpe, the seeds are sown for his development into a full-fledged villain.

All the basic elements of the Sharpe adventure are present and accounted for, although there's nothing particularly novel about them. As always, Sharpe is off on his own, under his own initiative leading his men. Once dismissed from helping Christopher, Sharpe finds himself cut off behind enemy lines with the remnants of a Portuguese unit. As the small band of about a hundred men make their way cross country, they end up running into both Christopher and the missing girl. Ordered to stay put, they wind up fortifying a hilltop location and defending it against a vast French force. This small unit action is fierce and well-rendered, as always.

Eventually, Sharpe leads his force back to friendly lines, and provides a rather crucial logistical service en route. There he is not only reunited with Col. Hogan, but with General Wellesley, the man who raised him from the ranks in India. Also present is the cruel Lord Pumphrey, who Sharpe encountered in Copenhagen. It is confirmed that Christopher has turned traitor, and Sharpe is assigned the task of killing him. And since Christopher has also absconded with the young Englishwoman, Sharpe has extra incentive to track this nasty piece of work down. The tension builds as Sharpe and a few picked men race the French Army to the border so that they can snipe at Christopher from afar. This also allows Cornwell to describe the routing of the French forces, as well as the heroism of a French Major. Although the elements are all what one expects, they are expertly woven as ever, and the book is effortlessly entertaining.

To this day it is a a mystery how Soults forces in Portugal allowed a British Unit to slip across the Douro on the Eastern side of Opporto, and take control of the Seminary. It was a strategic disaster which ended in ignominy for Soult. At one moment he was poised to declare himself King in Portugal, and in the next he was fleeing across the mountians, leaving behind his baggage train and his artillery.

So, who better to fill in that mystery, than Lieutenant Richard Sharpe and his Greenjackets. Cornwell has slipped our favourite gang of riflemen into the right place at the right time to make Sharpe the hero of the day. And this is what makes the Sharpe novels so compelling.

I was reading this book, with David Gates "The Spanish Ulcer" open on my lap, and I was fascinated at how Cornwell managed to weave his story into the truth.

Even the "Evil Colonel Christopher" backstory of plot and counterplot to stage a mutiny against Soult, is borne up by the facts.

On top of all this is a cracking good story. The mid-section of the book is particulary compelling, when Sharpe has his men fortify a hill to keep them occupied, and then has to defend the hill against odds of 20 to one. His protagonist in this battle, and the 31st Leger of French Light Infantry, are again real characters.

This is served up with all the painstakingly researched detail of the loading and operation of the Baker rifle, Smoothbore muskets, Cannon, Howitzers and Mortars. We learn in-depth about fused shot, case shot, canister and round shot.

So, whether you are a history buff, a weapons buff, a fan of Napoleonic wars, in search of a good yarn, a war story or even a romance, there is something here for you.

Sharpe is once more back in Portugal with his friends in the 95th Rifles. This novel is intended to slip inbetween the previous "Sharpe's Rifles" and "Eagle." I suppose it does. Cornwell has cleverly crafted these novels so that each stands on its own. When he first started this series over 10 years ago he never imagined the success it would enjoy. After charging through the campaigns in Portugal and Waterloo he began to back peddle into Sharpe's earlier career to fill out more stories for the series. Thus we have the whole India novels and others which have filled in our heros earlier career.
This installment more or less ties up the whole series, but I am sure Cornwell can still get some milage out of Sharpe yet! Here we have the standard formula that has served Cornwell so well over the years. His writing is always simple, direct and exciting. He has crafted these books down to an elegant system which consistently works despite often repeating the same elements over and over. Sharpe always has to face some arrogant English fop officer, he's usually detached with his merry half company of riflemen, safely away from the 2/95th which should be back in England recruiting. And he is always on some vague mission for Hogan or Wellington behind the lines which enables him to exercise his independent judgement. If Sharpe we stuck having to fight in the skirmish line along with everyone else then these stories would not seem half so appealing. In other words if Sharpe had to perform standard duties for a Rifle or Light company officer Cornwell could never have carried the series as far as he has. It's Sharpe's independence which allows Cornwell to develope action and suspence in the series, with a little romance thrown in as well. This time there is only a hint that Sharpe will get the girl in the end!
So again we have Sharpe fighting what has become his standard alone on the mountain fort routine against impossible odds. It would seem to be the same old business as usual if Cornwell weren't so gifted in making it interesting and a little different each time. After facing off the French as usual Sharpe and co. rejoin the main action in standard fashion. In this case we have the celebrated action of Colonel Waters and the 3rd Buffs at the Seminary of Oporto. Cornwell neatly inserts Sharpe into the action, giving him credit for getting the Buffs over the river which rightfully belongs to a Portugeuse barber who actually found the boats. Cornwell appologises for this alteration of history, as well as others in order to make his story.
The French always come in for particular rancor in these novels. Its almost as if Cornwell wants to put down the hero worship of Naoplean and his marshals during this period. Soult appears like a cream-puff with his pretensions to the crown of Portugal and his concern more for cusine than military dispositions. The French themselves as always look like a bunch of pillaging rapists practicing the Napoleanic principles of living off the land. Cornwell shows us what that term often implied. The final battle itself is always well done, Cornwell provides an exciting account of the several fruitless French assaults upon the Buffs at the Seminary. His descriptions always make the action seem a lot more bloody than it actually was, but to the men involved it must have seemed that way. Once the main action is over Sharpe is back on his own to settle old scores with the current bad guy of the novel, in this case the nasty and effiminate colonel Christopher who really can't provide a decent challenge for our hero so there is no grand sword fight at the end. Sharpe coldly disposes of him in the midst of the French army's epic retreat from Oporto. There is one worthwhile French character based on reality, the heroic Major Dulong who actually did save Soult's army at the bridges in question. Such men did make the French army what it was, even if their dash and ardor could not often stand up to the murderous British platoon vollies encountered in the Peninsular. As always Cornwell does a splendid job conjuring up these images from a colorful period of warfare. Shapre marches on again.

I am a huge fan of all the Sharpe stories, and especially the audio books. This one was especially well done by a new reader.
As to the book itself, I found it rather odd. This book has three parts, but unlike his other novels they are three separate, unrelated parts.
Part 1 deals with a skirmish in which Sharpe is marooned and has to survive with an annoying superior. This is fine and good, and quite amusing in places.
Part 2 deals with clandestine operations in Cadiz with Sharpe being involved to get things set right. Also a good part, and probably my favourite.
Part 3 deals with the Battle of Barossa. This part is exceptionally well told and is one of his best battle depictions.

The problem is that the three parts have virtually no linking between each other. The villain of part 2 only appears there and vanishes again, being handed off with two sentences in the last paragraph. The villain of part 1 also vanishes until the very end...and there is little closure there.
It's like the author wrote three short stories and nailed them together with little relationship between them. Odd sequences such as the fire raft battle also seem stuck in and not very well fitted in.

Overall, it's a fine book, but the three parts of the book is confusingly disjointed.

The surprising thing about SHARPE'S HAVOC has nothing to do with its content. The content of the Richard Sharpe books --- this is the nineteenth --- is generally the same. There is a mission, a woman and an enemy for Richard Sharpe --- and usually a lot of hard fighting along the way. SHARPE'S HAVOC is no different, which is not surprising. There is a mission; Lieutenant Richard Sharpe must keep his rag-tag band of Riflemen safe as they rejoin Lord Wellington's army fighting the French in Portugal in 1809. There is a woman; Kate Savage, the beautiful young daughter of an English wine merchant, who Sharpe must protect from the ravages of war. And there is an enemy; one Colonel Christopher of the Foreign Office, who is busy sneaking around behind enemy lines, trying to arrange for the surrender of British troops to the perfidious French and makes the mistake of stealing Richard Sharpe's telescope.
But it is the setting that is surprising. The first twelve Richard Sharpe books were all set during the Napoleonic conflict, taking Sharpe from an anonymous quartermaster in northern Spain to a battalion commander at Waterloo. The next volume, SHARPE'S DEVIL, moved the action to Chile (which is where Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series also winds up). After that, Cornwell authored three books about Sharpe's early career in India and the two most recent books dealt primarily with naval battles, of all things.
SHARPE'S HAVOC takes us back to the Peninsular Campaign, filling in a gap between the first and second of the Sharpe books. It takes place in Portugal, right at the time that Sir Arthur Wellesley (later Lord Wellington) takes over His Majesty's army on the Peninsula and uses it to beat the living daylights out of the French. The French invasion of Portugal has shattered British morale and left Sharpe the leader of a small platoon of green-jacketed regulars separated from the rest of the army. With the help of stalwart sergeant Patrick Harper and an alliance with an idealistic Portuguese lawyer-turned-soldier, Sharpe must protect the girl, defeat the enemy and complete the mission, just as he has done so many times before.
The challenge for Bernard Cornwell here is to return to the scene of his greatest triumph and produce another book about the Peninsular Campaign to stand with his earlier works (that, and to keep his fingers from falling off from typing too much; there's a second book in his new series about the Holy Grail coming out this year as well). It's a challenge that he more than meets. Even though the characters, setting and plot are familiar, Cornwell manages to put them into new and tense situations. Sharpe and Harper witness a horrific bridge collapse, defend a remote mountaintop fort and lead the way for a daring British invasion of a Portuguese seminary. The action scenes crackle with intensity and excitement. There's even a heroic French officer leading the charge against Sharpe --- Cornwell describes him as "Sharpe-like", a high compliment indeed --- who emerges as a brave opponent, for once.
Where SHARPE'S HAVOC falls short, compared to its predecessors, is in its other two elements. The villain, Colonel Christopher, is a weak, backstabbing little man, no real match for Sharpe. And the woman, Kate Savage, is a little slip of a girl, caught up in Christopher's cowardly embrace but saved by her sense of patriotism and duty.
But all of this is subordinated to the pleasure that fans of the series will take in seeing Sharpe and Harper together again, marching against the French and fighting against terrible odds. And for people who aren't yet fans of Richard Sharpe, SHARPE'S HAVOC is as good a place as any to introduce yourself to a scarred English Rifleman and his band of thieves, poachers and outcasts. Because SHARPE'S HAVOC is a good read --- and that shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.
--- Reviewed by Curtis Edmonds

Sharpe's Havoc is another in Sharpe's Rifles series, this one taking place after the first one, but before the 2nd. In this book, Mr. Sharpe is dealing with the French invasion of Portugal in 1809.

In this tale, Mr. Sharpe and his men are tasked to find Ms. Savage (a British lady who lives in Portugal) before the French seize the area and bring her back to Lisbon. However this is interrupted by Colonel Christopher's orders that Mr. Sharpe and his men to stay in Vila Real de Zedes (a small town in the foothill above Oporto, a major city) with Ms. Savage and to not both the French. However, not everything is as it would seem. I don't want to go into anymore details because it'll spoil the story.

As usual, Mr. Cornwell does an outstanding job of following what occurred and inserting his character at the critical moment. Mr. Cornwell has crafted the book very nicely, the story is interesting and makes you look forward to reading more in the series. A solid 4.5 star book in my opinion, however our friends at the store don't let me rate them that way and I can't I give it 5 stars. Sorry for those that follow the Sharpe's series!

For long-time fans like me who found "Sharpe's Prey" below par, I'm pleased to say that this one returns to first principles, frog-bashing in the Peninsula; and the author is back on form. If you wondered what happened to Sharpe, Harper & Co. after they joined forces on the retreat to Vigo (Sharpe's Rifles, Jan. 1809) and before Talavera (Sharpe's Eagle, July 1809), here's the answer. The Greenjackets are in the wilds of Portugal where the best Sharpe stories are set. Richard Sharpe is a disgruntled rifle lieutenant not long promoted from sergeant (not as unheard of in the British army as people think, especially when there was fighting to be done). Marshal Soult, 'Duke of Damnation' and aspiring King of Portugal, is closing in. Is all lost? Wait! an obscure sepoy general called Wellesley has landed at Lisbon ...

I'll leave the plot there except to say that it's a ripping yarn (and I've been reading them for twenty years). We meet an upper-class villain fit to take on Sir Henry Simmerson; a beautiful, runaway heiress; and a young Portuguese officer of character and education who has a thing or two to learn from Sharpe. Deja vu? Well, some of the best vus are deja. There have been better ones than this but not many. The atmosphere is as thick as Dan Hagman's tea. There are passages of real sardonic humor, which comes as a relief after the last outing. The action sequences are many and unsurpassed. My only regret is that an old favorite, Sweet William the one-eyed architecture fancier, hasn't shown up yet.

This isn't the best, but the time slots are filling up and Cornwell makes good use of them. Sharpe and Harper march again. What are you waiting for? And if you didn't understand any of the above, still read the book.

On a time line with other Richard Sharpe books , this one would fall between Sharpe's Rifles and Sharpe's Eagle : May 1805.
This highly entertaining novel has Lieutenant Richard Sharpe and his sidekick Patrick Harper battling not only the "Frogs" but a mysterious British officer Col. James Christopher , an operative of the British foreign office , as well as a deserter from his own company of riflemen.
The novel starts with Captain Hogan , Sharpe's commanding officer by default , sending the riflemen into the mountains to find a missing young Englishwoman named Kate Savage. It seems that Miss Savage has disappeared from her home in Oporto , Portugal , just as the French army under Marshal Soult is moving in to occupy the city. Hogan also asks Sharpe to "keep an eye" on Colonel Christopher for him. We are then introduced to Christopher as an arrogant and otherwise slimy member of the aristocratic English upper class who is in romantic pursuit of Miss Savage. As it turns out , the young lady in question is the heiress to one of the major Port wine producing lodges in Oporto. It also turns out that Christopher has other things than Miss Savages' best interests in mind.
In combination , Christopher and Miss Savage lead Sharpe and his half company of riflemen on a perilous chase into the mountains of Northern Portugal , skirmishing with the French army , and their lives emperiled by Colonel Christopher's treachery. Sharpe has made common cause with a young Lieutenant of the Portuguese army , Lieutenant Jorge Vicente , and proceeds to train the young officer and his band of soldiers.
The battle scenes are classic Cornwell ; Sir Arthur Wellsley arrives in Portugal and sends Marshal Soult packing over the mountains back to Spain , with Sharpe , Harper , and Lt. Vicente in hot pursuit of the now treasonous Christopher and Miss Savage.
In summary , a very well paced and entertaining Sharpe novel. There are no dull or flat spots (unlike some of the Patrick O'Brian "Aubrey-Maturin" novels I have recently read). I just started this series a few weeks ago ; I am now a Bernard Cornwell fan! No real warts on this one--5 stars.

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.

If you have never heard of Sharpe or read a book by Bernard Cornwell then this isn't the book for you, this book is a long awaited installment of a great series of books.
The thing I like most about this book is not the great adventure Sharpe is unwittingly participating in, you get that with every sharpe book. Its not even the great accounts of true, historic battles that seem to put you in the heart of the action, you get that with every Sharpe book.
This book is my new favourite simply because of the way its written. The style is still the same just it fits the book better, you just fall right into the book. The Sharpe series has developed as much as Cornwell has developed as a writer. The newer books seem to have a 'worn in' feel to them, they fit like an old boot, its a comfortable, fitting read for the Sharpe fan, you won't be disappointed.

As Cornwell explains in his always enlightening 'historical note' he visted the Barrossa battlefield while on a personal trip to Spain and thus Sharpe and Harper were sure to follow.

Sharpe's Fury tells the tale of a crucial turning point in the Penninsular War against Napoleon's armies - the 1811 Battle of Barrossa. Spain (or the Spain that was allied with Britain) was reduced to a foothold in Cadiz. The British won (with virtually no Spanish help) and a tide was turned. The battle also featured the first 'eagle' (or cuckoo) taken by the British (Sharpe's Eagle notwithstanding).

I've read nearly all the Sharpe books (as well several other Cornwell novels) and I found Sharpe's Fury to be every bit as good as any of the others (well, except maybe Sharpe's Fortress, a personal favorite). The book features an exciting retelling of a famous Napleonic battle with numerous real historical characters (Thomas Graham, Henry Wellesley, and Sgt. Patrick Masterson to name a few) and of course a beautiful and intelligent woman.

Highly recommended for fans of Sharpe, historical action novels or the Napleonic wars.

Bernard Cornwell is a superb historical novelist. In "Sharpe's Fury," the novel may be more satisfying if you read the "Historical Note" at the end of the book first. It is here that Cornwell describes his technique of taking the historical incident - the facts - and then outlines the embellishments he used to create the fictionalized story.

The Battle of Barrosa Cornwell fictionalizes is really a historical footnote. But Cornwell's genius is his ability to make history come alive, whether it is early Saxon England or the 19th Century Peninsular War.

Cornwell's vehicle is Richard Sharpe, a larger than life British thief turned soldier, the Duke of Wellington's ambassador brother who becomes involved with a Spanish courtesan, a stuffy British brigadier, a nasty French colonel, a murderous priest and many other characters.

Cornwell weaves his history into the fiction. An imaginary affair between Henry Wellesley (Wellington's brother and ambassador to Spain) and a Spanish courtesan results in a blackmail plot using indisceet letters written by the ambassador.

Sharpe is summoned, on the basis of his reputation for effective violence, to recover the letters. Cornwell builds a solid plot involving a murderous priest, an admiral hoping to restore the Spanish monarchy and the precarious relationship between Spain and England.

There's a bit of invented or retold action here that depicts the nature of early 19th Century European war and, frankly, it is interesting.

But the real action is the Battle of Barrosa. It was of moderate scale: about 10,000 French troops and perhaps 4,000 British troops - while several thousand incompetently led Spanish troops did nothing. Cornwell excels at describing the maneuvering of troops in the Napoleonic era, the ghastliness of battle, the incredible bravery of the troops and the victory acheived that day by the British, led by a particularly able general.

This is definitely history "light" and Cornwell is to be commended for making history accessible to so many who otherwise might know nothing of the times he writes about. A great adventure novel as well as an engrossing history (as long as you know how to sort the history from the fiction).

Jerry

In 1809 in the Iberian Peninsular, though isolated from his side's main forces, Richard Sharpe and his unit defend Oporto, Portugal from Napoleon's armies. The city and the surrounding area are home to the famous red wine and numerous influential English red wine-exporting families. His superior Captain Hogan assigns Richard to keep safe the House Beautiful wine heiress Kate Savage and keep an eye on slick Colonel Christopher.
As Richard and his commandos perform their current mission, the French attack them. Portuguese irregulars led by philosopher poet Lieutenant Vicente save the beleaguered English. The two units consolidate heading to Kate's winery only to arrive, as she is to marry treacherous Colonel Christopher.
In his eighteenth appearance as a soldier during the Napoleonic Wars era, Sharpe lives up to his name, retaining a keen freshness as he battles the French and the bureaucracy. The tidbits from history, of which there are plenty, are brilliantly interwoven into the taut story line so that the audience receives a smooth plot yet know what is fact and what is Bernard Cornwell's vivid imagination. Anyone who relishes the era, enjoys war stories, or is a historical buff should read the Sharpe novels that bring in focus the realistic atrocities of battle as few novels short of All's Quiet on the Western Front has achieved.
Harriet Klausner

I was hooked on Sharpes stories many years age when there was a series on tv but now that I have found the books I am recharged. I love the way Cornwell gives you a wonderful story that is truly fiction but goes back and ties in a historic back ground that makes you think well maybe something like that did happen along with the fact. Now I am being fictinal, any way so far I am on my third book and they are a darn good read, with lots of action. The series was done with some of Englands best actors and it would be great if it could be brought back again or maybe the store could supply it.

I listened to the unabridged audiobook read by William Gaminara.

The story centers around Sharpe's orders to locate the 19-year-old Kate Savage, who has run away from home. Although Sharpe doesn't know it at the time, Kate is seduced by British Colonel Christopher. Christopher wants her inheritance. He's also up to his eyeballs in treason.

It's 1809 and the British army is stationed in Lisbon when Marshal Soult begins the French invasion of northern Portugal. Sharpe battles the French, saves the girl and exposes Christopher.

As with other Sharpe books, this one is an enjoyable, fast-paced romp in history.

Even though Captain Sharpe and Sergeant Harper are part of this plot, it's quite evident that the true heroes of this story are the regular British soldiers. There is a sub-plot about some indiscreet letters, and the burning of fire rafts, but when it comes to the battle, the stars are the ordinary soldiers who chrarge up a hill against an entrenched enemy with overwhelming numerical superiority, and don't stop until they have routed them. Our heroes are somewhat incidental to the battle action, and the author makes quite clear in his writing who is to be praised for this close-run victory. Sharpe has had his moments of glory; it's now the turn of the regular soldiers to be justly praised for their courage and dogged determination to succeed against all odds.

For all of you who didn't like the last Sharp book I have got to say that this is the book for you.
This is old school Sharp sort of a reverse of Sharp's Rifles this time with Sharp leading a group of green Portugal troops and trying to keep them alive.
we have a great supporting cast here
The loveable Patrick Harper
A French marshal with royal ambisions who you just love to hate
A lawyer turned solider
Mike Hogan
and my own personal favorite a new addition William Christoper who is a fine sucessor to other venerable Sharp villans.
It just seems to me that Mr. Cornwell had a lot more fun writting this book then he did the last one. It is certainly much more fun to read.

Good fall asleep reading, except you keep wanting to read another chapter.

Bernard Cornwell continues his story about Richard Scharpe. Richard Sharpe is a fictional character in the tradition of the Horatio Hornblower series by CS Forrester. Instead of following the rise of a Navy midshipman rising through the ranks of the British Navy (interestingly following a similiar path as Nelson). Richard Sharp is a the soldier on the land directly fighting Napoleon. The story by itself is exciting and would be enough.

For me the frosting on the cake is the way Bernard weaves the history into a fictional story. The reader comes away understanding Spain's attitude towards France. The fear the French had for the Spanish gurella fighters. The tensions and anger between the Spanish governments and England.

It's also intrigueing to compare the foibles of a great man in the early 1800s and compare that with our political leaders today. I can imagine thier are men in Richard Sharpe's situation cleaning up political and other indiscretions in our time as well.

Richard Sharpe is similiar to an 18th Century James Bond, though the gadgets are replaced with a determination, viscousness and raw edge not seen in Roger Moore's James Bond, that allows him to step across the grey areas of right and wrong. Instead focusing on staying alive and accomplishing a goal no matter how sordid or morally unclear.

Enjoyed the book a great deal.

Sharpe's Havoc is the eighteenth volume of Richard Sharpe's saga, but its time frame is early in Britain's Peninsular War against Napoleon, filling the gap between Sharpe's Rifles and Sharpe's Eagle. Despite large helpings of rape, pllage, and bloodshed, this reader did not find it very satisfying. Perhaps I've grown weary of the Supersoldier or perhaps Bernard Cornwell has.
This book tells the long-time follower of Sharpe little new about life in the Brtish army during the Napoleionic Wars, because Sharpe is on detached duty behind enemy lines in Portugal. For most of the story Sharpe and a handful of his riflemen hang out at the country estate of an English Port shipper. (Incidentally, if #1's critical discernment matches her knowledge of Port wine, readers should seek another guide) As in the recently published Sharpe's Trafalgar, our hero seems more witness to history than participant. Cornwell gives Sharpe plenty of derring to do, but it has a perfunctory air about it. His obligatory contribution to General Arthur Wellsley's rise to dukehood consists of finding transport across the Douro River, a service performed in reality by a Portugese barber.
The villain of the story, Lt Colonel Christopher of the British Foreign Office, is a more fully-developed character than those that have afflicted Sharpe in previous books. He is a charming rapist and traitor who directs French troops to massacre Portugese civilians to further his scheme for self-advancement. His worst crime, however, in the eyes of his colleague, the equally bloody-handed Lord Pumphrey, is that he's a thruster. "A thruster was a man who would bully and whip his way to the head of the field while riding to hounds...".
Neither Sharpe nor Christopher is as interesting as one of the historical figures Cormwell weaves into the story, Major Dulong of the French 31st Leger. Perhaps that explains what is wrong with Sharpe's Havoc.

No matter where sharpe goes he has a great adventure, a girl, a few bucks, but the author always tells the true story that relates to his glory. To enjoy his stories start in the early series. 1799 or sooner.

I have been a long time fan of Cornwell's Sharpe series and have been distressed by the decline in quality of both the plot lines and the writing. I had believed that his series departure, "The Gallows Thief" might have been the worst thing he had ever written, but this entry into Sharpe's history might win out. Sharpe has become an iconic figure of the Peninsular War and Cornwell's placing him in the Rifles was brilliant. The character has grown in the series with fleshing out of his past soldiering in India and revealed details of his life before the army.

This entry, however, seems as if it were phoned in. It seemed almost a pot boiler, with minimal effort applied. The plot, aside from the battle, was so-so, the final battle scene was excellent as is usual with Cornwell, period details were good, but almost everything else was tedious. This might have been better had it been 100 pages shorter! I sincerely hope that if this is an example of what we can expect with the series in future that Sharpe and Harper march no more. We already know what happened to Sharpe after the war and we know his beginnings. I don't think the character is served, nor the reader, by recounting each and every fight he was involved in -- particularly if it's not done any better than this account.

In fact, it may be his worst. As much as I love the 21 novels of the Sharpe series, this one shows signs of carelessness and indifference on the part of its author. The plot is loosely thrown together and the whore-pretending-to-be-respectable-and-snaring-a-British-officer theme is straight out of "Sharpe's Enemy". Cornwell is churning books out at a terrific clip with the "Lords of the North series", Sharpe, the Grail Quest and various singletons. Maybe it's time he took a rest or concentrated on one project.

I read all of the original Sharpe series in the eighties and thought that the series had come to it's natural conclusion with Sharpes Waterloo in 1990. I was very suprised to see Sharpes Devil a couple of years later and to my mind this was a book too far in the series. Cornwell was always writing other books including the excellent Redcoat as well as his nautical thrillers. When he started the Starbuck chronicles I was delighted and followed Nates adventures in the same manner as I had Sharpe's. Then, after the Sharpe series had been shown on tv Cornwell abandoned "The Starbuck Chronicles" mid-series (after four books)and resurrected Sharpe. Not to sound too cynical but the only reason for this betrayal of fans who had bought the new books and were following Starbuck could only have been money...Cornwell betrayed and sacrificed the Starbuck fans for a newer and more lucrutive market...the new Sharpe fans worldwide who came to the books after the tv series. In order to continue to cash in along came all the new books each one inserted in a different period of Sharpe's career. If you have read the original series you won't recognise Sharpe's description in the new books..because it's Sean Bean!...Thanks Bernard, how's the yacht?

I've read all of the "Sharpe" novels by Cornwell and this is one of his finest works. The plot is ingenious, studded with interesting characters, intrigue, and - of course - the action scenes for which the author is justifiably famous. I literally could not put it down and read the book in one sitting. Highly recommended!

Not p to Cornwell's usual high standard: The writing is more stilted and there isn't much of a story. To fill out the story, Cornwell resorts to a number of artificial contrivances that not only are not believable, they are not interesting.

Cornwell has produced another great novel with Sharpe and Harper. I somehow missed this one, it was the last of the Sharpe series that I hadn't read. I don't know where its possible for him to continue writing this series but I wish he would put out more!

Another excellent adventure by Cornwell. It was another book I couldn't put down. It is consistent with the other novels and as always full of historical details that give life to the story and characters. If you are a Sharpe fan you must get this book. I have everyone so far written and I look forward to more.

I have long been a fan of Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe. I have read every one of the books in the series. The writing is so clear and people so well developed, that I have a hard time putting the books down. I pretty much love everything that he has written, except for The Fort. I recommend this series for anyone who likes historical war stories.

Excellent read. It's been a long time coming waiting for the new book on the Battle of Barrosa. Sharpe's Fury is definitely a book that anyone can enjoy and maybe spark an interest in a little known history that shaped the world.