Sharpe's Prey

Rating:
Summary: The series just keeps getting better!
Review: Exactly what we have come to expect from Mr.Cornwell - intriguing plot, bloodthirsty action, skulduggery, espionage and (of course) the usual healthy dose of lust, both carnal and pecuniary.
Although, in this little-publicised episode in British history, Sharpe seems strangely inept and less logical than normal, doubtless due to his recent bereavement and near-bankruptcy. At times we see the hard man reduced to tears at some small reminder ... this unmanning shows in the guileless way he goes about his task of ensuring that a chest of gold gets to the right place with the desired effect. Instead, he lets himself be duped - and almost killed - several times before gathering his wits; which he does in grand style, saving the day, finishing the job and settling a few scores - looks like it all turns out fine in the end, doesn't it? Read it and find out...
The writing, and the action, flows so well that the book is finished before one realises - leaving one gasping for more.
Once again the tale is based on historical facts, brilliantly dramatised; and summarised in an illuminating appendix - Mr.Cornwell's place at the top of the military history writers' roll of honour is assured. *****

Rating:
Summary: One of the weaker Sharpe novels
Review: I find it very sad that one of the most disgraceful events i english history is being presented as something heroic.
Being danish I know very well what happened in 1807 aswell as before that fateful year.
In 1801 the english attacked us for the first time eventhough we had done nothing against them.One of the leaders of the mission to Copenhagen was the famous Lord Nelson.His mission was to force the danish government to hand over the strong Danish-Norwegian navy.That resulted in the famous "Battle of Copenhagen", one of Nelsons three major naval confrontations(the others were:Aboukir1798,Trafalgar1805).In spite of the fact that he claimed victory when he came home to his country, the mission had been a faliure.He did NOT manage to confiscate our navy, instead he and the rest of his fleet suffered very heavy losses without being able to force their will upon us.
Infact more british seamen got killed in that battle than at Aboukir and Trafalgar put together.The fighting only stopped when Nelson hinted that he might slaughter the danish prisoners of war if we did'nt agree to a ceasefire.
So Nelson was both a sore looser aswell as a man who used dirty tricks to "win".
In 1807 The english had no Nelson anymore but the cynism was the same.Remembering well that the last time they challenged the danish navy in honest fighting they got a bloody nose, they decided to iniciate the FIRST TERROR BOMBARDMENT IN HISTORY, deliberatery targeting the civilian population of the city, like it was seen many times during WW2 from 1940-45.
Stunned by the brutality of the british, the city capitulated so that the english could finally steal the most advanced navy in the world at the time.
The war continued and rarely have we danish people hated anyone so much as we hated the british during those years... and wo can blame us?

Rating:
Summary: One of the weaker Sharpe novels
Review: Not as much fun as most of the Sharpe series. Sharpe spends much of the book in an utter funk, and hanging darkly over the whole story is that Britain's handling of the Copenhagen siege is pretty appalling. However, to be honest, if you're reading the series in chronological order and have just finished "Sharpe's Trafalgar," you might be mildly frustrated if you skip "Sharpe's Prey" -- presumably going straight to "Sharpe's Rifles" -- because you'll be left wondering whatever became of the happy-ending situation that "Trafalgar" concluded with, since Sharpe's life is in such a dramatically different place at the beginning of "Rifles."

Rating:
Summary: Sharpe in Copenhagen
Review: Once again, the author has given me a story that involves an aspect of the Napoleonic Wars about which I previously knew nothing, the bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807. Of course, he has put his intrepid hero, Richard Sharpe, right into the center of it, alongside actual historical characters. It's an exciting tale, as always with the Sharpe series, although we get to see a little of the softer side of Sharpe, as he grieves for his lost Grace, who died in childbirth. Sharpe is the early 19th century James Bond, always getting into and out of near-impossible situations, and always seeming to find a beautiful woman to share some time with him. The settings appear factual, and I assume that the details of the action are quite correct. Now that this tale is told, I wonder where Sharpe's adventures will take him next, for it appears that most of the time from 1807 until Waterloo has been covered by other books in this series. I can only hope the author finds other adventures for Richard Sharpe, for I would miss him terribly if there were no further works about him.

Rating:
Summary: Sharpe's shakespearean adventure
Review: Sharpe's Prey starts with a bang, or rather a couple of bloody cuts. Richard is at his rawest and most vicious, thoroughly at wit's end with his degraded status, life, and prospects. Revisiting his orphanage, this is the fullest exposition we've had of just how low was Sharpe's start in life. The rest of the story doesn't consistently match this intensity, exposing a fundamentally sentimental outlook strange in a slum kid and a silent Victorian attitude to sex on Cornwell's part. The book becomes a series of loose episodes, a Danish interlude between Sharpe's years in India and serious work in the Peninsular Campaign, flitting here and there across Zealand and into Copenhagen. We get glimpses of series characters past like Wellesley (the Duke) or future, Rifleman Harper. The villain of the piece is a very smooth and deceptive traitor, quite unlike Sharpe's nemesis Hakeswill (absent here). One of the most terrifying sections describes what it was like to be on the receiving end of British platoon fire (while Sharpe is spying within the Danish ranks). This is almost as terrible to behold as the indomitable courage of the Scots at Assaye or the Forlorn Hope at Badajoz, pinnacles of battle writing elsewhere in the Sharpe series. We get to see a number of different susceptibilities to the presence of a vast treasure in gold, with Sharpe always rather close by. Another vignette features the first blooding of the Rifle Battalion as skirmishers. The hb cover art doesn't make much sense. Too bad the artist didn't choose the spectacular fireworks described for the bombardment of the city. But the two maps are really helpful (and also for Alexander Kent's mapless story of Nelson's earlier attack on Copenhagen: "The Inshore Squadron," Bolitho #13).

There are two years to go to Spain; shall we get another story before Sharpe appears there? Did I hear that there's one called Sharpe's Justice, righting wrongs on the Scottish Border?

Rating:
Summary: Not so Sharpe
Review: Sorry to spoil the party, but this is by some way the weakest of the series. It concerns the British bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807, not to be confused with Nelson's more famous attack in 1801. (For an inoffensive people the Danes came in for a lot of stick: they wouldn't hand over their fleet, you see, even when asked nicely, and the Froggies were up to their old tricks.) There's a doublecrossing upper-class rotter - guess what happens to him - and a beautiful blonde - likewise. Apart from the odd eye-gouging and general mayhem, that's about it.

The plot is uninvolving; the dialog verges on the embarrassing. There's no trace of the gallows humor that lifts other Sharpe stories. I persevered because I'm a Sharpe fan from way back. If you haven't read one before, read and enjoy 'Sharpe's Gold', 'Sharpe's Enemy' or the picaresque masterpiece 'Sharpe's Regiment'. But leave this one until (much) later.

Rating:
Summary: A wittier Sharpe, a sharper wit...
Review: The 18th Richard Sharpe book from the author I'm almost compulsive about.

Bernard Cornwell appeals to me the way the writers of the Boy's Own yarns appealed to me when I was a boy, in the 1950s. His tales are filled with derring-do, with people battling not only an implacable foe but also their own demons - and doing it all so wonderfully well.

Like a number of Amazon reviewers, I have read all the Sharpe books, and they all grace my bookshelves (with the exception of two, which are on loan). This is a worthy addition to the continuing saga.. and one in which Mr Cornwell allows his sense of humour to show.

He very gently, and very skillfully, pokes the borax at the Danes in this book, and his wit is as sharp as Richard's bayonet. Read the story for the adventure (and it's a rattling good yarn about a little-known time of shame for the Brits)and for the gentle japes Mr Cornwell makes at the expense of the Danes' extraordinary reputation for being nice.

And we also see that while Sharpe displays some traits of true nobility, he is also a gutter-raised bloody-minded murderer. This almost schizoid characterisation is difficult for an author to maintain, but Mr Cornwell manages to tweak the sympathies of his audience well enough that we are tempted to forgive Sharpe anything. And, we do.

Will there be a 19th volume of Sharpe adventures? I certainly hope so.

Rating:
Summary: Ho Hum
Review: This is a desciption I never thought I'd be giving one of Cornwell's Sharpe books, but unfortunately it fits.

We see only little tastes of Sharpe as himself, We see him in at the dog pits, we see him at the orphanage and we see him with Clouter (one of the better supporting characters.), other than that it just seemed dull.

The little tease of Harper and Cooper disapointed me, there was no point of including them if more wasn't going to be done with them.

I had little or no knowledge of this battle so this book informed more than entertained. I can't really say if its because after SO many Sharpe books and movies I'm just tired of the series or if it just wasn't written as well as it could be. I'm inclined to the latter since I loved the books in India.

If you've never read a book in the Sharpe series you may enjoy this book more since the character will be fresh, however if you are a regular, you will expect better as I did.

A Library Book.

Rating:
Summary: Sharpe in Denmark, 1807
Review: This is book is not as bad as some reviewers seem to indicate. I find it easilier to view Sharpe as a means to an end. The Sharpe character serves as a vehicle in which Mr. Cornwell can present a fascinating portrayal of the Napoleanic period in which the British army fought. To view him in any other context is absurd, because Sharpe is superhuman. No other living mortal could have seen and done the many things which Cornwell has put him through. If looked at in this way, the Sharpe series can really be a fun, entertaining and informative read. Sharpe represents the Tommy Atkins of Wellington's army which humbled the great Corsican over years of warfare.

Cornwell has been back-tracking his saga ever since getting Sharpe through the Peninsular and Waterloo campaigns. The many references to his past in India and England that were mentioned in these novels have been brought to the fore in the latest series. We get to see how Sharpe got himself into the 95th Rifles and with Wellington's army in Spain. One has to credit Cornwell for doing a brilliant job here of incorporating all this information and plot together. He has constructed each novel to stand on its own, as well as be part of the on-going Sharpe series. What makes these novels great is their period detail and close attention to history. The reader not only gets first-class action, romance and adventure, but great historical detail as well. It's a winning combination for sure, even if Sharpe does come across as a robotic killing machine at times. Cornwell's penchant for graphic descriptions of fighting and killing also carry much shock value and keep the reader standing on edge.

In this story our hero actually expresses a little feeling and emotion for a change. The 1807 Denmark expedition is little known and this makes the novel quite interesting. Sharpe does less of a killing spree here than in previous novels and perhaps this is what readers miss in this book! Danes are not slaughtered like Frenchmen usually are! Cornwell provides vivid action for the small-scale battles that occur, allowing us to see the 95th Rifles in action for the first time. We also get brief cameos of characters who will become important later on while earlier characters prepare to make their exit for them.

All in all a worthy addition to the on-going Sharpe series. If Cornwell can squeese out another one it will have to be set in Portugal at the battles of Rolica and Vimero where Wellington and Sharpe will begin their long march toward Waterloo.

Rating:
Summary: The Action Continues
Review: When Bernard Cornwell wrote Sharpe's Rifles almost two decades ago, it is obvious he did not intend to add novels before the peninsular campaign. Now there are four, with the most recent being Sharp's Prey, a story of the British 1807 bombardment of Copenhagen with Richard Sharp serving as a spy.

The story starts off slowly, with an explanation of Sharpe's experiences between Sharpe's Trafalgar and the current novel: his financial difficulties, the horror of London in 1807, and the introduction of the prey. It is not until we get half way into the book that the traditional Sharp appears, the battleground Sharp, although for the most part he is the spy Sharp. There is even a love interest.

Some of the supporting cast comes from Sharpe's Trafalgar, but most are unique to this effort-and they are well drawn and interesting. Unfortunately, they must disappear, as the remaining history between Sharp's Prey and Sharpe's Rifles is Wellington in Portugal, most likely Cornwell's next Sharpe story.

As always, Cornwell is a superb wordsmith. His descriptions of Copenhagen are real, and, from time to time, there are sentences that summarize a character-that say it all in shorthand. My only complaint is Sharpe's nemesis is not as evil as others in the series-I can almost like and understand this one.