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Rating: 
Summary: More of the same, unfortunately
Review: Coming from a re-reading of the superb Patrick O'Brian novels is probably the worst way to take up with Richard Sharpe again. It's like going from filet mignon to yesterday's stale Big Mac. Somehow I hope the writing will improve, but it never does. Nor is the story very edifying. Sharpe, the "hero" of the piece, attempts to shoot his fellow officer in the back, during battle, for no good reason other than Sharpe's chronic bad humor. Meanwhile, evil foreigners lust after a prim and beautiful English woman, while the Catholic Church comes in for the usual bashing from Cornwell, who never misses a chance to portray priests and monks in a bad light.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the best accounts of the battle of Busaco ever...
Review: First things first: I've been following/marching with Sharpe since 1982... so I consider myself a diehard fan of the series, (nevertheless I can see for myself and agree with other reviewers about the repetitions of plot&subplot used over&over and even the basis/schema of each book treading on the well known path...).
BUT, I could'nt care less mind..., it's the same formula of let's say a James Bond film... so what?, as long it ENTERTAINS and the "Raconteur" is a good one...(and Mr. Cornwell surely it is then why complain?...).
I think this one has unexpected bonus:
1) we are dispensed with the usual Wellington "scenes"
2) Hogan (based loosely in George Scowell...see Mark Urban book it's very good on its own...) does not become obnoxious.
3) Harper is very well used in a proper suporting actor role.
4) It's improved in politicall correctness (the portuguese army has it's share of glory) and the characters are less caricaturized... even it allows for french courage and elan (wich of course reflects even better on the british soldier virtues: a) enormous pride; b) the ability of deliver more firepower in coordinated platoon volleys etc.
5) the heroine is quickly loved by the reader (he's getting better at that!)
6) there is less reiteration in the motions of loading and firing muskets/rifles (AT LAST!).
7) AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST: The account of the Batlle of Busaco, the strategic events and the campaign itself ARE A GEM!, how good he is at writing a battle down (specially the peninsular one's...)AS PURE ENTERTAINING NOVELS THEY DO NOT COME ANY BETTER FOR MY TASTE (but I am a freak of XIXth century warfare so...)
Concluding: I did found the volumes in India (3), Copenhage, and Trafalgar a bit farfetched (they have their moments thought), but as per "Sharpe's Havoc" and "Sharpe's Escape" they are REALLY VERY GOOD!, I think the Peninsular War is the natural element/environment for Sharpe&Harper (even if "Sharpe's Siege" wich is one of my favourites does not happen in Spain...).
SO HERE YOU HAVE IT IN A NUTSHELL: A GREAT NARRATION OF A TRUE CAMPAIGN AS BACKGROUND AND THE POPULAR ROGUES DOING WHAT THEY DO BEST... FIGHT THE FRENCH AND WHOEVER ELSE DESERVES IT!
B----- RECOMMENDED!
Rating:
Summary: Another Sharpe Winner!
Review: In book 20 of the Sharpe series, Cornwell is still doing what he does best...keeping Sharpe alive, keen, and fresh...and writing the best breathtaking battlescenes ever!The Battle of Bussaco is so gritty you can smell the gunpowder, feel your mouth go dry with the salt as the Riflemen reload, and feel the smoke smothering and embracing your lungs.
Cornwell's descriptions are vivid and detailed and as authentic as it gets in historical fiction. Naturally, Sharpe has his own private nemisis - in vol. 20 he's Ferragus, all-around 'bad-boy' selling contraband to the French and annoying Richard with fists, deeds and words. The lovely Patrick Harper is here also (charming & one of my favorite of Cornwell's characters) and more than a sidekick. Harper grows with each novel as does Hogan (another favorite) who's more than just an engineer. Brilliant adventure tale!
Rating: 
Summary: No Escape from Sharpe for me!
Review: Sharpes Escape is set in Portugal during the last French invasion attempt. In great secrecy after Talavera Wellington constructed the Lines of Torres Vedras. He created what was probably the greatest fortress in all of history by building a series of defences in two great lines in front of Lisbon.
Then he devastated all the land in central Portugal to deny Massena's "Army of Portugal" any food. Since the French had long demonstrated their ability to live off the land, Wellington implemented a particularly harsh scorched earth policy, which resulted in great hardship for the Portuguese that winter.
When this was achieved, Wellington marched out and gave battle to Massena at the ridge of Bussaco. Thinking himself up against a weak and ill disciplined army, such as those in Spain, Massena adopted brute force tactics. He tried to force his infantry columns up the ridge against the British and Portuguese lines. As any student of Musket warfare knows, lines decimate columns. Columns only win when the lines cannot maintain their rate of fire, or if they run away.
At Bussaco the British and the well drilled Portuguese armies kept up their fire and roundly defeated Massena.
It is here that Sharpes Escape begins, with an accurate and exciting description of the Battle at Bussaco. After the battle Sharpe is sent to Coimbra to destroy any remaining food stores before the French arrive. As often happens, Sharpe finds himself behind enemy lines, with a beautiful girl on one arm and a bag of gold on the other. Cornwells formula may be over used and hackneyed, but it still works, because he builds it into factual events.
In this book the girl is an English Governess who is saved from the lustful clutches of an evil Portuguese boxer come smuggler and his venal sidekick brother, the traitor Major in the Portuguese Army. The poor girl can no longer resist Captain Sharpe as they wade naked in the dark through a sewer pipe (no really, I couldn't make this up!).
The story comes to a nail biting conclusion when Sharpe finds his way back to his regiment in the middle of a skirmish at the lines of Torres Vedras.
Another good yarn for those who love Mr Sharpe and all things Napoloenic!
Rating:
Summary: Getting Better, Again
Review: The same heroes (Sharpe, Harper, Hogan and LeRoy), the same villains (incompetent fellow officers, the French and brutal turncoats)and the same basic plot line. However, Cornwell manages to keep this one compelling by providing a dramatic recounting of the battle at Bussaco, the pillaging of Coimbra and the brilliantly engineered and the deadly effectiveness of Torres Vedras. Part travelogue and part military history, Cornwell did a good job driving me back to the real military histories - some of which are noted in the always useful afterword.
Rating:
Summary: The Bussaco Campaign of 1810.
Review: The setting is Northern Portugal ,1810. On Richard Sharpe's timeline , this follows "Sharpe's Havoc" and "Sharpe's Gold". The story begins with a very unhappy Richard Sharpe--angry at his recall from a well earned leave with Josefina Lacosta , and by Colonel Lawford's replacement of Lt. Knowles with one of his relatives. Lieutenant Cornelius Slingsby (where does he get these names?) has become Sharpe's second in command of the South Essex light company by virtue of being Col. William Lawford's sister-in-law's husband. Apparently he survived a posting in the West Indies to become the husband of a "lady in trouble" , and the kind-hearted Lawford feels compelled to help his relative advance and become a bit more respectable to the family. Ah , complications! Early in the tale , Sharpe manages to make enemies of two Portuguese brothers, one of whom is a Major on the Portuguese army , and his brutish brother , Ferragus. We are introduced to Ferragus through the burning of some stored food that was being clandesinely transferred to the French army pursuing Wellington into Portugal. Ferragus , an enormous man who was formerly a sailor , a slave trader , and a criminal , has managed to accumulate an enormous supply of food hidden in warehouses. Lord Wellington , however,is in the process of leaving scorched earth for the armies of Marshal Massena and Marshall Ney , by stripping the land of food as he retreats behind the Torres Vedras line. Of course there is a lovely lady involved ; a British governess to the children of the Portuguese Major , by the name of Sarah Fry. Also present in the cast of characters are Major Hogan , Sergeant Harper , Hagman , and Harris. As a carryover from "Sharpe's Havoc" Jorge Vicente returns as a Captain in the Portuguese army leading a group of riflemen a la Sharpe. Ferragus , with the help of his brother , plan to eliminate Sharpe and his group by setting an elaborate trap , but as usual , our hero prevails. Not only must Sharpe escape to save himself and Harper ,but rescue the light company from the idiotic Slingsby. As in most of Cornwell's Sharpe novels , you can almost smell the gunpowder and hear the screams of the wounded and dying through his battle scenes. Fans of this series will not be disappointed this time! At the end , Sharpe and Harper continue to march on. Enjoyable and recommended.
Rating:
Summary: The Bussaco Campaign of 1810.
Review: The setting is Northern Portugal ,1810. On Richard Sharpe's timeline , this follows "Sharpe's Havoc" and "Sharpe's Gold". The story begins with a very unhappy Richard Sharpe--angry at his recall from a well earned leave with Josefina Lacosta , and by Colonel Lawford's replacement of Lt. Knowles with one of his relatives. Lieutenant Cornelius Slingsby (where does he get these names?) has become Sharpe's second in command of the South Essex light company by virtue of being Col. William Lawford's sister-in-law's husband. Apparently he survived a posting in the West Indies to become the husband of a "lady in trouble" , and the kind-hearted Lawford feels compelled to help his relative advance and become a bit more respectable to the family. Ah , complications! Early in the tale , Sharpe manages to make enemies of two Portuguese brothers, one of whom is a Major on the Portuguese army , and his brutish brother , Ferragus. We are introduced to Ferragus through the burning of some stored food that was being clandesinely transferred to the French army pursuing Wellington into Portugal. Ferragus , an enormous man who was formerly a sailor , a slave trader , and a criminal , has managed to accumulate an enormous supply of food hidden in warehouses. Lord Wellington , however,is in the process of leaving scorched earth for the armies of Marshal Massena and Marshall Ney , by stripping the land of food as he retreats behind the Torres Vedras line. Of course there is a lovely lady involved ; a British governess to the children of the Portuguese Major , by the name of Sarah Fry. Also present in the cast of characters are Major Hogan , Sergeant Harper , Hagman , and Harris. As a carryover from "Sharpe's Havoc" Jorge Vicente returns as a Captain in the Portuguese army leading a group of riflemen a la Sharpe. Ferragus , with the help of his brother , plan to eliminate Sharpe and his group by setting an elaborate trap , but as usual , our hero prevails. Not only must Sharpe escape to save himself and Harper ,but rescue the light company from the idiotic Slingsby. As in most of Cornwell's Sharpe novels , you can almost smell the gunpowder and hear the screams of the wounded and dying through his battle scenes. Fans of this series will not be disappointed this time! At the end , Sharpe and Harper continue to march on. Enjoyable and recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Another Solid Sharpe Adventure
Review: The twentieth Sharpe book contains everything fans of the series have come to expect from Cornwell. Set in 1810, the story finds the British Army executing a strategic retreat from the overconfident French forces in Spain. Lord Wellington has ordered the land stripped of all food so that the massive French army will overextend itself and face severe logistical problems when it does finally engage the British. Sharpe is by now the Captain of the South Essex's Light Company but finds his leadership being challenged by the new presence of eager-beaver Lt. Slingsby, who has been placed there by the South Essex's commander, Col. Lawford (who happens to be his brother in-law).
Early on, Sharpe is out patrolling, and stumbles across some Portuguese and a cache of foodstuffs at a signaling tower. He destroys the supplies, per his standing orders, but not before getting into a vicious fight with the hulking Portuguese owner of the goods. This bruiser is Ferragus, an ex-pirate, ex-slaver, and all-around successful gangster whose brother happens to be a Major of Intelligence for the Portuguese Army. These two brothers fulfill the roles of Sharpe's arch-enemies for the story, while Slingsby and Col. Lawford form the usual army irritants. Following Sharpe's initial victory, Ferragus vows to get even, and finds his chance in the chaos that results when the British pull out of Coimbra just before the French get there. Sharpe, Sgt. Harper, old pal Jorge Vicente (from Sharpe's Havoc) find themselves trapped in the city, along with a beautiful English governess. The middle portion of the book is taken up with their adventures, as they evade their Portuguese foes and the French army. Lots of derring-do, trickery, and the usual bravery and close-quarters fighting. This leads to the final third of the book, in which Sharpe's little band escapes the city and races to reach the British army lines before both Ferragus and the French.
Meanwhile, Cornwell provides small glimpses into the activities of the British Army, which entrenches itself in a 40km-long chain of forts. Called the "Lines of Torres Vedras", they were built at great expense, and yet the French are completely unaware of them. Col. Lawford rather inadvisably orders Slingsby to place the Light Company as a picket on a farm below the forts, and ultimately all forces converge there: Sharpe and company, his Portuguese nemeses, and the lead elements of Marshall Massena's army. What follows is vintage Cornwell, as he simultaneously describes the large-scale fight of the Battle of Busaco, as well as the small-scale defense of the farm by the vastly outnumbered Light Company. It's great stuff, and the only regret is that after such rousing set pieces, and the meting out of just desserts, the book ends all too quickly.
Rating:
Summary: Another Winner in Cornwell's Masterful Series
Review: Those of you who are coming to SHARPE'S ESCAPE after reading the previous nineteen volumes may be excused for sighing every now and then. Richard Sharpe, that dauntless desperado of Lord Wellington's Peninsular Campaign, is back, fighting against the forces of Napoleon in Portugal. And, of course, Sergeant Patrick Harper is here, wielding his massive nine-barreled gun and yet another incompetent English commander to contend with, and a perfidious ally. And, of course, Sharpe makes a powerful enemy early on, this time a heavily muscled Portuguese enforcer selling contraband to the French. By the time the innocent English governess shows up behind enemy lines, even the most devoted fan of Bernard Cornwell's masterful series may be rolling his eyes a bit. This is --- quite literally ---- territory that fans of the series have marched over before, more than once. Cornwell has a gift and a curse. His gift is his intimate knowledge of Wellington's campaign against Napoleon and his ability to transmit that knowledge through the exploits of Richard Sharpe on the battlefield. (Sharpe's parallel achievements in the bedroom, of course, cannot be attributed to the Iron Duke, though Cornwell records those faithfully as well.) His curse is that he can't stop writing. Cornwell is almost maddeningly prolific --- but unlike other prolific writers, he is also incredibly consistent. SHARPE'S ESCAPE is the equal of the other nineteen; there's no appreciable difference in quality. Only the situations remain familiar. So if you're reading SHARPE'S ESCAPE and think you might have read it before, you may be very nearly right. But if you haven't --- well, then, perhaps it's time that you had. SHARPE'S ESCAPE is about a campaign as stern and unyielding as its hero. The British forces, in the early stage of the battle for the Iberian Peninsula, are marching towards the safety of the Lines of Torres Vedras, a great defensive bastion protecting the city of Lisbon from invasion. Wellington expects the French to besiege the lines of fortifications, and the best way to win such a siege is to deny as much rations to the enemy as possible. Lieutenant Richard Sharpe and his men are on a scorched-earth mission as the book starts, seeking to destroy as much food as possible while herding the local civilians behind friendly lines. Sharpe's mission is complicated by a Portuguese major who is ostensibly gathering information from the enemy and, not incidentally, selling food to them --- food that coincidentally happens to be owned by his brother. Sharpe disrupts this flow of food and makes two powerful enemies. Additionally, Sharpe faces opposition in his South Essex Regiment, as his colonel seeks to promote a socially connected relative over his head. Add to that the implacable hostility from the French forces contesting for the control of Portugal, and Sharpe is arrayed against numerous --- and familiar --- enemies. That Richard Sharpe gets the better of his enemies is not to be doubted. What makes the Sharpe novels so infectiously fun is how he does it; how he manages to outfight and outwit those who would stand in his way. Richard Sharpe is a thief and a rogue in search of gold, girls and glory, but he's uncommonly honest about it --- and immensely likeable as a result. Here, he's paired with a lawyerly Portuguese officer and a prim English schoolmarm, and it's not too long in their acquaintance before both come to Sharpe's way of thinking about plunder, bad language and survival. SHARPE'S ESCAPE is about survival --- survival, in this instance, from a deadly trap and through two harrowing battles. The trap tests Sharpe's resourcefulness --- and his stomach --- while the battles test Cornwell's ability to make what's happening in combat clear and understandable. The author writes with the authority of one who has seen the ground, who has traipsed all over the sites of Wellington's campaigns, and who knows what it was like to serve in a nineteenth-century regiment and take on the legions of the Emperor for low wages, short rations and mortal danger. Cornwell is good enough at transmitting all of this that one wonders what he could accomplish as a straight historian --- though he's far too skilled as a novelist to lose. There may be more than a ring of familiarity throughout SHARPE'S ESCAPE, but for those who have read the prior installments, it's a welcome sound indeed. And for those who haven't, it's an excellent chance to take up the Baker rifle and the green jacket, marching in the ranks and slogging through the mud of war with Lieutenant Richard Sharpe. --- Reviewed by Curtis Edmonds
Rating:
Summary: A RICHLY ASSURED READING
Review: Those who may have seen the Broadway revival of "The Crucible" in the early 1990s surely well remember the riveting performance of Patrick Tull. He brings that same rich assurance to his reading of "Sharpe's Escape." By now, thanks to Cornwell's popular Sharpe Series, Captain Richard Sharpe has become an iconic figure in the military history genre - larger than life. That's a difficult voice to capture, yet the gifted Tull does it to perfection. As we've come to know Sharpe has a bit of trouble with authority, especially when he sees the incompetence of some of his so-called superiors. It is now 1810; Napoleon wants Portugal and the British beaten into retreat. Facing Napoleon's largest army is one thing but Sharpe is also besieged from within, losing his command to an inept British officer with very proper family connections. Further, two cowardly, conniving Portugese brothers plan to become friends with the French in the hopes of profiting should Portugal fall to France. When Sharpe steps in to foil their plan he puts his life on the line. Ferragus, the cruelest of the brothers, devises a trap to kill Sharpe. Those with a love for military adventure and over the top battles will not want to miss a word of "Sharpe's Escape." - Gail Cooke
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