Rating:  Summary: Great Fun! Review: Bernard Cornwell's "Sharpe's Battle" is another fine entry in the Sharpe series. As with all of Cornwell's Sharpe books there are loads of action and excitement. "Battle" was written during the BBC series 1995 and is even dedicated to Sean Bean, the actor who played Sharpe. It is Spain 1811 the British are trying to maintain their foothold in the Iberian Peninsula. Sharpe gets his company lost in the foothills and stumbles across a town that was wiped up by the French. Sharpe orders the execution of two French soldiers thus earning the enmity of the ruthless French Brigadier General Loup (the Wolf). Thus begins a story that includes characters such as: the evil spy-master Major Ducos, the hysterical ruminations of Wagon Master (General) Runciman, the tragic drunken Irish Lord Kiely, the impotent partisan El Castrador (that's right Castrador). Can you imagine a better cast of characters. What fun! I disagree with some of the other reviews and found "Sharpe's Battle" great. I would recommend this story to anyone, especially Sharpe fans.
Rating:  Summary: Back from the future! Review: Cornwell does a superb job, but for some reason I was not overwhelmed as I have been with the other books. Perhaps, because though Cornwell's dialogue and plot are fast-paced, I've perhaps read too many of them and his books have become too formulistic (off course most fans like the tried and true approach). I still very much enjoyed it and look forward to reading the last remaining book in the series that I haven't read yet - Sharpe's Rifles.
Rating:  Summary: A very boring TV series Review: I don't know about the book, but Sharpe's Battle certainly didn't make good television viewing. I thought the first episode was bad and wouldn't have bothered with the second except that my husband wanted to give it another go. "Why am I wasting time watching this?" I asked myself and, since I'm not usually masochistic, I walked out of the room halfway through the episode. Apart from the fact that I found the series boring, I wondered if guns were really as accurate in Napoleon's time as they were portrayed. It seemed to me that every time someone fired a gun the bullet didn't just hit the targeted man but instantly killed him.
Rating:  Summary: Dustin's revew of a good book Review: I enjoyed this book very much. I especially enjoyed Bernard Cornwells excellent battle discriptions. I admire his amazing imagination and wonderful use of words and the way he would just paint a picture in my head of his charicters and his scenes.
Rating:  Summary: Sharpe as Ever! Review: I had read all of the Sharpe novels but this one, and I had put off reading it for a long time. I didn't like the fact that Cornwell stuck this into the middle of the series after he had finished it. When I read the first few pages, I had reservations. It sounded like a weak movie script. After a while, however, like most Sharpe fans, I felt the need for more! When I finally bought and starting reading it in earnest, I found it was pretty good. Like all Sharpe novels,it certainly keeps your attention. The opening confrontation with Loup is great, just what we've come to expect from Cornwell. And as the story goes along,I was once again cheering for my favorite literary hero! It had been a while since I'd read Sharpe, and frankly I'd missed him, good old Harps, Hagman,Cooper and the ever wily Major Hogan. (With all these Hibernian heroes, I wonder if Cornwell isn't really a closet Irishman!). The story moves along. the characters are fun as ever, and it's just a plain good read. However, I do agree with critics of the book: somehow, it does seem out of kilter with the rest of the series. I was extremely happy, though, to see that Cornwell had dedicated the book to Sean Bean. As Cornwell has admitted in interviews, once Sean played the role, he really became Sharpe! Like many people (including Cornwell), I can't imagine anyone playing the role but Sean.(I do think Colin Firth might be a close contender, though). When you read this book, you're picturing Sean and Darragh O'Malley as Harper. My only regret about the Sharpe novels is that there aren't a hundred more! Patrick O'Brian's novels tended to fade as time went on, but Bernard's still got it, and Sharpe's Battle shows it better than any evidence I or anyone else can give!
Rating:  Summary: Sharpe's Review: I haven't read a single book in this series that has disappointed. If you want to have a feel for how things were during the Peninsular war, buy and enjoy!
Rating:  Summary: Great books! Review: I liked the Sharp books so much, that I actually hunted down every single one of them (I hope I did), to read them from the beginning to the end. I wish there was more. Will there be? I'd like to read about Sharp's adventures in Russia in '12-'1
Rating:  Summary: The only disappointment in the series so far Review: Not a bad story for the genre, but completely out of sync with the rest of the Sharpe series in terms of writing style and characterization. I wish I'd skipped it. Not sure what got into Cornwell on this one.
Rating:  Summary: The only disappointment in the series so far Review: Not a bad story for the genre, but completely out of sync with the rest of the Sharpe series in terms of writing style and characterization. I wish I'd skipped it. Not sure what got into Cornwell on this one.
Rating:  Summary: Shape's Battle is another triumph for Bernard Cornwell Review: Once again, Bernard Cornwell has written an exciting page-turner of a book. I found it very addictive - staying up late at night to finish it. I recommend it to all who enjoy a good historical action/adventure book in the genre of Horatio Hornblower. I can't wait to read more books of the Sharpe series.
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