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Title: Sharpe's Havoc : Richard Sharpe and the Campaign in Northern Portugal, Spring 1809 by Bernard Cornwell ISBN: 0-06-056670-1 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 02 March, 2004 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.38 (13 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Sharpe, Back in the Saddle Again!
Comment: 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.
Rating: 4
Summary: Sharpe fans will be delighted with this very good read
Comment: 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
Rating: 5
Summary: Sharpe in Portugal
Comment: It's always a cause for rejoicing to me when I have the chance to read a new novel about Richard Sharpe and his exploits in the Napoleonic era. These books are excellent reading, and you also receive a "ground-pounder's" view of the wars of that time. This isn't the elite "from the command post" view, but from the guys who actually did the fighting, up close and really dirty. The writing is first-rate, and the characters quite well drawn. The plots keep the reader moving swiftly, and the pages are turned with great anticipation. Just when it appears that the author may have exhausted the scenarios of the war years in his books, he gives all of his faithful readers hope for the future when he says at the end: "Sharpe and Harper will march again". That is fantastic news!
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Title: Sharpe's Skirmish by Bernard Cornwell ISBN: 0972222006 Publisher: The Sharpe Appreciation Society Pub. Date: 03 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.00 |
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Title: Sharpe's Christmas by Bernard Cornwell ISBN: 0972222014 Publisher: Sharpe Appreciation Society Pub. Date: 01 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $8.00 |
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Title: Sharpe's Battle: Spain 1811 by Bernard Cornwell ISBN: 0060932287 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 16 December, 2003 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Sharpes Gold: Richard Sharpe and the Destruction of Almeida, August 1810 by Bernard Cornwell ISBN: 0140294317 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: February, 2001 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Sharpes Eagle by Bernard Cornwell ISBN: 0140294309 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: February, 2001 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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