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This is such a suitable send-off for the series that I'm almost sad there's still one more that follows it chronologically since it's hard to imagine a more perfect ending than this, though due to the publishing date of this one I think it's probably safe to consider it the spiritual ending if nothing else. The battle at the hill was extremely intense. It was also infuriating!! The Spanish general, Lapeña, caused so many more deaths than there should have been, had he just stayed in position and fought alongside the British, Irish, Scottish, Welsh and Portuguese forces! But he retreated like a coward with his nine thousand men and had a leisurely lunch on the beach instead. Seriously, he did! With wine even! So the other forces were outnumbered and left to fight for his country, for Pete's sake. His decision was not popular with his troops at all. Terrific fella.
But think of what my job is. I tell stories, it’s glorious. The joy of reading a book is to find out what happens, and for me that’s the joy of writing. I find out what happens too. I’ve got Sharpe in the middle of chapter three at the moment – I genuinely don’t know what he’s going to be doing next.” It’s a strange, sad feeling saying goodbye to the characters he’s brought to life for so long. “I’ve lived with Uhtred for the best part of 15 years now, and suddenly he’s no more in my head. It’s a strange feeling. I was fond of the man,” he says. This Sharpe novel I thoroughly enjoyed and it felt like a proper journey, one guided by duty and lust and revenge. It was quite pleasing to meet Lord Pumphrey again and I enjoyed the dynamic between the pair of them, though that seems to be at an end due to a certain revelation. the first part is a completely fictitious fort assault that only serves to set up Sharpe's rival/grudge with a French coronel Vandal his fury after their first meeting is the reason for the title. this subplot never connected or worked for me. I do feel sad about Pumphrey because I could see how the pair were alike, as was commented on in 'Sharpe's Fury'. I do not think the man will appear again, for he knows what Richard is capable of. However, the flirting was fiendishly fun, as embarrassing as it was for Sharpe. I might have had a 'He cannot be saying what I think he is saying' moment when there was the suggestion that Henry Wellesley and Pumphrey were intimate, but Sharpe was far cleverer than me and figured it out long before I did (though that would've been a remarkable twist).During the earliest (chronological) books Sharpe is a private and later sergeant, and so his uniform and weapons largely are in line with Army regulations. His first sword and officer's sash are taken from the dead in the wake of the Battle of Assaye, although no specifics are given on the weapon. This eventful novel is the 21st chronologically, and the 22nd in total, of the amazing Richard Sharpe series. Before I jump into the plot, let's get reacquainted with our hero, an orphan raised in the gutters of London, recruited as a common soldier in Flanders, sent to India to fight the local rajahs, risen up from the ranks for acts of valour in battle, now a brevet Captain in a Rifle Regiment, fighting a losing battle in Portugal in the winter of 1811 against the Emperor's Army controlling almost all of the Iberic Peninsula. In the aftermath, Vandal complains to General Graham of ill treatment by Sharpe, even after he surrendered. But any inquiry is quashed when Brigadier Moon (who has become engaged to Caterina) vouches for Sharpe's conduct, when Graham know that he is no friend of Sharpe. Moon stays in Cadiz, while Sharpe, Harper and his riflemen are finally able to board a ship allowing them to rejoin the rest of the army in Portugal.
Sharpe takes part in a number of notable actions, either with the South Essex or on detached duty for Wellesley's spymaster, Captain Michael Hogan of the Royal Engineers. These include capturing a French Imperial Eagle at the Battle of Talavera in 1809 (fulfilling a promise to a dying captain he respects), and the storming of the breach at Badajoz. He also takes an active role in the first siege of Almeida, the battles of Bussaco, Barossa, Ciudad Rodrigo, Fuentes de Onoro, Salamanca, Vitoria, and Toulouse. Over this period, he rises in rank from lieutenant to captain to major, eventually taking unofficial command of the entire regiment. Sharpe's Irish friend Harper rises from rifleman to regimental sergeant major. So when, the dust still settling after the Battle of Waterloo, the Duke of Wellington needs a favour, he turns to Sharpe. For Wellington knows that the end of one war is only the beginning of another. Napoleon's army may be defeated, but another enemy lies waiting in the shadows – a secretive group of fanatical revolutionaries hell-bent on revenge. Sharpe learns that the Delaunay family owns a vineyard on the outskirts of Paris, and that evening takes his men to investigate. After sneaking into the Delaunay home through an open window, Sharpe finds himself held at gunpoint by Madame Delaunay, the general's English wife, who informs him that her husband had been killed at Waterloo, and that Fox is her captive. She expresses curiosity about Sharpe's rifle and test-fires it out of the window, but the recoil injures her, and Sharpe easily disarms her. His men overpower the guards. Over there Sharpe will find more enemies than friends within the Spanish, and so necessary will need to be taken by Sharpe to secure Cadiz for the British for the time being. Cornwell published the non-fiction book Waterloo: The History of Four Days, Three Armies and Three Battles in September 2014, timely for the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. [2]
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Cornwell does pulse-pounding historical fiction well. Approaching two dozen editions, the Sharpe chronicles may strike some as formulaic. Fans just want their addiction fed. This story will pump their adrenaline. For now There is a fanatical priest who will stop at nothing, including murder, to make Spain free of both the French and the British. There is also the French officer who has his own twisted criteria of warfare who Sharpe has vowed to hunt down and put down. Deliberately triggering the massive explosion that destroyed the fortress of Almeida (usually attributed to accident, combined with careless British handling of their munitions store);
I didn’t see a way into that little story until I met my real father’ ... Bernard Cornwell. Photograph: Felix Clay What is to come is an entertaining historical adventure, where the interaction between the blood brothers Sharpe and Harper is paramount, and in which Sharpe and his men will have to fight their way from Waterloo, via Péronne and Ham, into Paris, and over there the discovery of the leader of "La Fraternité" in Lanier is soon made and at the end in a final desperate battle the end of the war will be concluded between Sharpe and Lanier in a most touching and camaraderie fashion. Sharpe's Fury is one of those filler entries that feels as if it was written outside of the main sequence of Bernard Cornwell's narrative. That's not to say that this entry in the series isn't good, but it feels limited and constricted in where it can go, as it's sandwiched between other key events whilst also being a little bit contrived in terms of wedging Sharpe in to a situation that he has no right to be in, driven by a need for revenge that is never really fully explored. Cornwell describes military action brilliantly. He evokes all the sights and sounds and smells while managing to describe the fluctuations of the battle with enough vim to keep you in suspense...The Sharpe novels are wonderfully urgent and alive.' Daily TelegraphI'm grateful to the author, and to Sharpe, Harper fictional Wellington, Hogan and all the other characters who have kept me company over more than 20 years. On transfer to the 95th Rifles, Sharpe becomes a second lieutenant, equivalent in rank to an ensign, as the Rifles do not have ensigns. Right after waterloo Richard Sharpe is tired of war that's what 15 years of it will do to you. He's not done though, as Lord Arthur Wellesley Duke of wellington needs him one last time. There is a secret cabal of French officers loyal to Nepoleon who swear revenge if he is defeated. Wellington not only fears for his own safety but the safety of the leaders of the Prussian and Dutch allies. He turns to his old "guttersnipe" Sharpe to destroy the cabal. I pretty much counted down the days from when the UK release date was announced and I was not disappointed.