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 Superior to Film December 16, 2008
As much as I praised the television version of Sharpe's Sword, the 1983 novel from Bernard Cornwell hails an honest, superior story full of espionage and adultery.
The television producers backed themselves into a corner when they filmed Sharpe's Honour before Sword. The written Sword comes before the written Honour, so the premature introduction of La Marquesa necessitated the role of the mute Lass. It's a charming role onscreen, but naturally one with little weight beyond bedding Sharpe. In the Sword novel, however, we are treated to the true and intriguing build up of La Marquesa. Her affair with Sharpe amid the cat and mouse games of Salamanca is full of twists and turns that are both weighed heavily and yet dismissed by the married Sharpe.
Sharpe's recuperation in the Sword novel is also longer than the understandably contrived film. More dedication is given to Harper's care of Sharpe, and Patrick's woman in the novels-named Isabella not Ramona as in the TV series-gives as much love and care to Richard. It's a fascinating read to see Sharpe so tricked, deceived, and yes played by superior officers, the French, and La Marquesa. The Sword movie may have its ups and downs, but Sharpe always comes out on top. In the novel, the heroic end is not a foregone conclusion.
Sharpe's Sword is a decent film full of adoration, fun, and action, but the novel gives much more depth to Salamanca, La Marquesa, and Richard Sharpe.
I've noticed Cornwell's novels and their Hornblower precursors are often placed in a `Men's novels' or `action and adventure' section of stores and libraries. Fans of military fiction no doubt would love Sharpe's Sword- Cornwell's attention to detail and research for the Salamanca campaign is extensive. Of course, many ladies tune into the series for Sean Bean or have no interest in the written books. That's fine, but even if you read only the Sharpe novels that have been turned into films, the maturity and experience is so abundantly superior. I love the show, I really do. In fact, I appreciate it more now that I've read the excellent source material. Pick up Sharpe's Sword at your bookstore today.
With the war at a crossroads, Sharpe and an assassin cross swords September 8, 2008
Having been boxed up in Portugal for several years, only now are the British trying to get some real traction against the French, thrusting into Spain. And they're losing. Marshal Marmont, commander of just one of five huge armies Napoleon has put in Spain, is pushing Wellington back. The English take Salamanca, but only because Marmont pulls out tactically, seeking a better place for the battle he knows will destroy the English. Marmont threatens to retake the city, but the major battle never materializes. Wellington chases him east, but then his army must retreat to avoid being cut off from its Portuguese redoubt by the French.
Sharpe fights both the large war and a smaller, more private one. French assassin Colonel Leroux kills ruthlessly, hideously and often as he tries to break up an English spy ring and save his own hide. Caught by the British but escaping, he kills Sharpe's commanding and junior officers. Sharpe vows to catch him. Sharpe's pal, the intelligence chief Major Hogan, and Wellington both need him caught. Meanwhile they worry about intelligence leaks; the French have a spy too close to the high command.
Sharpe and every other British officer swoons when meeting the dazzling Marquesa who dominates Salamanca society, and we all know which officer the Marquesa will take a shine to, despite his poverty and lack of polish. And when Sharpe and Leroux cross swords, as they do, and do again, we know what kind of sparks will fly.
Magnificent episode in the Sharpe saga April 5, 2007
Bernard Cornwell's Richard Sharpe series is one of the most beloved collective works in the sub-genre of historical fiction. Spanning over twenty novels (and counting!), Cornwell has treated his readers with thrilling battlefield and bedroom exploits from Flanders to India to Spain and France. While the novels have a definitive formula, they never grow stale.
"Sharpe's Sword" is among the best of the Sharpe novels. Sharpe is a captain of the 95th Rifles, attached to the South Essex regiment as a light company. As fans of the series know, Sharpe has made himself indispensable to the British army (including his patron, Lord Wellington) by being the most lethal rogue in an army full of cut-throats and vagabonds. But in "Sharpe's Sword," Cornwell has created a foe worthy of Sharpe - the French spy-hunter Leroux, a lethal aristocrat whose charge from Napoleon is to topple the British spy network.
Leroux is captured by Sharpe early in the novel, but takes advantage of a foolish British officer's notion of "parole" (in which a captured officer may keep his weapons and freedom if he gives his sworn statement that he will not try to escape). Acting quickly, Leroux murders his way back to freedom, but in doing so he earns Sharpe's undying hatred . . . and envy. Sharpe hates him for being a backstabbing liar, but Sharpe envies him because Leroux has the most magnificent sword Sharpe has ever seen, and Sharpe wants it.
And so Sharpe and Leroux are caught in a duel to the death while the French and British armies slug it out in the gorgeous city of Salamanca and also on the plains of Spain. "Sharpe's Sword" has it all - humor, romance, intrigue, friendship, betrayal, and battles. And what battles! Nobody writes a better battle scene than Bernard Cornwell, and he tops himself when describing a suicidal, insane cavalry charge by Wellington's German heavy cavalry against formed French squares. The reader is flung into the wild madness that is Napoleonic warfare, and it is a glorious madness indeed.
Well-researched and lovingly written, "Sharpe's Sword" exemplifies all that is good in the Sharpe series.
A Great Series August 15, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is another entry on the Sharpe series. It is fun, entertaining and very readable. Cornwell's research is as excellent as usual. He takes some licenses for the shake of the story and continuity, but this is OK. Some people are outraged by the portrait of some of the real historical characters, but historical characters are rarely depicted accurately in historical fiction, so I think this can be forgiven. Besides, usually a more serious account of these characters is given at the end of the book on the Historical Note.
Many people insist in compare this series with Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander. I don't think this is fair for any of the series, they are different entities. What they have in common is that once you start you may get hooked and devour one book after another...
And in the literary world today that is a rare and marvelous thing.
My favorite so far.... June 15, 2006
A friend referred to the Sharpe series as literary opium...he may be right. They are guilty pleasures, for sure....and I worry what will happen when I have read them all.
The thing is, drug or not, Cornwell is a wonderful writer. I laughed out loud a couple of times, was riveted by a love scene, and ran to the computer to look up the actual battle and scenes described. Great stuff.
And then I had the misfortune to read the new McMurtry novel....
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