Sharpe's Revenge: Richard Sharpe and the Peace of 1814

In this penultimate installment - considering "Waterloo" to be the ultimate, which it is, although not the last - Sharpe and Harper fight one last battle in France, at Toulouse, only to find that peace has broken out with Napoleon's abdication and exile to Elba. But as the troops and their wives head for home, they are accused, in an intricate plot engineered by French archspy Pierre Ducos, of the theft of the French royalty's private emergency fortune, which Ducos himself has actually taken. Sharpe, Harper and Frederickson, under arrest, escape and go searching for evidence to clear their names, a trail which takes them in search of the French commandant of the fort they took in "Sharpe's Siege". They must make their way as wanted men across a France full of robbers and thieves, peace notwithstanding. Sharpe's wife Jane meanwhile heads back to England with his fortune to buy them a house - the Dorset farm that Sharpe dreams of, or the smart London townhouse that Jane wants? - but all is not peaceful on that front either.

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.

If I can grossly break Sharpe readers into two camps (those who read just for the battle scenes, and those who read for the story of Richard Sharpe, of which battle scenes are one thrilling part), then Sharpe's Revenge is definitely for the second group. Other than the surprisingly hard-fought battle of Toulouse at the start, Revenge concerns Sharpe's (almost) one-man adventures in post-war Europe.It's a strange world for Sharpe (and the Sharpe reader), one in which the dogged British army we've come to admire through ten books of the Peninsula War is no longer the underdog fighting overwhelming odds, but is the overwhelming force itself. Everyone knows Napoleon is doomed. Indeed, it's sad to read about the bloodshed at Toulouse because sacrifices which seemed heroic a year earlier just seemed tragically unnecessary in April 1814. What a sad thing to be the last soldier killed in a war.Like the army, Sharpe is changing. As he gets older (he's now 36), he's losing his relish for battle and finding it harder to keep down the fear. For much of the book, his friend Frederickson is the go-getter, as Sharpe struggles with self-doubt over his post-army role, his wife's infidelities, etc.And, after victory, the army is broken apart and Sharpe is adrift in this new world. But, of course, not for long. There's one more adventure with Harper and out of it, Sharpe's post-war world takes shape.

At first a little disappointed as Cornwell spends a lot of time away from the battlefield, but he cleverly drags us along as Sharpe's outlook changes, so does ours. Good story with more than the usual twists and turns, and perhaps and ending that is just a little bit too sweet. Excellent outing for Sharpe & Harper.

The war with Napoleon is finaly over and the Brittish troops are prepairing to return to England. Unfortunately Major Ducos has different plan for our hero Sharpe. Framed for stealing the treasures of Napoleon, Sharpe and Harper must travel to Italy and even fight along side the troops of an old enemy to clear his name and exact revenge. Cornwell does well in capturing the anger in Richard Sharpe. His writing style helps the reader to feel exactly what his characters are feeling. While the war with Napoleon is over there really can be no lasting peace for Richard Sharpe. Bernard Cornwell will never let Sharpe retire into a quiet life and thank goodness for us Sharpe fans!