Sharpe's Fury - Bernard Cornwell (Audiobook)

Narrated by Steven Crossley

Listened to: September 2010 (at age 32)

First time read

What to Expect:

This is the eleventh book (of twenty-four, chronologically) in the Sharpe series of historical fiction set in the Napoleonic wars.  It was the twenty-fourth book written, and it isn’t a particularly good place to start reading this series – I’d suggest Sharpe’s Tiger, which is chronologically first, or Sharpe’s Rifles, which was the first book set on the Iberian Peninsula.  It would make logical sense to start at Sharpe's Eagle, which was the first book written, but I think it would work better from either of Tiger or Rifles.

From the publisher’s summary:

Richard Sharpe and the Battle of Barrosa, March 1811

The year is 1811. With the British army penned into a small part of Portugal, and all of Spain except for the coastal city of Cádiz fallen to the invader, the French appear to have won their war. Raised in the gutters of London and taught to fight, Captain Richard Sharpe is in the Spanish capital on a mission for the British ambassador. But when a British attack on an enemy-held bridge goes disastrously wrong, he finds himself trapped in a city under siege, a hotbed of treachery, false allies, and pernicious plots. And as dawn breaks on a March morning, Sharpe must be prepared to come to the aid of the charismatic Scotsman Sir Thomas Graham, the city's would-be liberator, whose small, outnumbered army has been abandoned by the Spanish and is now is caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. Yet for Richard Sharpe, the impending battle against overwhelming odds is about more than destiny and duty; it is about revenge.

My Reactions (spoilers!):

Overall: 

The formula is becoming very apparent at this point, but I’m still listening, so it must be a pretty decent formula.  This was one of the weaker books, to me, and Sharpe’s inclusion in the main battle of the book felt somewhat forced.  Otherwise, the book was fine – strong characters, yet another villain to pop up occasionally, yet another woman to chase, and evocative description of yet another battle in the war between England and allies v. France.  It was a good listen on far too many hours on snow-covered roads.

Rating: 3

Characters  

Good.  The new characters were described sufficiently that I believed them.  The old characters – Sharpe, Harper, et. al., were strong as ever.  I really didn’t like Brigadier Moon, which I think was the point, and some of the supporting characters did seem one-dimensional.  General La Pena, for instance, had incompetence as his only trait.  Most were just fine, though.

Premise: 

We have a bit of a loose cannon officer skulking around the edges of the entire Napoleonic war, as far as I can tell – it’s a pretty interesting time, with an almost unreal way to fight a war.  It’s keeping my interest despite 10 previous books, but it is starting to get a bit old.

Setting: 

Fair.  As usual, the setting just didn’t stand out that much.  It was fine.  The battle descriptions were excellent, but were not much different than the prior books.

Plot: 

Weak.  I’m getting tired of Sharpe getting saddled with incompetent superior officers, which covered the initial part of the book.  In this book, much more than the others, Sharpe seems to be one of the very few competent people in a mass of incompetence. 

Let’s try a bit of a plot summary:

·         Go surprise a garrison and blow up a bridge, which turns into a bit of a mess when the incompetent senior officer is tricked. 

·         Escape downriver to Cadiz, after meeting an horrible old shrew, who just happens to by the mother of one of the bad guys. 

·         Sharpe gets shot in the head during the escape.  Then he gets better. 

·         Sharpe then gets asked to do a favor for the British ambassador in Cadiz, who just happens to be Col. Wellington’s brother.  Do the job, despite sudden incompetence from both the ambassador and his previously competent help. 

·         Pick up the ambassador’s mistress.  Fuck her brains out for a week. 

·         Wander out into the big set-piece battle just in case the guy who shot Sharpe happens to show up.  Oh, he does?  Wow – that’s a surprise.  Sharpe tries to kill him.  Fails, but takes him prisoner.

·         The end.  It doesn’t end with “and it was… Sharpe’s Fury” which is more surprising than the rest of the plot.

I think that covers the main plot points.  It was pretty contrived, overall.  The beginning was all right, but once the crew made it to Cadiz, it was pretty predictable.  The last couple of books have been more tiresome than the others, and I think that it has a lot to do with these two books being inserted into the middle of the series more than a decade after the fact.  The books, by necessity, have to end pretty much where they begin in order for the overall series to make sense.  As a result, a lot of the sense of progression in the narrative arc is lost.

Narration: 

Very good.  Of the three readers that I’ve listened to, I like William Gaminara’s raspy voice the best, but Steven Crossley comes in a close second. 

Other opinions:

Canadian Army forums

Liked it a bit better than me.

I Think, Therefore I Review

Kinda about the same.