Sharpe’s Battle - Bernard Cornwell (Audiobook)

Narrated by William Gaminara

Listened to: April 2011 (at age 33)

First time read

What to Expect:

This is the twelfth book (of twenty-four, although three are short stories) in the Sharpe series of historical fiction set in the Napoleonic wars.  It was the 15^th book written, and it wouldn’t be too bad of a place to start reading this series.  I’d still suggest Sharpe’s Tiger, which is chronologically first, or Sharpe’s Rifles, which was the first book set on the Iberian Peninsula.  It would also make logical sense to start at Sharpe’s Eagle, which was the first book written, but I think it would work better from either Tiger or Rifles.

From Amazon's summary:

As Napoleon threatens to crush Britain on the battlefield, Lt. Col. Richard Sharpe leads a ragtag army to exact personal revenge against a French general known for his acts of terror.

Sharpe's Battle takes Richard Sharpe and his company back to the spring of 1811 and one of the most bitter battles of the Peninsular War, a battle on which all British hopes of victory in Spain will depend. Sharpe is given responsibility to lead an Irish battalion of the king of Spain's household guard, ceremonial troops untrained and unequipped for battle. While quartered in the crumbling fort of San Isidro, they are attacked by murderous Brigadier General Guy Loup's elite French brigade. Sharpe has witnessed General Loup's despicable was crimes before; to put an end to them, and to settle another more personal score, Sharpe must lead his company into the blood-gutted streets of Fuentes de Oñoro, where thousands of French troops have amassed, in a battle to the death.

My Reactions (spoilers!):

Overall: 

I’m running out of useful commentary at this point.  It’s good, but simply more of the same.  Sharpe gets in trouble.  He gets out of it by being brave.  The French officer that Sharpe singles out for a personal vendetta, Colonel Loup, is more cartoonish an enemy than most, and so is the girl that he sets his sights on.  They were fine in the context of the story, I guess.  The battle scenes were bloody and visceral, as usual, and other than a bit of campaign advancement due to the big battle fought, the characters end up pretty much where they started. 

The setting is the same as the past few books, though we get a bunch of street fighting that was unnecessary to the plot – Sharpe just happens to wander by, and decides to go kill himself some Frenchmen, as far as I could tell.  It makes for some exposition as to how the battle was fought in the streets of the little village at the battle site, but certainly didn’t add to any character arcs.

As ever, I greatly enjoy listening to William Gaminara’s voicing of the Sharpe novels.

Rating: 3

Other Opinions:

I didn’t find any other good reviews.  If I missed one, let me know in the comments!