BERNARD CORNWELL HAS DONE IT AGAIN WITH THIS VERSION OF THE LIFE OF RICHARD SHARPE. WHEN YOU START TO READ ABOUT SHARPE IT IS VERY HARD TO PUT DOWN. HIGHLY RECCOMENDED.

BERNARD CORNWELL HAS DONE IT AGAIN WITH THIS VERSION OF THE LIFE OF RICHARD SHARPE. WHEN YOU START TO READ ABOUT SHARPE IT IS VERY HARD TO PUT DOWN. HIGHLY RECCOMENDED.

"Sharpe's Eagle" may have been the first Richard Sharpe novel that Bernard Cornwell wrote, but the formula of this novel permeates the entire series. For fans of "you are there" historical fiction of a military bent, that is a great thing.

I came late to Cornwell's Sharpe series, after having read many of the author's other works (the Grail Quest novels, the Warlord trilogy, "Stonehenge," and "Redcoat"). So I have been able to start at the "beginning" of the Sharpe saga with "Sharpe's Tiger" and the India trilogy. Accordingly, Sharpe and his fellow Riflemen as well as many of the commanders are familiar characters by now. It's interesting how smoothly "Sharpe's Eagle" fits into the series even though it was the very first novel.

"Eagle" recounts the British army's struggles in Spain against the French and, even more so, their Spanish allies. Look for some notorious Spain-bashing as Cornwell derisively depicts its rag-tag infantry led by lazy peacocks for officers, including a real historical event where thousands of Spanish infantry are spooked by their own musket barrage! Not much subtlety, here.

Fans of Cornwell's novels will also recognize the villain of the piece, fat Colonel Simmerson and his nephew, Lieutenant Gibbons. Sharpe, our admirable hero, has done a rare thing and won his officer's rank solely by merit, largely unheard of in the British army. Instead, most officers bought promotion after a suitable period in a given rank, and Cornwell is of the opinion, his idol General Arthur Wellesley notwithstanding, that this led to dozens of craven British officers, all of whom seem to encounter Sharpe during their career.

Colonel Simmerson leads his battalion, including Sharpe, to the ultimate disgrace - losing their battlefield colors. Foisting the blame onto Sharpe, Simmerson hopes to avoid shame himself as well as to send Sharpe to a death sentence serving in the disease-infested West Indies. But Sharpe has another idea - salvage the battalion's pride by doing the impossible - stealing one of Napoleon's eagle standards from the juggernaut French infantry.

An action-packed novel, "Sharpe's Eagle" also finds time for Sharpe to have a little romance, but this element of the story is entirely secondary to the main focus, which is Cornwell's unrivaled mastery of depicting a battle scene. A mere 270-odd pages, "Sharpe's Eagle" will defy your efforts to put it down.

I highly recommend reading these books in chronological order, and this was the recommendation of the good people over at Bernard Cornwell's website as well. Get reading!

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.

Napoleonic wars are not my thing but one day I picked up this book and for want of anything to do I read it.

Didn't know some British officers were promoted from the ranks during this period. Always thought they purchased their commissions.

These things got pitched aside with this delightful story.

Richard Sharpe, a man who has literally crawled up from the ranks to a commission, finds himself in a bad place with a bad superior officer and there is only one way for him to extricate himself from it.

This novel is well worth reading.

Napoleonic wars are not my thing but one day I picked up this book and for want of anything to do I read it.

Didn't know some British officers were promoted from the ranks during this period. Always thought they purchased their commissions.

These things got pitched aside with this delightful story.

Richard Sharpe, a man who has literally crawled up from the ranks to a commission, finds himself in a bad place with a bad superior officer and there is only one way for him to extricate himself from it.

This novel is well worth reading.

I enjoy these military historical fictions books normally and this one was a pleasant surprise. The author does a good job of mixing the personal drama with the tactical/military aspects of the period. It was an enjoyable read without being a dry text book on Napoleonic combat.

I don't think I could put my finger on any one of the Sharpe books I have read and say "this is the best one". I find all the Sharpe books equally good including this one.

So to all you Sharpe fans I say, "BUY ALL THE BOOKS IN THE SERIES!" I am currently on my 9th book and plan to buy the rest as soon as my pocket recovers *grin*

Enjoy reading, you can't help but fall in love with Richard, especially if you're a chick *grin*