Sharpe's Triumph
- Book Review,
by Bernard Cornwell
From Publishers Weekly
Followers of Cornwell's series featuring the exploits of British infantry officer Richard Sharpe (Sharpe's Rifles, et al.) in the Napoleonic wars (adapted for Masterpiece Theater) and in his earlier career in colonial India will relish this look at Sergeant Sharpe on the subcontinent in 1803. A fluke makes our hero unofficial aide to General Sir Arthur Wellesley (the future Duke of Wellington, though it's never mentioned in the novel) at the time of the siege of Ahmednuggur and Wellesley's brilliant victory at Assaye against the Indian Mahratta Confederation and the turncoat forces of ex-English officer William Dodd. This was the beginning of the end of the Mahratta rebellion against the British and a turning point in the Raj's growing power. Among the book's rich cast of characters are Hakeswill, a murderous British sergeant determined to kill Sharpe; Simone Joubert, the needy wife of a French officer; and the colorful Hanoverian mercenary, Colonel Pohlmann, who leads the Mahratta forces from atop an elephant. Most roundly dimensional and representing the extremes of British society are Wellesley, the coldly brilliant and fearless son of an earl, and Sharpe himself, the tortured, unlettered bastard from London's slums, who is determined to rise. Cornwell contributes vivid details in descriptions of life in an army camp, the dual military regimes of the East India Company and the regular army, and Indian politics. Best are the battle scenes, laid out clearlyAthere's a handy mapAwith all the heat, stink and blood of war and "the joys of slaughter." The reader's pleasure in all this gore may be a guilty one, but Cornwell, a master of battlefield writing, makes it too exhilarating to forgo. 15-city NPR feature; 3-city author tour. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Back in his fourth hot adventure, Richard Sharpe faces a treasonous English officer in 1800s India.Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Cornwell continues to luxuriate in the details of battle in his continuing series of novels following the exploits of British soldier-adventurer Sergeant Richard Sharpe. In this latest Sharpe novel, Cornwell leaves aside the Napoleonic wars in Europe to concentrate on the rich terrain of colonial India. The story starts with a tense situation. The time is 1803, and a league of native Indian princes called the Mahratta Confederation is determined to resist British encroachment into its territories. A large quantity of ammunition has been stolen from the East India Company, and the Mahrattas are poised to pay top price for the stolen goods for use in their British resistance. The ammo has been recaptured, and it is Sharpe's job to see that it is safely returned to where it belongs. A renegade British major allied to the Mahratta princes attacks the fort where the ammo has been taken, massacres everyone (except for Sharpe, who fakes death), and runs off with the highly negotiable commodity. Now Sharpe is ordered to hunt down this rogue, and the road ultimately leads to involvement in a major battle, authentically, even gracefully, reconstructed here with the electric prose Cornwell is known for. Eminently successful historical fiction. Brad Hooper
From Kirkus Reviews
The marvelous Cornwell returns to his greatest character, British Army rifleman Richard Sharpe, after completing his Arthurian Warlord trilogy and the Starbuck Chronicles series, about the U.S. Civil War. In the most recent Sharpe adventure (Sharpe's Battle, 1995), set in May 1811, Captain Sharpe fought in the savage, three-day engagement against Napoleon's troops at the Battle of Fuentes de Oro. It's now eight years earlier, and Sharpe is a sargeant in India fighting beside Wellington at the Battle of Assaye, an engagement that Sir Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, rated above his triumph over Napoleon at Waterloo. The British Army is preparing to attack India's Mahratta Confederation when the ragingly ambitious Lt. Dodd defects to the Confederation. But is it a real defection? Great banks of gunsmoke rise as the armies battle--until, at a village called Assaye, the enemy baits its trap for Wellington and draws him into the range of an array of infantry and of 80 heavy guns on a high bluff, and besides that into a village crammed with the Rajah of Berar's troops. By story's end, Sharpe is Ensign Sharpe, a commissioned officer. Cornwell's fans will dance with delight as horsemen charge and sabers swing through chaos and terror. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
"Consistently . . . brilliantly realized . . . the Sharpe novels are wonderful."
"A riveting story of betrayal and revenge that showcases a blend of suspenseful military adventures and sweeping historical detail."
"One of the finest authors of military historical fiction."
Booklist
"Eminently successful historical fiction."
Book Description
Richard Sharpe and the Battle of Assaye, September 1803It is India, 1803.In the four years since he earned his sergeant's stripes, young Richard Sharpe has led a relatively peaceful existence. But Sharpe's reverie ends when he barely survives a murderous act of treason by a bitter English officer who has joined the mercenary forces of the Mahratta confederation, determined to drive the British from the continent. Vowing to hunt down the turncoat, Sharpe plunges headlong into the white-hot battle of Assaye alongside Sir Arthur Wellesley -- the future of Duke of Wellington -- in the fiercest fight of his career. Sharpe's Triumph is a riveting story of betrayal and revenge that showcases the deft blend of suspenseful military adventure and sweeping historical detail that has made Bernard Corwell's books bestsellers around the world.
About the Author
Bernard Cornwell is the author of the acclaimed Richard Sharpe series, set during the Napoleonic Wars; the Nathaniel Starbuck Chronicles, about American Civil War; the Warlord Trilogy, about Arthurian England; and, most recently, Stonehenge 2000 B.C.: A Novel and The Archer's Tale. Mr. Cornwell lives with his wife on Cape Cod.
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