Sometime earlier this year I bought Sharpe’s Eagle, a book by Bernard Cornwell. I’m not exactly sure why, but I then started to buy not only the other books in the series, but also books by Bernard Cornwell that I’d have no interest in, other than the author being the same.

For the last eight months or so the three books which comprise Cornwell’s Grail Quest have sat on the bookshelf. I also have his Warlord saga looking out at me, and I decided I wanted to polish off at least one of his trilogies before 2009 arrived. Owing to the extremely alluring cover of Harlequin, the first in the series, the Grail Quest got the nod to go first.

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This book stands out in the Sharpe series in that it is predominantly based in England and the only fighting occurs in the prologue and epilogue. That means that this book is entirely carried on storyline, without the frequent “kill some frogs” tactic that he uses to liven things up normally.

I mean, if the plot is getting dull, all I have to do is wheel on forty thousand frogs and mow them down - everyone’s happy again!

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Such a good book!

I started it yesterday morning whilst Radio made a blog post. I tried maybe a chapter before succumbing to sleep yesterday evening, and then killed the rest of it during today.

The war is over, a vanquished Napoleon forced to abdicate and exiled to Elba.

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By Bernard Cornwell

This was one of the books I recently took on holiday with me, and it was the first to be started during the journey.

I had been looking forward to it because, of the original series, it is the first appearance of Obadiah Hakeswill.

I wasn’t let down: He’s downright rotten here.

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By Bernard Cornwell

This story was written at ITV’s request, since they wanted another programme to broadcast. Cornwell wasn’t able to finish the book in time to meet production deadlines, so the endings are very different.

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By Bernard Cornwell

A really creative plot goes into this story. I’m an unusual Sharpe fan in that I don’t like the battle scenes. It’s nothing to do with squeamishness; I just find several pages describing a skirmish and the tactics used during it a little tediousness.

I didn’t have to contend with that in this story. There was only the one battle, and that was in the end and covered in a couple of pages.

Cornwell really hits a niche in creating memorable, dangerous villains. It’s not enough to have great hulking men; these are just the sergeants! The villains all have traits that make them worthy of fear, all in a more sinister way than merely killing people.

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By Bernard Cornwell

Sharpe and his team are well established by this point. He’s Wellington’s favourite and captain of the 95th. They’ve recently secured famous victories at Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz (Sharpe personally storming the third breach), and are now looking at kicking the French out of Salamanca, a university town which was apparently as beautiful then as it was when I visited it in 2000.

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This was the first of the prequels but was later prequelled itself. It makes sense to me.

The Sharpe series originally began in 1981 with Sharpe’s Eagle, set during the Talavera campaign of July 1809. More books followed in sequence up to 1814 (still a year away from Waterloo) until a change occurred in 1998, when Cornwell wrote a book set a few months before the initial one that kickstarted the series. This is that book.

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By Bernard Cornwell

The fourth book in the series about Uhtred of Bebbanburg, sworn to serve King Alfred of Wessex, in spite of the fact that he himself was brought up by Danes and believes in the Norse gods.

He’s already saved Alfred and his kingdom at numerous turns, but still has that awkward relationship with his lord king, born of having to swear an oath to serve he whom he doesn’t wish to.

This book is the standard fare for the series. Saxons and Danes share what will become Englalond, warlords proliferate, and battles and usurption are frequent happenings and events.

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By Bernard Cornwell

A stand-alone story, Gallows Thief is set in 1817 Regency London following the collapse of Napoleon.

Our hero is Rider Sandman, formerly a captain of the 52nd Foot and a distinguished combatant at Waterloo. He also happens to be a very good cricketer, which is where we first find him, throwing his match fee back in the face of the owner, since he just realised the blackguard had fixed the match and bet against his own side.
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