Compared to pulp fiction this is decent historical fiction. I am more impressed with the Flashman series for the depth and detail of history portrayed in a grand adventure. In Sharpe, while the motif was historical, I was disappointed that the main event of the novel is completely fictitous. There was no Galacian battle at Santiago after Sir John Moore's defeat. While you got to know the fictitous characters in great detail, there was no such description of the historical figures such as in the Flashman series where the author does exquisite research in conveying the personalities of John Brown, Kit Carson, Lord Cardigan, Bismarck, Lady Sale, Fighting Bob, etc. in addition to the compelling dissection of major historical battles in Afghanistan, Little Bighorn, India. Please read a Flashman novel then decide whether this book truly deserves five stars. I don't know whether I will read another Sharpe novel. I may try one more, but if the history part doesn't get much better, I certainly won't finish the series.

As a fan of most Napoleonic War Stories and un abashed student of the British Army it would not take too much to keep me happy here. I will probably read more Sharpe Novels in the future ( I picked up 1 - 9 in a garage sale), but I would have to say that Cornwell can churn out the stories, but Cornwell is certainly not a good writer. The style is formulaic and flat for the most part. I'm not looking for Conrad or Steinbeck, but I would think that there could be a bit more depth to the characters at times. Superficial depth seems to be the one abiding trait of his characters:

- The Irish are unruly, drunk and hate the English, but when push comees to shove they fight like demons for the King.
- Sharpe is an unlikely candidate for officer status as a Lieutenant, the son of a whore, a normal foot soldier who rose in the ranks to seargent and then, through an act of some caprice, finds himself and Lieutenant (and I do hope all those American fans are pronouncing it "left-tenant" in their heads).
- The antagonists are evil and untrustable. They scheme and connive.
- The Spanish are reluctant allies, but hey, when push comes to shove, they love the English.
- he doesn't get the girl in the end. I can tell that this will continue in the future.
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I did enjoy the story, but there were few surprises (I honestly thougth I got more suspense in Biggles Novels than in this one).

Cornwell is good in his historical descriptions of the British Army. His technical knowledge is good, but his descriptions are very sparse and limited to baubles on the French Uniforms and a dscription of the Baker rifle (all good).

All in all a good novel for the plane. You can put it down and pick it up at any place and even if you lose the thread of the story you can always pick it up.

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.