Sharpe's Rifles - Book 52

Sharpe's Rifles by Bernard Cornwell is my 52nd book! Whoo hoo! That means I've met my 52 Books in 52 Weeks challenge. And I've still got 5 or so weeks to go until the end of the year.

Anyway, I read this book because I was checking out the Sharpe's series to see if it would be something good to give Rick for Christmas. I still don't know! There are many titles in the series. I picked this one because it was labeled #1, so I thought it was the beginning of the series, but as I further investigated, it seems to be neither first chronologically in the story line nor first in that it was the original novel about Sharpe, so I am not sure how it warranted that #1 on the cover.

I found it to be well written and action-packed. The author was sly in the way he introduced Sharpe; we don't find out Sharpe's name until the end of the 1st chapter. For those who don't know about this popular series (which was also a popular British TV show starring Sean Bean as the main character), Sharpe is a newly made Lieutenant in the British army during the Napoleonic Wars. He is of low birth and has come up through the ranks, being awarded officer status because of some unnamed heroic thing he did back when he was sergeant. However, he is looked down upon because he doesn't come from distinguished blood, so he's been made quartermaster. This changes when the Rifles lose their captain from an ambush they barely escape. Sharpe has to take over. The story takes place in Spain during the Pennisular War. Sharpe's character is well drawn. He's brave, thinks well under fire, is good at second guessing the enemy and seems to be especially blessed in the amount of bullets that breeze past him but never seem to strike. Occasionally he hurts his ankle or gets a glancing cut from an enemy's sword, but those swords never seem to hit a vital organ. The author tries to be realistic about this sort of thing but it gets a bit cartoonish after a while. Sharpe is also jaded, insecure, jealous and prone to sullenness.

The author is pretty gory about all the killing and brutality. He paints a pretty vivid picture of the cold, mud, stench, blood etc. But while it was enough to make me cringe a bit it wasn't too heavy handed.

There is a beautiful, plucky damsel in distress (of course!), that Sharpe gets to rescue (more or less), and then fall in love with. I didn't care for her much though, so I am glad it didn't work out in the end. In the middle of all the brutality, agony and treachery, she'd go on and on about how she'd eventually have to go back to England and marry somebody boring. Poor thing. Every time she was talking I kept wanting to tell her to get over herself.

The funny thing about this book is that the Methodists come off as priggish puritans and the Catholics actually come off well! Don Blas Vivar, the devout Spanish Lord and commander is a wonderful character. The whole plot revolves around Santiago de Compostela and the legend of St. James. The plucky damsel winds up converting to Catholicism because it is more romantic than boring old Methodism (and to marry Vivar). It was kind of refreshing to see a popular novel actually admire Catholicism.

Anyway, I thought it was an entertaining read but I can't say I am panting to read the next one. And I honestly don't know if my husband will really like them.

For more book reviews, go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.