I always wished that CS Forester would have allowed Horatio Hornblower to take part at Trafalgar, this'll have to do instead. Actually, Cornwell helps me out quite a bit with obscure naval terminology - since Sharpe is a novice we get much more explanation and definitions than Forester ever provides.

Two gripes about this story. First, it takes quite a while for the action to heat up - but once it starts it doesn't stop . Nobody portrays brutal action better than Cornwell. Second, the whole subplot (I won't spoil it if you haven't read the book). It seems that Sharpe is, well sharp enough to get out of jams using methods other than what he resorts to here.

I enjoyed the character of Captain Chase, his outgoing manner and easygoing way with underlings directly contrasts with Hornblower. I must say I think I like Chase better!

Overall, a fine, if not outstanding work. Can't wait to see what trouble Sharpe gets into next! ( )

I was somewhat curious to see how Richard Sharpe, ensign in His Majesty's Army, was going to figure into the great naval action of Trafalgar, but Cornwell does a very slick job of making it seem only mildly coincidental.

Aside from my enjoyment of the Sharpe series in general, this book was interesting in another way. Since the entire book is a naval adventure, it made it easy to compare it directly to the other series about the Napoleonic Wars to which I am currently listening: Patrick O'Brian's stories featuring Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin.

They are quite distinct. Cornwell doesn't give much feel for the period beyond the obvious one of the novel's setting. This is something at which O'Brian excels; his books are full of the little details and glimpses of life that give the reader a excellent sense of the period. On the other hand, Cornwell's books are full of adventure and action. Though I enjoy them immensely, my attention can wander from an O'Brian book if I'm tired or distracted. No so one of Cornwell's—there is rarely a dull moment in them.

Another excellent adventure in the series. I recommend it to any who like historical military fiction or action stories. ( )

Excellent novel bringing Sharpe back from India to Europe and getting him involved in Trafalgar. Thoroughly enjoyed it, probably the best of all the Shapes read so far. ( )

This was the first of the Sharpe books that I've read. I picked it up largely because of the nautical theme, being fond of what I've seen of the Sharpe TV movies, though not overly enamoured.

I enjoyed it, for the most part. It's like an extended Boy's Own adventure, set on a ship full of men being manly bastards and the French being perfidious. The plotline wasn't much to write home about, frankly; apart from the opening sequence, and the climactic battle of Trafalgar, I thought the whole thing dragged rather a little, and too much attention was paid to the romance. The attraction between Sharpe and Lady Grace felt much too cliched, too painted by numbers, for me to ever be interested in it. Aristocratic lady falling for a hot bit of rough has been done so many times that there needed to be something more to the thing to make me warm to the pairing; as it was, I couldn't even believe it to be plausible.

Everything picked up in the last third of the book, once the great battle actually began, but everything before that really felt like an extended contrivance to get Sharpe to be there.

Most of the period details felt right, which is always a huge, huge plus for me; the stink and piss and sweat of six hundred odd men crammed onto a third-rate was well conveyed, and any lack of greater detail about the actual mechanics of sailing the thing can be more than adequately explained by the fact that Sharpe is a soldier, not a sailor. It never felt as true to me as in the Aubrey-Maturin books, though, or even the Hornblower ones.

Sharpe mostly came across as a stock hero type, someone who has pulled himself up from the gutter by his bootstraps and is going to show those aristocrats just how much hell a lad from Yorkshire can give them. Or summat. The only times he really came alive for me was when he murdered Braithwaite in cold blood - not something a hero usually does, and different enough to really catch my attention - and in the final portion of the book where he finally goes into battle as part of the Pucelle's boarding party.

He was ashamed when he remembered the joy of it, but there was a joy there. It was the happiness of being released to the slaughter, of having every bond of civilization removed. It was also what Richard Sharpe was good at. It was why he wore an officer's sash instead of a private's belt, because in almost every battle the moment came when the disciplined ranks dissolved and a man simply had to claw and scratch and kill like a beast.

That was the part where his character first grabbed my attention, first spoke to me and really made me believe that this was part of the life story of someone who had lived through the Napoleonic Wars. Unfortunately, there were only about thirty pages or so left in the book by this stage.

If you do pick it up, skip straight to the last eighty pages or so; I'd recommend Patrick O' Brian over Cornwell any day, though. ( )

Bernard Cornwell's writing is like a jeep: clumsy, not very nice to look at, lacking smooth lines and elegant transitions...

...but it sure is a helluva lot of fun!

The Sharpe Series is my guilty pleasure. As I pointed out with the jeep simile, the writing won't sate the literary side of me, but the part of me that wants to read just for fun is usually happy.

That said, Sharpe's Trafalgar isn't one of my favorites. The writing seems a bit clumsier than usual, Sharpe does a couple things that I find barbaric and ignoble even for him, and, of course, there is the token I'm-beautiful-and-above-you-but-I'll-screw-you-anyway woman for Sharpe to fall in 'love' with. (How many times does the man fall in love, anyway?)

But the story is a fun transition piece, following Sharpe as he leaves India and heads home to England to join the new regiment, the 95th Rifles, which is what the Sharpe character is best known for; this is how Cornwell manages to sneak his soldier onto a naval ship for a book or two.

I really wanted to throw Lady Grace overboard--I almost always feel this way about Cornwell's female characters--but it was a decent enough story. And Captain Chase was fairly adorable. ( )