I’ve not read a Sharpe book for a while. The last Bernard Cornwell book I attempted was The Fort. I didn’t finish that. It somehow didn’t draw me in and enthuse me to tag along for the whole ride of the story. Sharpe’s Assassin did. From the first chapter, I was invested in Colonel Richard Sharpe’s mission, even though that wasn’t clear until later on.
All the familiar elements are here; Sharpe’s chip on his shoulder about being discriminated against because of his poor upbringing, the loyalty of Patrick Harper to Sharpe, Sharpe’s humanity towards the soldiers in his care, the setting of impossible challenges and the return of characters from Sharpe’s past that are sent to gall him and upset his attention to his duty.
I enjoyed the journey, which took us from the field of Waterloo, through northern France to Paris. I enjoyed seeing how Sharpe handled each challenge and mission and how that led, not to comfort and ease, but to greater complications and exertion for him.
I liked the detail about the soldiers, their regiments and organisation and the particularities of the situations that Sharpe found himself in. Whoever thought about what would happen to the paintings and sculptures in the Louvre after Napoleon was defeated? Certainly not me.
I love the way Cornwell weaves together fiction and Sharpe’s story with known historical facts. It makes all the Sharpe stories believable. They could have happened! Some elements of them must have happened, in some way, to some that were alive then and fighting to make a life for themselves. And you are drawn to Sharpe. He is an everyman, as well as being, at the same time, a superman-hero.
The Sharpe books are simple stories at their heart. They are about good and bad, right and wrong. Even though Cornwell ensures enough reality litters Sharpe’s path, like shattered glass, and he avoids trite climaxes, the resolutions are satisfying, and we know Sharpe’s instincts towards fairness and honesty will be championed. In that sense, the stories are morality tales that teach us how we should behave in our world. I like that.
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