Sharpe's Command

Richard Sharpe and the Bridge at Almaraz, May 1812

By: Bernard Cornwell

Narrated by: Rupert Farley

Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times bestselling author Bernard Cornwell returns to the early years of the nineteenth century, capturing the bravery, battles, and bloodshed of Britain’s peninsular wars with this epic tale featuring his iconic hero Richard Sharpe.

Outsider.

Hero.

Rogue.

If any man can do the impossible it’s Richard Sharpe.

And the impossible is exactly what the formidable Captain Sharpe is asked to do when he’s sent on an undercover mission to a small village in the Spanish countryside, far behind enemy lines.

For the quiet, remote village, sitting high above the Almaraz bridge, is about to become the center of a battle for the future of Europe. Two French armies march towards the bridge, one from the North and one from the South. If they meet, the British are lost.

Only Sharpe's small group of men—with their cunning and courage to rely on—stand in their way. But they're rapidly outnumbered, enemies are hiding in plain sight, and as the French edge ever closer to the frontline, time is running out. . . .

©2022 Bernard Cornwell (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers

Gripping

Cornwell is famous for his beautifully written historical novels. In this story entitled “Sharpe’s Command”, Cornwell tells the story of the Battle of Almaraz during the Peninsular War. This battle was fought on May 18-19, 1812. The Anglo-Portuguese Army under the command of General/Lord Rowland Hill destroyed a French Pontoon bridge over the Tagus River in Spain. Hill was a career soldier and was well liked by his men. At the Battle of Waterloo, Hill commanded the Second Corp. The bridge was protected by two forts on each bank of the river. This story is mostly about the capture of Fort Napoleon. The story is told through our hero Richard Sharpe. If you are interested in the Napoleonic Wars, I recommend this series about Richard Sharpe as an exciting way to learn about the war.

I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book is nine hours and eighteen minutes. Rupert Farley does an excellent job narrating the book.

a solid but not outstanding addition

This was a pretty good book to add to the legacy of Sharpe. There's nothing about the story that's gonna stand out amongst the others too much. Kind of uses a formula we've seen before. But it also doesn't go in some weird direction either. I love the fact that the setting is around that time when the war could go in either direction. This was my favorite era of the novels.
The narration was solid, but for some reason, felt really bad when voicing Sharpes wife. Her accent was not very good when he performed it. Her decisions weren't always the best in the novel either, which made it kind of annoying. Always using too much emotion and not logical, simply wanting to kill everyone. I guess it's trying to show the level of hatred she has for the French.
Overall a solid edition, and I enjoyed it. It may be a little bit rinse and repeat for some people but,
I am glad to see the boo go back in time and revisit the era.

Sharpe’s Command

I did not think this book was up to the usual standards of Benard Cornwell’s writing.