Sharpe's Trafalgar

By: Bernard Cornwell

Narrated by: Patrick Tull

Length: 13 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's Summary

Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series has consistently ridden the top of international best-seller lists since the first book appeared 18 years ago. Featured on American television's Masterpiece Theatre, the charming, valiant Richard Sharpe has amassed a huge fan club all his own.

A guttersnipe who has risen through the ranks of the British army, Ensign Sharpe is sailing home to England from his latest campaign against Napoleon. Anticipating an uneventful voyage, the dashing young maverick discovers the intriguing and very married Lady Grace Hale on board the Calliope. But just as he wins his way into her heart, the ship is fired upon and, suddenly, he finds himself in the thick of one of history's most spectacular incidents: the Battle of Trafalgar.

Patrick Tull's vibrant narration bedazzles listeners with this breathtaking retelling of one of Europe's most ferocious sea battles.

©2002 Bernard Cornwell (P)2002 Recorded Books

No more Tull, PLEASE

I've listened to the entire series except for a couple which are not offered. This version of Sharpe's Trafalgar is only available "read by Tull". If I could have found another read by Frederick Davidson, I would have gladly erased this copy, and finished the book via Davidson.

A good story poorly read

A good story poorly read! Bernard Cornwells description of the Battle of Trafalgar is excellent. His ability to describe the battle scene and the thoughts of the combatant involved are unequaled. In this book, the 4th in the series, it appeared to me to take too long to get the main battle. There was a lot of filler waiting for something to happen. It may be on purpose as a 3 month sail back home would be quite boring. Once the battle started, Bernard Cornwell was a good as I have read.
I was very disappointed with Patrick Tull's reading of the book. He sounds like a baptist minister with a British Accent. In many spots of the book, he sounded like he had marbles in his mouth. I lost many words and sometimes thoughts because I found his speach difficult to listen to. It was the only real disappointment in this excellent book.

Narration lowers the rating

Sharpe's Trafalgar is a decent entry in the Sharpe series, though Sharpe is a little on the sidelines, since he's not actually a sailor. But the narration was really weak. Tull makes... long... pauses... constantly, and it got very annoying very quickly.

Bad Narrator

I really enjoy the Sharpe books, don't get me wrong. But I had to go back and read this one in print. The narration for me was totally unintelligible.

AWESOME BOOK. TERRIBLE NARRATOR.

Tull uses the same voice - his own - for every character: Men, women, boys, Scotts, Indian, English. And takes no cue from the book as to how the voice should inflect: Scared, angry, happy, sad, quiet.

On the rare occasion that he does start out with the accent of the character, he doesn't hold the accent. And, most annoying of all, he'll go back and forth between his own voice and the character's and it sounds as if two people are speaking!

Instead of listening for pleasure I've been listening intently just to follow the story and often having to skip back.

Tull isn't the worst narrator I've heard, but he's certainly the most boring. The entire rich text is pure monotony. He does, indeed, make the world British.

How the publishers justify using idiots to narrate when so many fine men and women are mere phone calls away is mystifying.

Cornwell is brilliant. That's the only reason I'm continuing to listen and will listen to the next Sharpe book even though Tull narrates it, as well.

Davidson reads much too fast, but at least he has a voice for each person.

Good story unfortunate reader

The story was great but the reader was uninspiring and the accents he used particularly Sharpe, he made Sharpe sound unconvincing.

Great story terrible recording

The story is great, love the change where Sharp is on a sea voyage and sea battles, but the narration leaves something to be desired.

The recording as much as the narrator is just low quality. Voice goes from low to high and there is no happy medium. Turn up the volume and the volume hurts when the narrator raises the voice, turn it low and you cant hear the quiet parts.

I wish this book is re-recorded.

Vintage Cornwell. Unfortunate narration.

As usual, Cornwell weaves a compelling historical story that had me rooting for the good guys. It finishes satisfactorily, each baddie getting his in the end and the heroes overcoming against all odds.

Unfortunately the narration was done by a banjoist. Every character sounds like a hillbilly British Burl Ives. Rather than listen to any other Sharpe novels narrated by Tull, I just ordered the print versions. The Frederick Davidson narrations are excellent.

good story bad narration

very disappointed with the narration every character sounded like they were 80 years old, and was not particularly well recorded.

Reader need WORK!! Lots of it.

Would you consider the audio edition of Sharpe's Trafalgar to be better than the print version?

Haven't read the print version. The whole idea of ordering from Audible is to enjoy books through my EARS - - not to compare/contrast editions.

What did you like best about this story?

Cornwell's usual combination of history and fiction.

What didn’t you like about Patrick Tull’s performance?

Patrick Tull tries to (does?) lend an air of legitimacy to "British English" - and even "British English as spoken by British sea men - and, in so doing, renders his reading totally unintelligible in some (too many) passages. His accent becomes incapable of understanding by an American ear and he drops volume below what it audible when listening in an automobile. (Mine would be considered a luxury vehicle by anyone's standards and, still, there was this problem.)

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

I would NOT make a film of this book. It would cost WAY too much and would not have a large audience.