Three+ Books in- Richard Sharpe

So my deep dive through Bernard Cornwell’s Richard Sharpe novels continues. I reviewed Sharpe’s Tigers a few weeks ago and since then I have read Sharpe’s Triumph, Sharpe’s Fortress, Sharpe’s Trafalgar, and Sharpe’s Rifles. They’re all pretty quick reads. If you’re aware of the series you’ll notice I’m missing Sharpe’s Prey which comes between Trafalgar and Rifles.

I skipped that one simply because I didn’t realize it existed when I went to grab the next book from the library. Sharpe’s Rifles marked the beginning of what seems to be the “original series” that follows Sharpe’s time in Europe during Napoleon’s reign. After reading it, it was clear there was some disconnect between some storylines in the “prequel” set of books.

Throughout the first three books, Sharpe goes from a private to an officer. He acquires and then nearly loses a vast fortune from the Tippoo Sultan. He falls in love a few times but never permanently. After reading Rifles much of that felt relevant. Rifles was written in 1988, later than the first few books but still more than a decade before the “prequels”. Sharpe’s time in India felt connected to this book.

But the next two books, Trafalgar and Prey didn’t feel relevant. Sharpe still has a vast wealth in jewels up till the end of Trafalgar. He also has fallen in love with a woman, Grace, who is pregnant with his child and they remain together at the end. Come, Rifles neither of those things have relevance. He’s poor and unattached. So when I picked up Prey I thought this would tell that story. But the book opens with Grace having died in childbirth (a common thing back in the day) and being poor. He’s been trying to keep a hold of this treasure for four books now and suddenly it’s just gone before the book even starts.

So I may not finish it and probably will just move onto the next one. These minor gripes aside the books are still fun. I enjoyed the introduction of the Rifles and am eager to have some characters continue from book to book. Sergeant Harper is apparently going to be a major character and that’s cool.

One other disappointment is that the Historical Note at the end of these earlier books are less interesting and detail-filled. I gather the integration into history will waver from book to book. Which is probably for the best. You can’t have Sharpe the center point of every major battle, that would get ridiculous. It almost was reaching that point after the “prequel” series but since the history there was so unfamiliar it worked.