Makes me want to visit Spain and see Salamanca. Sharpe continues to demonstrate both his humanity and his prowess. ( )

It's bloody, violent, mostly a- or im-moral, and it needs better copy-editing.
But "Sharpe's Sword" does one thing well and one very well: 1) except as noted by the author, it does stick to real history, and, 2), it shows how vicious and insane war is.
And, by 2), it shows how vicious and insane governments, especially central governments of large nations, are.
If even one reader would reach the conclusion that governments, and their component politicians and bureaucrats, commit or enable and encourage most of the evil in the world, this book and its series and their author would have justified their existence. ( )

La mayor amenaza para la Campaña de Salamanca de Wellington no es el ejército de Napoleón, sino el asesino más mortífero de Fracia. Ya falló en matar al capitán Richard Sharpe una vez. Ahora, tiene una segunda oportunidad.

Sharpe fighting in Wellington's army in Spain. This was perhaps even more boy's own hero stuff than usual, with an impossibly beautiful love interest and multiple betrayals, but Bernard Cornwell is still a cut above most others describing soldiers and war, often from the point of view of the rank and file. ( )

All the usual Sharpe ingredients are present here: war, women, and treachery.
This is the fourth in the series, or at least was the fourth book published. It isn’t the 4th chronologically any more. In this novel, Cornwell has Sharpe run up against Leroux, a French Colonel who has managed to discover the identity of many British informers, including the spymaster El Mirado

I always enjoy reading the Sharpe books, but never find all that much to say afterwards. Fun, a good read, and they always make me think of Sean Bean so they can’t be bad :) ( )