30. Bernard Cornwell:

 

Sharpe's Tiger

written: 1997

(363 pages)

 

read in June 2014

verdict: **** LIKE

 

When we decided to read one of the books from the Sharpe series, we also learnt from Wikipedia that they have made a television series based on the books, with none other than British hunk Sean Bean in the title role. Nothing to complain about there. Since it was a series, we decided to read the very first book because it's always good to start at the beginning. So the choice fell on Sharpe's Tiger, where a very young private Richard Sharpe found himself in the midst of a decisive battle in Seringapatam, India. It promised exoticism as well as historical facts and lots of action and intrigues. And we were not disappointed.

 

Bernard Cornwell (1944) did his research about the historical battle, and even if he uses a bit of artistic licence with the facts, this only enhances the pleasure of reading a good story. One notices that the author knew the TV series when he wrote the book, because Sharpe is really portrayed like Sean Bean (nothing wrong with that, of course). Also, Cornwell's storyline is very much like a film script, well-developed scenes with lots of dialogue make for excellent reading and listening.

 

In the beginning it was a bit hard for us to follow, since there were so many people showing up at once. The reader is put in the middle of a battlefield and loads of soldiers talk together, and you don't know who will be important and who won't, so it's a bit confusing. But soon, some characters get fleshed out more, like Sharpe's eternel nemesis sergeant Hakeswill, Sharpe's girlfriend Mary or his superior lieutenant Lawford.

 

The plot is sometimes a bit over-the-top, some things that Sharpe manages to do and survive are a bit unbelievable, but since it makes for a good action-filled adventure, this is easily forgiven. The characters are well-developed too, even though they might come across as a bit stereotypical, like Hakeswill for example, who is really the prototype of the unredeemable sadistic coward. Cornwell and his readers seem to love this character though, because apparently Hakeswill shows up in many books of the Sharpe series.

 

Sharpe's character is a bit more ambiguous. He is part patriotic soldier, part opportunistic bastard, character traits he is struggling with throughout the novel. In the end, the patriot wins and Sharpe is saving the day. In fact we often disliked Sharpe, he comes across a bit too much like a die-hard Bruce-Willis type at times. But having the protagonist show flaws as well as qualities only makes for a more interesting read.

 

We also liked the fact that Cornwell is not making a clear-cut good/evil distinction. Not all of the British officers are "good guys", in fact many of them are quite devious. On the other hand, their Indian enemy, the Tippoo is portrayed as a cruel, but fair man, who can show mercy just as well as order death sentences. Which brings me to a negative point in the book: there were too many executions in the story, described in all their gory details. Each time the infamous jettis showed up (and they showed up far too often in my opinion) we steeled ourselves for yet another horrifying execution. Here, less would have been more.

 

Nevertheless, the book was a LIKE, but would we read another book of the series? Probably yes, some time in the future, but not immediately, since we are not too fond of Indiana-Jones-style war stories, and therefore we are not too keen on reading the entire series in one go, or even to watch the movies; well maybe we will watch the movies, but then it would only be for the pleasure of seeing Sean Bean in action.