Sharpe's Fortress

Wrapping up Sharpe's prequel India trilogy, and it did a very good job being engaging throughout and wrapping up the plots from the previous two books. It's worth noting that the female characters in this series (so far) are unbelievably bland and interchangeable and only exist so Sharpe can save them. Adventure novels, yada yada, but it could still be done better.

This book is a four star and not a five star because of how obviously it's a prequel, though. What is with authors making prequels and then saying to themselves, “hey, this character doesn't exist later on, so they must die?” it's unimaginative and predictable. And using Hakeswell as the villain for all three of these novels was a mistake, ESPECIALLY with how each time, Sharpe leaves him to be killed by some animal and then, inexplicably, the animals don't kill him. THREE BOOKS IN A ROW, BERNARD?! Unbelievable.

Onto Sharpe's next adventure, though. These books are consistently good adventure stories and I hope to like them better once it's more obvious that Cornwell was writing more organically.

Most of the book deals with the British assault on the impregnable fortress of Gawilghur in India. Along with overcoming familiar foes: Obadiah Hawkeswill, Major Dodd and Major Morris. It also covers newly commissioned Ensign Richard Sharpe coming to terms with a difficult transition from soldier to commissioned officer.

The Indian trilogy wraps up brilliantly. If you have read the series, you'll know what to expect by now. There is a brief love interest, corrupt officers, and Sharpe single handily capturing an impregnable fortress.