Sharpe's Tiger
Ratings31
Average rating3.9
In a battery of events that will make a hero out of an illiterate private, a young Richard Sharpe poses as the enemy to bring down a ruthless Indian dictator backed by fearsome French troops.The year is 1799, and Richard Sharpe is just beginning his military career. An inexperienced young private in His Majesty's service, Sharpe becomes part of an expedition to India to push the ruthless Tippoo of Mysore from his throne and drive out his French allies. To penetrate the Tippoo's city and make contact with a Scottish spy being held prisoner there, Sharpe has to pose as a deserter. Success will make him a sergeant, but failure will turn him over to the Tippoo's brutal executioners — or, worse — his man-eating tigers. Picking his way through an exotic and alien world. Sharpe realizes that one slip will mean disaster. And when the furious British assault on the city finally begins, Sharpe must take up arms against his true comrades to preserve his false identity, risking death at their hands in order to avoid detection and thus to foil the Tippoo's well-set trap.
Series
Series
23 primary books26 released books#1 in Sharpe
Sharpe is a 26-book series with 23 primary works first released in 1981 with contributions by Bernard Cornwell, Frederick Davidson, and William Gaminara.
Series
26 primary books#16 in Richard Sharpe
Richard Sharpe is a 26-book series with 26 primary works first released in 1981 with contributions by Bernard Cornwell, Frederick Davidson, and William Gaminara.
Reviews
Popular Reviews
Reviews with the most likes.
The military part (the battles) is very good, but the rest of the plot is 4th grade (elementary school) level simplistic, basic, black&white crap... I really felt my intelligence as a reader was very strongly underestimated and offended.
Bernard Cornwell is a guy you'd want with you on the desert island; he's the consummate story teller and he's prolific, approaching Steven King proportions. This is the first book of the Richard Sharpe saga. He's considering deserting from the army as they prepare to fight the Tippoo of Mysore. He has a run-in with a certain Sgt. Obadiah Hakeswill, who is one of the great villains for which he is punished. He is spared the the full punishment so that he can undertake a dangerous mission that entails penetrating the Tippoo's capital city. The story is riveting and the setting historically accurateas are the details of the soldier's daily life, the buying of rank for the officers, the manner in which combat was conducted, etc. The epilogue discusses the context in which the battle was fought and is eerily reminiscent of current events. The British, wanting to extend and solidify their empire, found a flimsy excuse to wage an unprovoked war on the Tippoo. Draw your own parallels.
