Time to revisit a series that captured my interest, then I failed to find this book in a thrift store for months! But I finally found the second Sharpe title: Triumph. So let us not waste time and just dive in.
Title: Sharpe's Triumph (Sharpe #2)
Author: Bernard Cornwell
Fluff:
Richard Sharpe and the Battle of Assaye, September 1803
India, 1803. Sergeant Richard Sharpe witnesses a murderous act of treachery by an English officer who has defected from the East India Company to join the mercenary army of the Mahratta Confederation. In the hunt for the renegade Englishman, penetrates deep into the enemy's territory where he faces temptations more subtle than he has ever dreamed of. And behind him, relentlessly stalking him, comes his worst enemy, the baleful, twitching Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill who is determined to break Sharpe once and for all. The paths of treachery all lead to the small village of Assaye where Sir Arthur Wellesley, with a tiny British army, faces the Mahratta horde. Outnumbered and outgunned, Wellesley decides to fight, and Sharpe is plunged into the white heat of a battle that will make Wellesley's reputation. It will make Sharpe's name to, but only if he can survive the carnage and killing frenzy, for it is at Assaye that he at last realizes his ambition and has a chance to seize it. This major new novel will follow the adventures of Richard Sharpe in India, begun so excitingly in Sharpe's Tiger and culminating in the Battle of Assaye, which Wellington considered his greatest victory.
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Style: Paperback
Page Count: 368
Review
Well, this reads very much like the old tv show, which is great for me as I loved that Sean Bean series. Set about four years after Tiger we join Sgt. Sharpe as he accompanies General Wellesley in a campaign against the Mahratta. Leading up to the actual battle of Assaye in 1803.
The main plot sees Sharpe teaming up with Colonel McCandless once more, to hunt down a rogue British Officer who earlier in the book slaughters a whole platoon of men with Sharpe being the only survivor. At the same time, we have the foul Sgt. Hakeswill trying to takedown Sharpe by framing him for a crime.
The story is nicely paced and exciting as it leads up to The Battle of Assaye, which we get to experience through Sharpe's eyes, which is something rather horrific and cold and has you watch the callous commanders send their troops in. These chapters really stuck with me which just goes to prove how well written they are by Cornwell.
But it isn't all great, the Sgt. Hakeswill arc felt very unneeded. It seemed like more of a filler plotline rather than something to worried about. I found it a like disappointing overall especially with the fact that it brought to an end Colonel McCandless who deserved a better ending. I am also left knowing that he will be back, though it was heavily hinted he is killed by an elephant. This really is a small complaint as it doesn't hugely impact the amazing story, but Hakeswill's plot armour is too strong. I hope we get a break from him in the next novel.
I am now on the hunt for the next title: Fortress, which hopefully I will find quicker this time.
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