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New fight, new world, same sidekick. While the story contained a lot of familiar beats falling outside of the main continuum robs it of a lot of its power.

Following immediately on from Waterloo sees Sharpe pulled in to post war plotting. Colourful characters but no arch villains makes for a quieter followup.

Originally intended as the final story in the Sharpes novels, the 11th book written, Waterloo is one of the best in the series.

I can’t help but feel that if the writer had written this wrap up to the peninsula war much further into his writing career that it would have been a more fitting ending than the one provided here.

With Sharpes Arch arch nemesis pushed largely to the sidelines the story can play to the series natural strengths.

Spent mostly in England, the story focuses on greed and the abuse of the war machine for profit. Still a ton of intrigue and wildly outrageous escapades but couched the realities of the class system sharpe has always dealt with makes for an interesting read.

The antagonists in the story are so arch and the premise of the story so flimsy I struggled to get through it, not even the now-standard battle at the end could pick things up I just wanted this one to be over.

Engaging story taking place in only a couple of locations with less of the intrigue. A couple of arch characters let things down a bit.

Another story that lacks tension a was hard to get through. The deadly villain while different isn’t very interesting. Feels like watered down version of Sharpes Prey.

A Grindy downbeat novel that isn’t a slog.

Lots of interesting little anecdotes but not a fan of how it was essentially a series of quotes lashed together.

Slow start with a refreshing enemy who is less scheming and more a reflection of Sharpe himself. The book earns its name with the conflict in the second half.

More intrigue makes the story a bit of a slog for the most part but the events of the finale are well written and gripping.