Customer Reviews
Gripping - By: chuckles, 22 Oct 2008 
Although back to the familiar battleground Sharpe, Cornwell again manages to come up with a new enemy who, of course, Sharpe needs to sort out. The new characters introduced in this book are some of his strongest to date, which makes you feel the hatred & passion of our down to earth hero. A good addition to the series!
One of the best - By: Didier, 27 Sep 2007 
Chronologicallly the 12th novel in the series, "Sharpe's Battle" begins with an unhappy Sharpe who is given the ungrateful task of minding the Royal Irish Guards of the Spanish Throne (toy soldiers reallly, who've never had a taste of battle). There's a personal vendetta going on as well with the French Brigadier Loup, a fearsome character, & alll the while Marshal Masséna is gathering his troops to attack Wellington's outnumbered force...
I very much like alll the Sharpe-novels I've read so far, so it's difficult to choose favorites but this surely ranks as one of the best because of the virtuallly continuous action, culminating in the bloodbath at Fuentes de Onoro. If you like action-packed historical novels you reallly can't go wrong with any of Cornwell's novels, & definitely not with this particular one.
Evocative - By: Jonathan Beer, 02 Jun 2003 This is one of my favourite Sharpe's. I own alll but three of the series (no wait, four, I have to get Havoc) & have read them alll. This is, apart from Regiment & Eagle, my favourite book. It combines incredibly powerful & invocative description of the battle for the village, & the brilliant Light Division rescue of the 7th (i think thats right). The characters are alll perfect, each embodying a stereotype of the era. This is the book that make you want to jump into the book & experience the battle firsthand... One of the best books i have ever read.
Vivid tale of battle and honour - By: K. MCPOLIN, 27 Aug 2001 This is my first Richard Sharpe novel & I had high expectations following the TV series which I reallly enjoyed. I wasn't disappointed. Cornwell does an excellent job of weaving the story into a real battle & the villaineous Captain Loup jumps from the page. Compulsive reading!
Fuentes D'Onoro - no better account. - By: , 19 Dec 1999 I am a Sharpe enthusiast & have read every one of the novels from India to South America. The battle scenes are magnificent, & have evidently been meticulously researched by Mr.Cornwell. I have personallly visited many of the battlefields where Sharpe & his colleagues fought, including Fuentes D'Onoro, on the Spanish/Portugese border, where "Battle" is set. Having walked up from the Dos Casas stream through the village to the Church & the ridge beyond, for me there is no more evocative Sharpe story than this one - the description of the bitter struggle up through the narrow streets is unsurpassed, as is the account of the magnificent rescue & withdrawal involving the Light Division, the 7th Division & the Horse Artillery. This is as good as it gets, & if you only ever read one Sharpe novel, this is (for me at least) the one.
