Will I love Sharpe's Eagle?

I am cheating here on two counts. Firstly, I’m not recommending a single book but actually TWENTY NINE books and counting! Secondly, it’s not strictly fantasy; however, when a lowly street orphan ends up featuring in every major battle from 1799 through to 1821 whilst also playing a pivotal role in each one, I reckon even Gandalf, after coming back from the dead and riding saddle-less for days on end would look at Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Sharpe and think “Hmm, bit far-fetched.”

But this is the reason why I love Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe books. Richard Sharpe is an outcast in his… show more.

This is the army counterpart to the Hornblower Series. The story begins in 1794 with 17 y/o Richard Sharpe deployed to Flanders as a private and continues through India, Spain, and France, ending as a lieutenant colonel at the Battle of Waterloo. A final volume carries the series to St. Helena and Chile, ending in 1820.

Sharpe and his men are always presented with challenges that require heroic acts of daring-do where Sharpe’s gutter-snipe cunning and that of his men ensure that he somehow accomplishes the mission. As one might expect, the size of his company of chosen riflemen dwindles… show more.

A common man with uncommon courage, Richard Sharpe has risen out of the ranks of Wellington’s army in Spain during the Napoleonic Wars. But without the money to back him, Sharpe’s promotion is under threat. His only chance is an act of never-before-seen heroism—the capture of a French regimental eagle, symbol of the Emperor Napoleon’s honour. No Englishman has ever done it. This is historical fiction at its absolute best. Cornwell is so vivid you can almost hear the muskets and smell the gunpowder. He transports you to another era and shows you raw courage and victory in the face… show more.