"Worst Richard Sharpe Novel?" Topic

Even though these can be pretty formulaic, I do find them interesting again as I catch up with the latest ones, in this case, Sharpe's Assassin from 2021. It is also spurring me to circle back to painting up some proper Napoleonics again. That said, some novels are better than others. Note those favorites in the other Poll Suggestion.

For this one, what is the absolute worst Richard Sharpe novel by Bernard Cornwell? Here they are in chronological order:

Sharpe's Tiger: Richard Sharpe and the Siege of Seringapatam, 1799

Sharpe's Triumph: Richard Sharpe and the Battle of Assaye, September 1803

Sharpe's Fortress: Richard Sharpe and the Siege of Gawilghur, December 1803

Sharpe's Trafalgar: Richard Sharpe and the Battle of Trafalgar, October 1805

Sharpe's Prey: Richard Sharpe and the Expedition to Copenhagen 1807

Sharpe's Rifles: Richard Sharpe and the French Invasion of Galicia, January 1809

Sharpe's Havoc: Richard Sharpe and the Campaign in Northern Portugal, Spring 1809

Sharpe's Eagle: Richard Sharpe and the Talavera Campaign July 1809

Sharpe's Gold: Richard Sharpe and the Destruction of Almeida

Sharpe's Escape: Richard Sharpe and the Battle of Busaco, 1810

Sharpe's Fury: Richard Sharpe & the Battle of Barrosa

Sharpe's Battle: Richard Sharpe and the Battle of Fuentes de Oņoro, May 1811

Sharpe's Company: The Siege of Badajoz

Sharpe's Command: Richard Sharpe and the Bridge at Almaraz, May 1812

Sharpe's Sword: Richard Sharpe and the Salamanca Campaign June and July 1812

Sharpe's Skirmish (short story): Richard Sharpe and the Defense of the Tormes, August 1812

Sharpe's Enemy: Richard Sharpe and the Defense of Portugal, Christmas 1812

Sharpe's Honour: Richard Sharpe and the Vitoria Campaign, February to June 1813

Sharpe's Storm: Richard Sharpe and the Invasion of Southern France, 1813

Sharpe's Regiment: Richard Sharpe and the Invasion of France, June to November 1813

Sharpe's Christmas (short story)

Sharpe's Siege: Richard Sharpe and the Winter Campaign, 1814

Sharpe's Revenge: Richard Sharpe and the Peace of 1814

Sharpe's Waterloo: Richard Sharpe and the Waterloo Campaign 15 June to 18 June 1815

Sharpe's Assassin: Richard Sharpe and the Occupation of Paris, 1815

Sharpe's Ransom (short story, appears in Sharpe's Christmas)

Sharpe's Devil: Richard Sharpe and the Emperor, 1820-21

Have only read 1/2, and stopped a couple years ago so not sure where I left off exactly. Have to say got tired of reading the same storey, more or less.
Not bad any I did read just not motivated to get the next.
Read all up to end of Napoleonic wars in Patrick O'Brian series

Well, seems they can't be that terrible if you've read them all.
: 3

I read the first several and they were entertaining enough. Not enough to keep reading more… But they did give us the TV series which I've watched several times over the years, great background while painting.

I've read most of them, but lost track.
Since you say they're formulaic, it's hard to rate them.
My first one was Sharpe's Eagle. I bought it mainly for the Harlequin Tomance cover on the paperback.
Open collar, incomprehensible flag, "lady" with flaring nostrils, wrong facings, etc. you can't get that edition today. The covers today are … formulaic. 😄

I bought it because I wanted a fun, silly read. It turned into a cracking good yarn. It reminded me a bit of Hornblower, but without the self doubt.
All the others I read were cracking good yarns too. But none stood out as bad, let alone the worst.

So, if in a year from now, when this becomes an actual Poll, I hope there's a choice for "None. They're all pretty good."

By the way, does Sean Bean die in any of them?

What's the worst Flashman novel? 😄

All of them.
BTW for JtOFM, Flashman and the Angel of the Lord is definitely the one I enjoyed least.

I haven't read a Sharpe book that was bad.

His worst that I've read were his books on the U.S. Civil War.

Enjoyed the Uthred books as well.

Angel of the Lird is one of my favorites. 😄

Read them all and liked them. Can't say there was a "worst" one.

Read 'em all, like 'em all. Yes they variously have credibility concerns, but good stories.

Favourite Cornwell is "the fort".

I agree on the Civil War series being the worst.

Weakest IMHO was Sharpe's Trafalgar. Most of the recent ones where they have desperately inserted Sharpe haven't measured up to the first 10-12.

The most recent: Assassin, Storm and Fury are very weak. It seems like Cornwell is "mailing it in" now.

+1 14Bore – I can't recall where I stopped either. It would have been mid-80's, so maybe Sharpe's Siege.

Sometimes these series go on too long (for me, anyway) – I have a pile of Simon Scarrows that I'm thinking I'll never read: Macro & Cato do seem to have the knack of doing the exact same thing over and over again.

@korsun0 – maybe I should read that one: IIRC there was a huge game at Salute a few years ago based on it and it was very impressive.

Read them all, and enjoyed them all! Will read them all again!

The tv shows, long before reading got me interested to have the 2/95th in my collection, then started reading the books.
One thing also was finding some books at the used book store, but they don't show up often and not in order

I really likes the Civil War series, I wish he had finished it.

The most recent: Assassin, Storm and Fury are very weak. It seems like Cornwell is "mailing it in" now.

He also ran out of convenient time gaps to fit him in. 🙄
There comes a time when you can't realistically use Star Wars instant teleportation, or Game of Thrones super highways.