Prequels
Early Peninsular War
Mid Peninsular War
Late Pensinular War
Four more novels take the story from the Peace of 1814 to Sharpe's happily ever after in Normandy with Lucille, and plenty of adventure along the way. These function as two books, Revenge and Waterloo, from the original run that take Sharpe up to the original end of his story. In many respects this holds true with the second pair acting more like a coda or an extended epilogue that ties up loose ends, gives endings to supporting characters and a final adventure for our hero. I think Revenge stands out here as being particularly strong, Devil and Waterloo are both solid offerings and Assassin was a tad weaker but has its strengths.
Sharpe's Revenge
One of the most important installments for character development. Jane's final betrayal takes place, we meet Lucille and join Sharpe on a relatively brief mission to take down Ducos, his final enemy from the Peninsular War. The bulk of the book deals with this more character-based story, much of it taking place at the farmhouse in Normandy. Before then, we get a final battle at Toulouse at which our hero is fed up of it all and both desires peace and fears death so close to the end. These are stronger themes that come through this run as Sharpe ages and gets closer to a happy ending.
The Sharpe/Lucille/Frederickson love triangle dominates online discussion and rightly so, it's really the main focus of the book with the mission to take down Ducos only in the final third. Cornwell notes in the foreword he had planned Lucille to be with Frederickson and you can feel this somewhat, although it's hard to ignore that she simply doesn't like him much. Frederickson's complaints to Sharpe and ultimate estrangement have a whiff of entitlement to them and his attitudes to women are notably colder than many other characters, although I can understand the frustration that might come when your best mate is Napoleonic James Bond and you don't generally have much success with women. But we must remember Lucille has agency, and it isn't like Sharpe has simply yet another casual affair.
On the whole, Revenge starts to resolve a lot of story arcs and set Sharpe up for civilian life.
Sharpe's Waterloo
Has its strengths, notably the encounters with Jane and Rossendale. A lot of the affair happens off-page but we get a good sense of it through how secondary characters respond to it reputationally. Many of us will enjoy the confrontation with Rossendale at the Duchess of Richmond's ball, and his eventual death has to be one of the grimmer ones in a series with a low survival rate. Cornwell seems to revel in it a little I think. Speaking of deaths, we do lose Hagman right at the end (Harris didn't exist at the writing of this book) but the Chosen Men by this point have dwindled in numbers and narrative weight so it lacks some of the weight the TV adaptation gave his death.
Dutch readers might feel that the Prince of Orange gets done the dirty a little here with his characterisation as a feckless upper-class snob for Sharpe to rub up against, but we don't go for rigid historical accuracy here and he gives a good secondary conflict right down to Sharpe taking credit for his real-life wound.
I've sometimes commented on Cornwell's occasional dip into battle narratives that focus on historical detail and not our hero, this is probably his most egregious example but he does capture how desperate and close-run the whole thing was.
Sharpe's Assassin
Picks up right after we left off with the aftermath of the battle. It's time for one more secret mission behind French lines to rescue an important person, cue a surprise attack on a fort using guile to win the day. Sounds familiar? The following sequences in Paris don't really push the boat out plot-wise either and the general contours of it appear obvious a long way off.
Positives? The final fight scene is well-written and captures Sharpe's desire to stop fighting well. It gives a good farewell to the South Essex and the Army as Sharpe retires to be a simple country farmer.
Sharpe's Devil
A simple country farmer on a mission in Chile to rescue a relatively minor character from way back in book 6 joined by Harper after years of enjoying civilian luxury? Stranger things have happened.
We start strong by meeting Boney himself in a scene that feels a bit fan-service but it captures the pathos well. The Corsican Ogre and terror of crowned princes now a sad and unhealthy older man living past glories and asking 'what could have been?'. St Helena wasn't chosen for its hospitality and we get that well.
The story itself in Chile has a villain who is telegraphed as the baddie right from the start, and then Sharpe links up with kindred spirit Thomas Cochrane to fulfill his promise to find Blas Vivar of Sharpe's Rifles. I think this stretches it a bit as Blas is hardly a major character, but Lucille couldn't turn down the sort of money involved and accepts on her common-law husband's behalf.
One final fort to take through wit and bravery against the odds and Sharpe finds Blas Vivar, although with a fairly good plot twist explaining his disappearance. Cochrane's particular scheme fails here but no hard feelings and we end with our heroes sailing off into the sunset, back to a Norman farm or a Dublin pub.
