Bernard Cornwell notes that the action Sharpe’s Enemy is entirely fictional. Not bad. I don’t mind a bit of license taken in the name of entertainment when it comes off well. My only lingering quibble is that Obadiah Hakeswill dies his second death in this book. I preferred the death by snake from Sharpe’s Fortress to the firing squad funeral in this book, written 15 years before Fortress.
One fun typographical note broke through to make me laugh and share it. On page 88 of the library copy I read, Cornwell’s original sentence: “Sharpe was placatory, yet all of them knew that less men deserted from the Rifles than from other Regiments.” Do you see the error? An earlier reader did, and jotted (in pencil) the word “fewer” above “less.” Must have irked the reader quite a bit, because he or she did it at least once more.
Now for another break from Sharpe before I finish the headlong rush to Waterloo.