A decent story about the events surrounding the siege and conquest of a city in 18th Century India by the British Army. I liked the detailed description of the siege tactics and storming of the city, and I learned a lot about the history of this conflict while reading the book. However I found the depiction of life in the British army to be brutal (maybe this is accurate? dunno), the story lavished attention on torture and executions, and the fictional protagonist, who ends up being a spy rather than a soldier for most of the book, struck me as unrealistically invincible. ( )

Fast paced and fun. Cornwell is noted for taking some pains to make things historically accurate. Slightly below Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin books to my taste.
Audio note: Good reader with a range of accents and voices. ( )

spell binding narration.
First novel in the Sharpe's series and I am totally hooked to it.
Sharpe is an orphan whose is a thief turned into a private in the East India company. He is resourceful, ambitious, ruthless, naive and kind-hearted too.

The seige of Seringapatnam is vividly described. Great deal of research is done on the architecture, ammunition, social mores, and life style of the people during the days of Tipoo sultan.

what I liked about the book is the balance in judgement. Cornwell, unlike G.A Henty (who was the author of The Tiger of Mysore) doesn't disparage Tipoo sultan. Opinion in India is divided about how tolerant a ruler Tipoo was ... but everyone agree he is a fearless and a superb military strategist.

Must read for historical fiction lovers ( )

Curious to see how long and far I follow Sharpe around. Definitely a promising start. #India1799 ( )

El gobernador de Seringapatam, el Tipoo, sabe del avance del 33º Regimiento del Ejército de Su Majestad Británica, y le tiene preparada una trampa destinada a acabar con él. El fusilero Richard Sharpe es en esos momentos un desertor del ejército, pero eso no impide que su alto sentido del honor y del compañerismo le lleve a arriesgar su vida para salvar a sus camaradads.