Los hombres de Richard Sharpe se encuentran en peligro mortal, pero en esta ocasión no por culpa de los franceses, sino de los burócratas de Whitehall, quienes le niegan los refuerzos prometidos. Sharpe se desplaza hasta Inglaterra para averiguar qué sucede realmente y allí se ve envuelto en una red de intrigas y corrupción, en la que están involucrados importantísimos miembros del Estado Mayor Británico.

Topnotch Sharpe adventure based mostly in England with Sharpe trying to find his battalion in 1813... Great stuff ( )

By now I'm used to the elements of a Sharpe book, and this is pretty much by the numbers. A nice twist is the problem of recruiting for the South Essex. We get a lot of Sharpe backstory in this one, and a view of the England Wellington fought for. There's an American in this one, but he's a friend of Sharpe's so he's all right. ( )

Oh, *Sharpe*. Never not awesome.

I'm way more charmed by Jane than I should be, given how little she appears, but Sharpe hearts her enough that I heart her too. Harper is as awesome as ever, and he and Sharpe are the bestest buddies ever.

It's probably bad that I was predicting plot elements based on the number of pages left -- "no, Sharpe, you can't pull off [risky and heroic action:], because if you did, you'd be back in Spain in thirty pages and there are 120 left, accept it and move on to the next twist" -- but the plot elements were all gracefully handled, and I adored the Dowager Countess and her meanness.

The scheming is HILARIOUS, especially when Sharpe and Harper get themselves recruited into the army, although I did question why Sharpe would trust Maggie Joyce to deal with his diamonds, given that they *haven't seen each other in a decade*. Apparently there was a lot more honor amongst thieves back then, or something. ( )

Another solid entry, this time with a very different story that takes place in England rather than Spain. Sharpe's battle is not against the French but against the powers in his own Army that want to disband the South Essex for their own purposes. Wouldn't have been nearly so good if not for the long epilogue that Cornwell wisely added. ( )