Sharpe

Patrick O'Brian's Maturin-Aubrey series of novels are an extraordinary literary achievement and fully deserved the Folio Society standard of publishing.

I have read all of the Sharpe novels in the past year. I also have read all of the Maturin-Aubrey novels. IIMHO the Sharpe are not anywhere near the standard of the Maturin-Aubrey.
I have not read the Hornblower.

>1 Bob_Reader: I loved the Patrick O’Brian and Hornblower series. Have the three volume EP Sharpe set. Books are ok, wouldn’t acquire or read any others.

Sharpe is Sean Bean. To me at least! I’ve got the DVD box set and it is droll. I also own the Hornblower DVD box set, haven’t watched it recently, very good nostalgic viewing for the holidays (Ioan Gruffud starring as Horatio). Which makes me wonder why Aubrey-Maturin only produced one film: Master and Commander: The Far Side Of The World (which was well received, but didn’t turn into a franchise despite Russell Crowe as leading man).

From what I remember Master and Commander was expensive to make and while critically liked and did well it was not enough to get a sequel greenlit. I personally thought it was great. I liked Sharpe but really liked the Hornblower series. The Hornblowers did not continue on as it became too expensive to make which was a shame. I think the problem is that doing naval adaptations right is very expensive.

I’ve not read the Aubrey Maturin novels, but I have read the vast majority of the Sharpe novels and have recently delved into the Hornblowers. I would definitely say the Hornblower novels are of a higher standard than Sharpe. Although the Sharpe novels are still enjoyable to read, I did find them a tad cheesy in parts.

>6 assemblyman: cost is a huge factor, and authentic history doesn’t have wide enough appeal to be lucrative unfortunately. Not to mention that it would sit well with the current diversity mentality in TV and film.

It’s a travesty that Master and Commander didn’t get a sequel, yet there have been umpteen Pirates of the Caribbean films, each more godawful than the last.

>7 Bob_Reader: Patrick O'Brian is in the premier league of 20th century novelists writing in English. He was remarkably talented and knowledgeable. He lived for many years in France and loved the country. A personal friend of Picasso; he was steeped in English Literature; an expert in French and Spanish culture and language; and was much praised by naval historians.

C S Forester is a second division but sound historical novelist.

The Shape novels are fun for guys who enjoy reading about rugged heroes involved in period combat situations and who do much rogering in exotic locations.

Like several others here, have read all three. Started on Hornblower in my teens, and still love them (I have a three-volume hardback Michael Joseph set inherited from my father, so didn't bother with the FS editions). Then read most of the Sharpes. OK as a fun read, but found them a bit repetitive after a while, and petered out with them fairly rapidly. Then came to the Aubrey-Maturin series - in a different league. That is the one set where I went for the full set. So 1-O'Brian, 2-Forester, 3-Sharpe, the latter a fair distance back. (Incidentally, I disliked Cornwell's non-fiction account of Waterloo intensely - not a patch on the likes of Clayton or Barbero for instance).

I haven't read them, but my brother said that whilst he enjoyed Sharpe, he much preferred the Allen Mallinson series centred on Matthew Hervey, in the cavalry.