Adventure Annotation

Title: Sharpe’s Tiger 

Author: Bernard Cornwell

Genre: Adventure, historical fiction, military fiction 

Publication Date: 1997

Number of Pages: 385

Geographical Setting: Seringapatam, Kingdom of Mysore, India

Time Period: 1799 (the Fourth Mysore War)

Series: Sharpe Series (#1 chronologically, #15 by publication date)

Plot Summary: In a prequel to Cornwell’s beloved Sharpe series, started in 1981 with the novel “Sharpe’s Gold,” Richard Sharpe is a young private fighting for the British army in India. His roguish ways and defiant attitude, along with his romantic entanglement with the very pretty and recently widowed Mary Bickerstaff, have placed him in conflict with his nefariously evil superior officer, Sergeant Hakeswill. The detested Hakeswill has hatched a plan with the company’s apathetic commander, Morris, to make a profit by selling Mary off to a brothel, and they need Sharpe out of the way to do it. With a few schemes, they manage to have Sharpe sentenced to two thousand lashes, an effective death punishment. However, Private Sharpe is rescued by the timid but kind Lieutenant Lawford. Lawford requires a man of Sharpe’s talents to help jailbreak a British intelligence officer who was captured by the Sultan’s forces while scouting behind enemy lines. The captured officer is holding vital intel they’ll need for their siege, and time is running out. It’s out of the frying pan and into the fire for Sharpe, as he, Lawford, and Mary pretend to desert the British army and enlist in the opposition’s forces. They’ll have to outwit the clever Tippoo (Tipu) Sultan, known for feeding his enemies to his pet tigers, as well as the Sultan’s greatest ally, French General Gaudin. And, should they survive and get the information back in time to turn the tides of the enormous battle to come, they still have to contend with the snakes in their own army who have plenty of reason to want them dead. 

The historic backdrop of the story is the Siege of Seringapatam, 1799, when Tipu Sultan of the Kingdom of Mysore was defeated by British forces. Many of the characters, including the Sultan, General Harris, Commander Wellesley (later the Duke of Wellington), and Major General Baird, are based on real historical figures. 

Subject Headings:

Sharpe. Richard (Fictitious character) Fiction. 

Great Britain - History, Military - 18th century Fiction.

Śrirangapattana (India) - History - Seige, 1799 Fiction

India - History - Mysore War, 1799 Fiction 

Appeal:

• Fast-paced: This book is fast-paced in a manner typical of adventure genre fiction. As mentioned by Wyatt & Saricks (2019), the point of view alternates to keep the focus on the action - if Sharpe, for example, is doing something relatively mundane like spending a day or two in the camp clinic for an injury, the point of view switches to someone else (enemy or ally) doing something more exciting like executing traitors or rendezvousing with spies. The bulk of the plot takes place in a very short timeframe - a matter of a climactic couple of weeks at the end of a long military campaign. 
• Action-packed storyline "The story line focuses on action, usually a mission, and the obstacles and dangers along the way" (Wyatt & Saricks, 2019, p. 12). The mission is to get the intel carried by the captured British intelligence officer to the army before the siege begins, and all of the rest of the occurrences in the novel somehow serve that theme. Despite a decently large cast of characters and detailed description of military life, Sharpe's Tiger never loses focus. 
• Stereotypical characterization: Each character can be boiled down to a distinct trope; "they are quickly drawn, fulfill a checklist of genre attributes, and rarely surprise" (Wyatt & Saricks, 2019, p. 7). Hakeswill is evil, Morris is a drunk, Lawford is untested, Mary is independent. These stereotypes don't make the characters flat, but they do allow the action to move along unimpeded by a lot of introspection. And it doesn't mean there is no room for complexity - Sharpe is a rough-around-the-edges rogue with no qualms about betraying his country. but he's a good man who is loyal to his friends. The Tippoo Sultan, who easily could have been written as a racist caricature, is more than a one-note villain and displays a mixture of cruelty, intelligence, and enlightened mercy that makes him a compelling antagonist. 
• Richly detailed, jargon-filled writing style: Cornwell gives the reader plenty of information to fully situate the story in historic colonial India, and the characters (especially our hero) in believable military roles without losing the action-filled pace. 
• Suspenseful tone: Because of all of the point-of-view shifts, the reader often knows information that Sharpe does not (the nature of the intel he's been sent to gather, for example, or the multitude of plots his superior officers have to kill him). This leads to an effective ramping up of intensity as the stakes get higher and the clock keeps ticking. There is additional, interesting tension built by virtue of it being historical fiction - a big British military history buff might know who lives and dies amongst the "real" characters, but the fates of the truly fictional support is unknown to all, and Cornwell throws some twists in there. 

Terms that best describe this book: Action-packed, suspenseful, war story 

Relevant Fiction Works and Authors:

• The Horatio Hornblower saga by C.S. Forester: What Richard Sharpe is to the land battles of the Napoleonic Wars, Horatio Hornblower seems to be for historical sea stories during the same historic period. Both hero-driven adventure series are "richly detailed" "jargon-filled" military fictions. 
• Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian: Another historical military fiction that takes place during the Napoleonic Wars, this is a commonly cited "adventure book for adults" that is a little more complex (both in style and character relationships) than the Sharpe series. 
• Gods and Generals by Jeff Shaara: Taking place during the Civil War (rather than the Napoleonic or British colonial wars), this novel would appeal to readers who enjoyed the switching point-of-view and large cast of real historical figures from Sharpe's Tiger. 

Relevant Non-Fiction Works and Authors:

• Tiger: The Life of Tipu Sultan by Kate Brittlebank: A look at the life of the real ruler whose army Richard Sharpe infiltrates. If readers find themselves sympathizing more with the freedom-fighting if ruthless Indian sultan than with the colonizing Brits, this book covers his life and achievements prior to the Siege of Seringapatam. 
• Wellington: The Years of the Sword by Lady Elizabeth Longford: Arguably the most famous fictionalized historic figure in Sharpe's Tiger might not be immediately recognizable - but the man called Colonel Arthur Wellesley will later become the Duke of Wellington, the commander who defeats Napoleon at Waterloo. Because the Sharpe series primarily takes place during the Napoleonic Wars, many of the momentous moments of Sharpe's fictional life will be mirrored in Wellington's very real military career. 
• The Era of Darkness by Shashi Tharoor: Despite the action-packed adventures Richard Sharpe has, colonial India under British rule was inarguably a brutal injustice; this account of those atrocities by an Indian author should help contextualize the events of Sharpe's Tiger and what they meant for Indian rulers and citizens. 

Relevant Multimedia tie-ins: 

• Uncharted (video game series): Play as the roguish and charming professional adventurer Nathan Drake as he explores exotic locations, battles enemy armies, and finds himself unwillingly involved in deadly plots way over his pay grade. A Richard Sharpe experience for the modern era. 
• The Age of Napoleon (podcast): If you're interested in the real events of the Napoleonic Wars, this 105 episode (and counting!) podcast delves deeply into the history of France, of the conflict, and of the man himself.
• Sharpe (TV series): Sean Bean plays the titular character, with each of the 16 episodes covering the ground (roughly) of one of the novels. Apparently, Cornwell loved Bean's portrayal so much so that in later Sharpe books, he changes certain descriptions of his main character to better fit with the TV version. 
• RRR (movie): Very loosely based on real Indian revolutionary leaders (Alluri Sitarama Raju and Komaram Bheem), this epic action film by director S.S. Rajamouli tells the story of two radical anti-colonials bound by friendship, and includes an absolutely wild song & dance number (which was just nominatated for a 2023 Oscar for Best Original Song). 
• Risk: Legacy (board game): Risk is a well-known and popular war game, where players mobilize armies to control global territory. The Legacy version of the game encourages the same group of players to play together multiple times in a row - actions taken in earlier games will affect later games by giving players new starting positions, changing the landscape, and altering the global political climate. Fans of military fiction might enjoy creating their own alternate history with friends. 

Week 3 - Prompt Response

1. I am looking for a book by Laurell K. Hamilton. I just read the third book in the Anita Blake series and I can’t figure out which one comes next!

After finding this series page on Novelist, I can see that the fourth book in the Anita Blake series is "The Lunatic Cafe."

2. What have I read recently? Well, I just finished this great book by Barbara Kingsolver, Prodigal Summer. I really liked the way it was written, you know, the way she used language. I wouldn't mind something a bit faster paced though.

Kingsolver's language is often called "lyrical." If you want to stick with the environmental, "green" theme, you might consider Anthill by Edward Wilson - his writing style is described as lush, lyrical, and richly detailed, but the novel contains elements of suspense which should create a more intensifying pace. If the theme isn't of great importance to you, Love and Ruin by Paula McLain is a romantic historical fiction novel about Ernest Hemingway. The writing style and tone are similar to Prodigal Summer, but it's also considered to be fast-paced. Or, if you want to stay with Kingsolver, her first fiction novel The Bean Trees might not be particularly fast-paced, but the tone and character are more plucky and upbeat which could translate to a quicker feeling read. 

(I found Anthill clicking through the read-alikes page of Novelist, looking for something with keywords that would indicate a faster pace. Love and Ruin was found using the appeal creation search - I set the pace to fast, then checked "richly detailed" and "lyrical" as the writing style modifiers, and then filtered by popular novels. And then The Bean Trees was suggested in Kingsolver's author page on Novelist as a good first read by that author; I found the character and tone keywords to be fitting.)

3. I like reading books set in different countries. I just read one set in China, could you help me find one set in Japan? No, not modern – historical. I like it when the author describes it so much it feels like I was there!

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee is a historical fiction novel about a Korean family who immigrates to Japan in the 1900s - it's an epic, and contains descriptions of life in both countries and across a tumultuous time in Korean and Japanese history. It's very popular, and was recently made into a TV series. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell is about a different time period, and is considered to be a well-researched and intricately detailed look at 1799 Japan. Gail Tsukiyama is a historical fiction author of Chinese and Japanese heritage who publishes novels set in both countries and is praised for her lyrical writing style; I would suggest starting with The Samurai's Garden if you're interested in reading some of her work. 

(I used the Advanced Search function of Novelist - first, a search for the keyword:Japan, then narrowed to Genre:historical fiction, then checked the boxes for Adult and Fiction. From there, I clicked a popular result and followed the read-alike links for a few suggestions with writing style keywords indicating high levels of detail and atmosphere.) 

4. I read this great mystery by Elizabeth George called Well-Schooled in Murder and I loved it. Then my dentist said that if I liked mysteries I would probably like John Sandford, but boy was he creepy I couldn't finish it! Do you have any suggestions?

Well, before I suggest anything else, I wanted to make sure you were aware that Well-Schooled in Murder is actually the fourth book in a series of 21 books - there are plenty more for you to enjoy if you haven't already. For another classic detective-based mystery series, you might enjoy the Lord Peter Wimsey novels by Dorothy Sayers - they're more witty than creepy. If you're really not in a creepy mood, there are "cozy mysteries" that pack all of the suspense and twists but none of the scare. One popular entries there are the Grilled Cheese Mysteries by Linda Reilly. The titles might be funny, but they're well-regarded among mystery lovers. 

(I checked the Novelist page for Well-Schooled, and the page for John Sandford, and tried to find read-alikes for the first that didn't contain too many keywords from Sandford like "gritty" that might make a novel too creepy or dark for our reader. I tried to stick with likeable protagonists as well, since the detective in a mystery series is often a big draw. And, for a more creative suggestion, I browsed through popular and modern cozy mysteries to introduce a decisively un-creepy genre.) 

5. My husband has really gotten into zombies lately. He’s already read The Walking Dead and World War Z, is there anything else you can recommend?

Stephen King is a master of horror, and has an interesting technological take on zombies in his novel Cell. There's also Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion - but, full disclosure, while it does have zombies in it, it's more of a forbidden zombie-human romance than horror. The Living Dead is a collection of zombie-based short stories by a variety of really well-known and well-loved authors; it could help your husband come across a new favorite! I see he already likes The Walking Dead - the writer of that series, Robert Kirkman, actually was recruited by Marvel to do a limited series set in the Marvel universe - so if he's interested in what a zombified Spider-Man might be like, I can recommend that. 

(On Novelist, I navigated to themes > horror > zombie apocalypse and sorted by popularity - I tried to include a few different takes on the subject.) 

6. I love books that get turned into movies, especially literary ones. Can you recommend some? Nothing too old, maybe just those from the last 5 years or so.

A lot of literary fiction gets turned into limited series rather than movies these days - if that still appeals to you, I can suggest Normal People by Sally Rooney, a character-driven novel about rocky relationships - romantic and platonic. Or The Queen's Gambit, a historical fiction novel about a female chess prodigy. 

If it's definitely movies you're looking for, there are still some good options from the last five years. The Song of Names by Norman Lebrect was made into a 2019 movie starring Tim Roth and Clive Owen, and is a historical/literary fiction set in WWII London. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delilah Ownes was one of the biggest books of 2018 and is about to be released as a film; it's a murder mystery, but also a coming-of-age story that switches between two timelines. 

(In the quick links section, I found the list for page-to-screen, scrolled to the bottom, started an advanced search with the page to screen genre and then filtered by 2019-2023 publication date and scrolled through, pausing on titles that seemed like literary fiction.  

7. I love thrillers but I hate foul language and sex scenes. I want something clean and fast paced.

Now, I haven't read these so I can't absolutely promise there won't be any swearing or sexual content, but here are some well-regarded and popular cozy mysteries and clean thrillers. The Murder, She Wrote series by "Jessica Fletcher" and Donald Bain, the Miss Marple Mystery Series  and the Hercule Poirot Mystery Series, both by Agatha Christie are good places to start. The author Mary Higgins Clark writes suspenseful books that could often be considered thrillers, and typically does not include much (if any) sex or swearing. 

(For this one, I went off Novelist and onto Google instead, and found a blog dedicated to cozy mysteries that had a lot of clearly informed suggestions - I ran a few promising ones through Goodreads just to make sure they were rated well enough. I also went back and added a suggestion to question #4 as well.) 

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The way I found new reads as a kid/teen was to physically go to the library and browse the shelves for hours. I do still enjoy doing that sometimes, but I don't have as much time as I did back then. I've also noticed that most libraries keep less on their shelves these days, dedicating more room to technology and shared spaces, and letting patrons browse their collections online instead (which is great - it's what the community needs - but it limits this physical method of exploring the available material). 

As an adult, I usually rely on friends' recommendations, or I use Goodreads. I really like their list function, and enjoy finding slightly obscure or specific themes and delving into top voted examples (e.g. "best banter and bicker couples," "a book with a rabbit on the cover," etc.) 

After looking through Mary Chelton's list, I don't really see my method changing much. However, she did have some lists/"best of" style advisory articles linked that seem to be from credible sources that I'll have to come back to. Usually the lists you find from Googling come across as generic or AI generated and don't offer anything really unique (unless you're willing to slog through to find the good ones.) If I were going into public libraries as a career, I'd definitely sign up for some of the more newsletter and social media style RA resources, but as a corporate librarian who just happens to love to read fiction, that's a bit too much commitment for me. 

One change I will be implementing in my "new book search" strategy is to fully take advantage of Novelist. It's fantastic! I'd never used it before. But it's so helpful to be able to put in a book or author you already know you like, and click away until you find something brand new. 

Reader Profile

I am a returning reader, still only a couple of years into reading for pleasure again. Growing up, I was a massive bookworm. Scholastic book challenges? Please. I could finish those lists in a week. My favorite series were Animorphs by Katherine Applegate (54 books) and Redwall by Brian Jacques (22 books). And, of course, Harry Potter. 

Even into high school, most days I had at least two for-fun books in my bag at all times (the one I was actually reading, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower which I'd read almost daily, a book security blanket if you will). I latched onto another impossibly long series - The Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind (21 books). While the uh...politics of those novels went over my head at the time and prevent me from really returning to them, they definitely sparked my love for rambling fantasy epics that lasts through today. 

Then college came. I wasn't managing my ADHD very well at the time, and was pursuing an English degree with a History minor - the amount of reading was overwhelming. Even when I enjoyed something I barely had the time to skim it. I graduated in 2012 and it took me until 2020 to really start reading again, honestly because of quarantine. Now I typically have an audiobook. eBook, and physical book going at the same time and couldn't be happier. 

I've found that I freeze with indecision when it comes time to choose a new book, and so I still gravitate towards long books, prolific writers, and big series so I don't have to make that choice as often. Fantasy, horror, literary fiction, and historical fiction are current favorites - but I'll read anything if it's good! Genre is not a big deciding factor for me. I haven't explored much non-fiction, and I don't think I've ever read something that could be considered a gentle read, but I'm excited to try. 

Goodreads has helped me a lot, both in finding joy and fun in reading again, and in helping me find new things to read. I set a goal of 20 books for 2023; I want to push myself a little but not too hard. The biggest factor in reading more recently is that my Dungeons & Dragons group all realized that we had English degrees and none of us were reading, so we now split our time - once a month, we do a book club instead. It's been amazing so far. 

It's hard for me to nail down favorites, so here is a list of five books/series I love (in no order, and not at all complete):

1. The Earthsea Cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin (series)

2. The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

3. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

4. Wake of Vultures by Lila Bowen (Delilah Dawson)

5. Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli (a graphic novel)

I also love almost all of the Stephen King books I've read, but my favorites are The Stand, Salem's Lot, and The Long Walk. 

And then, because tastes change, here are five books I read in the past year that I really enjoyed:

1. Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

2. The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb (series)

3. Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks

4. The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell 

5. The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon