Sharpe's Tiger: The Siege of Seringapatam, 1799

Sharpe’s Tiger is the first of a series of related novels about the British Army. The protagonist is Richard Sharpe who is at the center of much action. The novel is exciting and well written. As it is a military adventure novel, there is a lot of violence. I enjoyed the novel very much and plan to continue reading the series.While fiction, the novel is based on real events in India in 1799. This allowed me to enjoy an action novel while still learning history. At the end of the kindle and audiobook, there is a brief summary of the actual history.I purchased both the kindle and audiobook. I read while listening. The audiobook is well narrated and is faithful to the kindle. Except for some foreign words and perhaps some military terms, I think this novel can be a good candidate for listening only. As stated I did not do that.In summary I really liked this first of a series novel. I fully intend to read more of this series. Thank you for taking the time to read this review.

Set the pace and tone for the adventure to come, with his nemesis surviving to torment Sharpe yet again. Great read

By the time the author finishes describing the vultures, you are there inside the British infantry encampment with the lowest of the low, the British Private. This story moves. The characters are multidimensional. The plot shifts and changes. I couldn't put it down.

good value as a used bookgood readhighly recommend as used.fantastic tv show based on it.

This was a very frustrating book to read. It is thoroughly researched. Mr. Cornwell told a rip-roaring yarn built on the classic 'Hero's Story' that held my attention throughout. He gave us a likable protagonist and a cartoonish, thoroughly evil Snidely Whiplash antagonist. He weaves in just enough historical detail and scene setting to make us forget that this is another superhero fantasy with an unbelievably lucky hero but a hero that needs to survive until the beginning of several already written sequels. I get that.Then three pages from the end the author gets lazy because Snidely evidently is also needed in the future novels. Having just committed high treason and cowardice in the middle of a battle he starts demanding things of the higher ups. Two colonels and a lieutenant who are witnesses to the treason start telling childish fibs to protect the antagonist rather than tying Snidely to a stake and shooting him. Even today, with a more humane military, he would have been thrown in the brig for the rest of his life.I guess I should be thankful that the author saved me from reading the rest of the series. Maybe I'll just reread Vasily Grossman's 'Life and Fate' instead.

This is my first Richard Sharpe read and I found it interesting and hugely entertaining. I like the fact that Sharpe is a common soldier. I know he works his way up to be a commissioned officer, but It is great to see the British army of the late 18th century from the view of a grunt. Sharpe is brave, conscientious and a rogue. He's not a knight in shining armour. Not a Mr. Perfect, but a perfect hero, filled with flaws and human desires and a damn good soldier. His nemesis, one Obadiah Hakeswill, made me skin crawl. The other characters were also well drawn which helped make the story palpable. I also liked that it took place in India. A fantastic read.

This is the first book in the remarkable series of 22 impeccably researched historical novels by master storyteller Bernard Cornwell about Richard Sharpe, a foot-soldier in India and in the Napoleonic wars at the end of the 18th Century and beginning of the 19th Century. I have already read a couple of books in the series and have made a resolution to read the rest, in order.This book introduces Richard Sharpe as an impoverished, illiterate private soldier in the 50,000 strong Indian Army led by General George Harris marching to lay siege to and capture Seringapatam in Southern India to overthrow Tippoo Sultan who had defied British rule for many years. Sharpe is the son of a London prostitute (father unknown), orphaned at three and left to grow up first in a foundling home and then on the streets of London. He joins the army for some form of security but mainly to avoid being imprisoned for thievery.Sharpe is unlucky to be put under the control of cruel and tyrannical Sergeant Hakeswill who is determined to break Sharpe's brave and cocky outlook. Hawewill taunts Sharpe into a fight which results in a flogging for hitting a senior officer. Sharpe's punishment is cut short when a senior officer gives him a choice, continue the flogging and risk death or pose as a deserter, penetrate Tippoo's city and find a Scottish officer being held prisoner there who has vital information about the city's fortifications. The deal is that if Sharpe succeeds he will become a sergeant but if he fails Tippoo will most likely feed him to his man-eating tigers. We see Sharpe showing the kind of wisdom and bravery that shapes his life in his further career in the Army as he helps the attackers from behind enemy lines.Cornwell seamlessly blends historical reality, characters and battles with Sharpe's adventures to give us a continuing action-packed history lesson that puts us in the box seat both of the battlefront and also a detailed view of life in the armies of the day. In this book Cornwell describes immense task of moving an army of 50,000 troops and thousands of camp followers (including cooks, wives, merchants and even brothels). The army needs 200,000 cattle, some for food, oxen to carry cannon balls and bullocks to haul wagons and guns, the heaviest needing sixty bullocks apiece. Officers slept in tents, well away from the cattle. The common soldiers had no tents and slept on the ground close to campfires. Pay was a pittance and the main motivation of the common soldier in battle was the spoils of war taken from the fallen and captured towns.I thoroughly enjoyed this first encounter with Richard Sharpe and look forward to fulfilling my resolution to read the rest of this fantastic series, which I heartily recommend to anyone who likes action-packed and adrenaline pulsing historical fiction.

Sometimes I am amazed at my own stupidity. I stopped reading the Sharpe books in the early '90s (too many books to read & not enough time) and hadn't realised that Bernard Cornwell had gone back to fill in the gaps of Sharpe's adventures.Anyway, I've finally got round to reading Sharpe's Tiger and what a fun, thrilling read it was. This time Sharpe is in India and at the seige of Seringapatam. As usual Sharpe is facing down enemies, the respulsive Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill and sometimes officers from his own side.I liked the (slight) bromance between Sharpe and Lt Lawford. I was particularly amused to find that Sharpe has become a lot more "Yorkshire" in this book - he says things in a Yorkshire accent occasionally and there are references to Sheffield - no doubt due to the "Bean" effect.I also loved the reference to Tipu Sultan's jewel, the Moonstone (page 232 in my copy). You can read more about that particular jewel, the storming of Seringapatam and characters like General Baird at the beginning of Wilkie Collins superb detective novel -  The Moonstone (Wordsworth Classics)The Moonstone (Wordsworth Classics)

I decided to buy and read all the Sharpe Books and read them in one go. After a while you get to know an author's style and their writing becomes predictable as well as the general plots. There is some of that with Sharpe mainly because it's based on historical events that tended to be enacted in the same way during that period. But, these are very well written books, good research carried out beforehand and full of little snippets of historical information such as how much pay a private had or the price of a commission in the British army or the quality of food etc.Out of all the books I would Sharpe's Revenge is the weakest, Sharpe's Waterloo is the best and the last book in the series, Sharpe's Devil, is really a bit pointless and flat in comparison to the other books in the series.

Read this book in 2006, and its the 1st part, chronologically, of the great Richard Sharpe series, from the author, Bernard Cornwell.Set in the year AD 1799, our main protagonist, Richard Sharpe, finds himself in India with the British forces under the tyrannical Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill.When A British Officer gets captured by the Tippoo of Mysore's forces, private soldier Sharpe is called into action to rescue this Officer.As a result of this undertaking Sharpe will enter a dangerous world of the Tippoo, and he will need all his wits and cunning to make this mission a success.What will also feature for Sharpe and the British Army is the Siege of Seringapatam of AD 1799, and where the British will be successful in their endeavour under the leadership of a young Arthur Wellesley, later to become known as Lord Wellington, and other important senior officers.Highly recommended, for this is a great start of a tremendous series, and that's why I like to call this first (chronologically) episode: "A Brilliant Sharpe Seringapatam Adventure"!

My first Sharpe novel and immensely enjoyable. It is lucky that Mr. Cornwell also thinks of Sharpe as Sean Bean but reading this it is impossible to not hear and see them combined. I love the historical background given at the end of the book and Mr. Cornwell is not afraid to admit to his artistic license. I decided to read the Sharpe books in historical order rather than publishing order as I already know of the author's skill as I have also read many of the Last Kingdom series. This historical order allows me to grow with Sharpe and maybe learn some of the history too. A fantastic book.

I'd seen only a couple of the TV shows only recently and though them pretty good though it was obviously shot on a limited budget so the battles were fairly underwhelming, so wasn't sure what to expect from the books.The books are much better than the show and are completely addictive. Begin with private Sharpe in Tiger and you wont be able to stop until you get to Waterloo. The writing is terrific, great sense of time and place with a narrative that drives forward like a breathless cavalry charge though a storm of artillery fire until the explosive end making you hurriedly grab the next book in the series, and giving you that feeling that despite the series being over 20 books you still worry if Sharpe will survive to the end of each chapter.A classic historical adventure series.