Fun With Dick and Jane...um, I mean, Sharpe's Regiment (Book #69)

Sharpe's Regiment (Bernard Cornwell, 1986) is a departure from the rest of the series in that it's set almost entirely in England, with only bookending scenes in Spain and France with Wellington's army. It's good--all Sharpe books are good--but I don't think it'll go down as one of my favorites. This is the one where he marries Jane Gibbons, you see, and knowing from the movies how that'll turn out, I can't STAND her. Pretty-pretty little b*tch. Reading it, I found myself wanting to throttle Sharpe, because he's so much more besotted with her than he ever was with Teresa, and Teresa is worth ten Janes. Maybe a hundred. Teresa RULES. If I'd written this series, Teresa would probably be the protagonist and Sharpe the love interest. But, you know, it's NOT mine, so I have to live with what BC actually wrote. And he's one of my favorite authors, both to read and to learn from at conferences--just a brilliant snarky guy. So I'll let him write his books his way. I guess it speaks for the quality of the storytelling that I can get so angry at the behavior of fictional people, when it comes down to it. But still. Jane is a b*tch and Sharpe is an idiot.