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  • Sharpe's Prey: The Expedition to Copenhagen, 1807 (The Sharpe Series, Book 5)

  • By: Bernard Cornwell
  • Narrated by: Rupert Farley
  • Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (1,127 ratings)
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Sharpe's Prey: The Expedition to Copenhagen, 1807 (The Sharpe Series, Book 5) cover art

Sharpe's Prey: The Expedition to Copenhagen, 1807 (The Sharpe Series, Book 5)

By: Bernard Cornwell
Narrated by: Rupert Farley
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Summary

Richard Sharpe is sent to Copenhagen to deliver a bribe to stop the Danes handing over possession of their battle fleet to the French.

It seems very easy. But nothing is easy in a Europe stirred by French ambitions. The Danes possess a battle fleet that could replace every ship the French lost at Trafalgar, and Napoleon's forces are gathering to take it. The British have to stop them, while the Danes insist on remaining neutral.

Dragged into a war of spies and brutality, Sharpe finds that he is a sacrificial pawn. But pawns can sometimes change the game, and Sharpe makes his own rules. When he discovers a traitor in his midst, he becomes a hunter in a city besieged by British troops.

Soldier, hero, rogue - Sharpe is the man you always want on your side. Born in poverty, he joined the army to escape jail and climbed the ranks by sheer brutal courage. He knows no other family than the regiment of the 95th Rifles whose green jacket he proudly wears.

©2001 Bernard Cornwell (P)2014 HarperCollins Publishing Limited

Critic reviews

"Sharpe and his creator are national treasures."( Sunday Telegraph)
"Bernard Cornwell is a literary miracle. Year after year, hail, rain, snow, war and political upheavals fail to prevent him from producing the most entertaining and readable historical novels of his generation." ( Daily Mail)
"Cornwell's narration is quite masterly and supremely well-researched." ( Observer)
"The best battle scenes of any writer I've ever read, past or present. Cornwell really makes history come alive." ( George R.R. Martin)

What listeners say about Sharpe's Prey: The Expedition to Copenhagen, 1807 (The Sharpe Series, Book 5)

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

More of the same both in a good and bad way

Every so often I return to Sharpe books as a fun piece of escapism and sharp relief from my regular diet of non-fiction audiobooks. Having recently listened through the first five books in the series (not the first five written) I have been increasingly struck by how formulaic they can be. They are enjoyable in the way that a quiet night in can be but after a few in quick succession the repetition becomes hard to ignore. On that front Sharpe's Prey could almost be a case study.

Before the complaints let me touch on the positives. As pure escapism in isolation of the series Sharpe's Prey is fine. Richard Sharpe remains a likeable but roguish character and the pace of the romp never slows and the story never lags.

There is, however, the issue of Cornwell's themes that are dangerously close to cliches: the attractive woman who immediately, and somewhat inexplicably, falls in love with Sharpe; the upper class rogue villain who is betraying Sharpe and his country; the interfering officer class who can't see past Sharpe's background; the implausible centrality of Sharpe to any important historical event of the early 19th century.

I realise the last criticism is unfair, the whole point of the series is to explore key historical moments through the avatar of Sharpe but in Sharpe's Prey, and moreso in the risible Sharpe's Trafalgar, it feels like he has been shoehorned somewhere he had no place being rather than naturally following a plausible army career in India and Spain.

All in all I would Sharpe's Prey is fine as a piece of slighly silly escapist fun but I would be wary of overdosing on too much of this series in one go as the flaws in the format become more and more apparent.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

The Action Continues Apace!

This is still one of my favourite series. Sharpe is a fantastic character of high cunning yet simple, often rather base beliefs. The book has plenty of action and the scenes describing the British attack from within the city are excellent. The descriptions of the effect on the city were extremely vivid.Rupert Farley puts in another masterclass as narrator.

Given the subject matter there isn’t much in the way of major battle scenes, this has a bit more of a cloak and dagger theme. Of course being Sharpe this actually transforms into a cloak and seven-barrelled gun theme! Quite how you hide one of them under a cloak is of course open to question if you should choose to . . .

Accusations of the whole thing becoming a little formulaic aren’t totally unfair but this is action and escapism and it is still teaching me about aspects of our history that I wasn’t fully aware of. Five books in and I would still thoroughly recommend this old series to any military history buffs – though of course most will probably have read it already.

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6 people found this helpful

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  • t
  • 15-08-20

Amazing piece of historical writing

Exceptionally well read, impossible to fathom how one person can inspire the image of so many. Superlative skill. And history of which I had no knowledge at all. Fascinating and a decent enough back story. Although a bit predictable with the love interest, as always.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Rupert Farley is a brilliant narrator.

Absolutely first rate narrative that vocalises the characters so if you close your eyes you could see each and every one.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Stunning !

I am working my way through the entire set of Sharpe books. I had read them many years before, in book form, but now I find the audio version quite enthralling. Especial thanks to the brilliant narration, really captivating. Thank you to the team for providing such wonderful entertainment !

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Addictive

Good story, couldn’t wait to get back to it when possible.
The narration by Rupert Farley is absolutely outstanding.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Another fantastic book in the Sharpe series

If however you happen to be danish, you will probably cringe at the pronunciations of all the danish names, street names and the the few passages in danish. But it isn't a major problem, just a source of laughter and slight confusion :D

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Entertaining with brilliant narration

I am churning through the Sharpe series and enjoying the stories but to be honest I am pretty much just throwing money at Rupert Farley to read to me ... I had not come across him before and his style is mesmeric. For Sharpe TV fans his accent is pretty perfect Sean Bean which makes for a comfortable and "right" feeling to the whole thing - nostalgic if you are of my age!

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

War Crimes in Slow Motion

In an excellent series, Sharpe's Prey is by far the weakest of the lot in story and engagement. What might have been an interesting game of cat and mouse is reduced to a slow meander as the listener is forced to endure Britain's worst war crime in agonizing slow motion, and worse - be expected to laud their exploits as heroic. Sharpe's failure to even condemn the horrors he helps perpetrate make it difficult to sympathize with our would be hero, and in the end - nothing is gained or lost. Save perhaps the humanity and moral compass of our protagonist. It would have been better for the author to leave out this episode rather than attempt to frame it in glory, but regardless the performance and narration is superb.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

a bit short on action and slow paced this time

Having loved Trafalga I thought I would go straight into this - unfortunately, it lacked the intensity of the last and I found it a little tiresome at times

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