Sharpe's Tiger - Bernard Cornwell

During Sharpe's Rifles, Sharpe had to describe his military to career to some members of the Church who needed convincing that he was the man to help Blas Vivar. he mentioned killing the Tippoo Sultan, and six of his bodyguards in the process. That sounded pretty damn impressive, and some time later Cornwell got around to writing that story. Which is Sharpe's Tiger.

This book's set in 1799, in India, as the British attempt to oust the Tippoo Sultan. Sharpe is just a private, hoping to marry the half-Indian widow of one of the 33rd's former regiment. Problem: his sergeant, the loathsome Obadiah Hakeswill has already promised to deliver her to a brothel owner who is amongst the caravan following the British army. And he has Captain Morris on his side, because the Captain would like a piece of that.Which means Sharpe gets set up, and sentenced to 2,000 lashes.

Fortunately, he's spared the last 1800 because a spy for the Brits has been captured, and they need to know what he knows about the Sultan's defenses. The spy has a cousin prepared to go, but he's a lieutenant, no hope of passing himself off as a deserting soldier. But he knows Sharpe, trusts his skill (and knows Sharpe is probably innocent of the crime), and gets him roped in to help. Sharpe agrees on the condition he makes sergeant if he lives, and off they go.

From there, it's a matter of doing whatever is necessary to convince the Tippoo Sultan they will be loyal to him, while trying to figure out what the British need to know, and how to get the information to them. Failing that, Sharpe and Lawford, will have to devise some way of putting the kibosh on the Tippoo Sultan's plans themselves.

The killing didn't quite go as I expected it would. Sharpe was more cleverly opportunistic, while I had been expecting him to simply hack and slash his way through the guards. Well, he never did describe how he killed them. My fault for assuming. Sharpe's speech is a tad coarser in this than in Sharpe's Rifles. He uses bastard a lot regardless, but this time there were a lot more "bloody"s, and "bugger"s and such. I don't know if Cornwell did that to show that Sharpe refined how he talked as he rose the ranks, or he just felt like adding more swears.

One thing I've been mulling over is Mary, the widow Sharpe was sweet on. She ends up meeting someone else in Sriringapatna (that's how it's spelled in the historical notes, but not in the story itself), but she remarks on how she didn't feel as though she fit anywhere else. The British looked askance at her for being half-Indian, and she was considered an outsider by the caste system, and so didn't have a place there. But she married into a Hindu family living in India, so wouldn't the caste issues remain? Or does she have a place once she's married into a family? Either way, her presence felt a little plot convenient, where she would sort of drop from the mind when she wasn't needed for some critical role. Which seems odd, considering she was the whole reason Sharpe wound up flogged and taking the mission in the first place.

Hakeswill is a truly impressive villain. Not because he's especially good at being evil, but because he's good at inspiring hatred. He has not one redeeming quality in him. He's sexist, racist, cruel, conniving, cowardly, murdering, ass-kissing, falsely pious piece of garbage. He reminds me of Cartman, in his capacity for self-preservation, and his unwillingness to ever pass up a chance to kick a man while he's down. That he survives is an immense disappointment, albeit one I knew to expect because I saw his name on the back cover of some of the later Peninsular Wars books. Sharpe could have saved everyone a lot of trouble had he just shot him, but noooo, he had to be a Fancy Dan about it.

Anyway, Sharpe's Tiger is a very fast-paced book. Even when there's no fighting, there's always something happening, Plotting, intrigue, characters worrying about their intriguing plots being discovered. Or I'm learning something about the Tippoo Sultan, who sounds like a pretty interesting guy. I have to feel bad for the Hindu residents of the land. Get out from under a Muslim ruler (albeit one who was smart enough not to mess with their religious practices) and his French buddies, wind up under the British. Trading one form of outside rule for another doesn't sound like much of an improvement.