Starbuck Chronicles

[CMWinkler]

I, too, await his return to the Civil War.

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

I've been a Cornwell fan for well over twenty years. I ate up each Sharpe novel as it was published and the same with the Starbuck novels. I've been waiting a long time for him to return to our Civil war, especially since he moved to the USA.

His recent book about the American Revolution, The Fort, is excellent. It's not a "hero" type novel as are the Sharpe and Starbuck series, but it was riveting to me - and enlightening, especially in regards to one of the great American folk-heroes. (No name, I can't be a spoiler.)

Finally, I have to say that Cornwell's works have been one of the primary standards I have held my own Civil War novels up against, even more in my second book (as yet untitled and not quite finished) than in the first one.

Redcoat, is another of his works set during the American Revolution. It's an excellent book that presents the Revolution from the English infantryman's perspective.

 

[Susquehanna River Rat]

Speaking of the "Saxon Chronicles", I am in Germany right now and there are the earthwork remains of a small fortress right around the corner from me that date back to the 11th Century (which I believe was around the same time period as the books)
..oh, and also the circular earthworks that were once a small Roman outpost with a high guard tower.

 

[thomas aagaard]

Saxon Chronicles takes place in the 9th century.

 

[Dave Wilma]

Huzzah for the work of Bernard Cornwell including the Starbuck Chronicles. N.B. the author admits taking some artistic license with some historical events so be prepared for some intentional error. He wraps up the history and his departures in the afterward of each book. Cornwell said that he dropped Starbuck because he was becoming another Sharpe. I started one of his series on medieval England and it was wonderfully done, but I could not engage the era.

If you want a real treat try the audio books of the Sharpe series. It is done by an English actor who manages the flavor and accents of the British Army and even women. I found these through my local public library and downloaded them for three weeks to my device.

What I liked about Starbuck is how he, the character, found his allegiance not in any grand issue like states' rights or slavery, but his loyalty to his fellow soldiers. I think Cornwell nailed Johnny Reb quite well.

 

[Susquehanna River Rat]

Saxon Chronicles takes place in the 9th century.

Oops! Memory failed me. You're right, It ended with the beginning of the 10th Century. I was somehow thinking of the year 1000.
this is one of the pics I took of it.

 

[Corpbob]

Agincourt is another great historical novel written by Bernard Cornwell. My favorite excluding the Sharpe series. The novel relates the events leading to the 1415 Battle of Agincourt, through the eyes of an English longbowman named Nicholas Hook. Supposedly being made into a movie in time for the 600th anniversary of the battle in October 2015.

 

[CMWinkler]

Agincourt is another great historical novel written by Bernard Cornwell. My favorite excluding the Sharpe series. The novel relates the events leading to the 1415 Battle of Agincourt, through the eyes of an English longbowman named Nicholas Hook. Supposedly being made into a movie in time for the 600th anniversary of the battle in October 2015.

A great book.

 

[IcarusPhoenix]

To be honest - and speaking as a huge fan of everything he's ever done, to the point where I use the British Amazon to pre-order every Cornwell book so I can get them before their US release - I find Starbuck to be Cornwell's weakest work, and I think that it was in part his transformation into "another Sharpe", and in part because it was the weakest-researched of his works. While he portrayed the battles themselves accurately enough, he seriously Europeanized the philosophies of the armies themselves, and he didn't quite have a flair for writing Americans yet.

Incidentally, Cornwell will be releasing his first non-fiction book, Waterloo, in September.

 

[Lt R. Blackwell 4th Texas]

They're decent books but ultimately dissapointing because he abandonned the series. He hasn't release one since 1996. They exist in the same universe as the Sharpe series the proof of which is the presence of Sharpe's son, a French Colonel on an observation mission, and I enjoyed them when I read them years ago. From what I recall they're very much follow the typical Cornwell formula of fictional male protagonist gets involved in a war and plays a central but role in events, has a few significant enemies he has to defeat, makes some interesting friends and always ends up in the arms of a beautiful girl or two along the way - and, if its anything like the Sharpe series, any younger officer who gets close to the main protagonist always dies. Anyway, I read them once and enjoyed them, I might dust them off one of my bookshelves and read them again and enjoy them, and I'd read any new ones in the series and probably enjoy them as well, but whether they could be considered amungst the best of the fiction based around the Civil War I could not judge.

So the French Colonel is Sharpe's son? Wow. I never got that - where is it revealed?

 

[Lt R. Blackwell 4th Texas]

Speaking of the "Saxon Chronicles", I am in Germany right now and there are the earthwork remains of a small fortress right around the corner from me that date back to the 11th Century (which I believe was around the same time period as the books)
..oh, and also the circular earthworks that were once a small Roman outpost with a high guard tower.

They might need that fort when Putin comes marching in.

 

[Lt R. Blackwell 4th Texas]

To be honest - and speaking as a huge fan of everything he's ever done, to the point where I use the British Amazon to pre-order every Cornwell book so I can get them before their US release - I find Starbuck to be Cornwell's weakest work, and I think that it was in part his transformation into "another Sharpe", and in part because it was the weakest-researched of his works. While he portrayed the battles themselves accurately enough, he seriously Europeanized the philosophies of the armies themselves, and he didn't quite have a flair for writing Americans yet.

Incidentally, Cornwell will be releasing his first non-fiction book, Waterloo, in September.

I agree.
My only beef with Cornwell is that he has very dim view of humanity. Most of the major characters are self-serving, greedy, arrogant, and amoral. Life was obviously difficult, but when you read the letters and diaries of the soldiers I think the vast majority of them were patriotic, family-oriented, and generally held strong religious beliefs. In short, they were heroic. Otherwise the war would not have lasted four years.

 

[FarawayFriend]

So the French Colonel is Sharpe's son? Wow. I never got that - where is it revealed?

I don't know where you can find it in the book but here is proof from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharpe_(novel_series) :

Although unable to marry while Jane lives, Sharpe settles with Lucille on her family estate in Normandy and raises two children, Patrick-Henri, who becomes a French Cavalry Officer (and a character in Bernand Cornwell's The Starbuck Chronicles), and Dominique, who ultimately marries an English aristocrat.
By 1861, Patrick-Henri, then a colonel in the Imperial Guard Cavalry observing the Union and Confederate armies during the American Civil War, mentions that his mother is "very lonely" so it may be assumed that Sharpe has died sometime before that date.

 

[Lt R. Blackwell 4th Texas]

I don't know where you can find it in the book but here is proof from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharpe_(novel_series) :

Although unable to marry while Jane lives, Sharpe settles with Lucille on her family estate in Normandy and raises two children, Patrick-Henri, who becomes a French Cavalry Officer (and a character in Bernand Cornwell's The Starbuck Chronicles), and Dominique, who ultimately marries an English aristocrat.
By 1861, Patrick-Henri, then a colonel in the Imperial Guard Cavalry observing the Union and Confederate armies during the American Civil War, mentions that his mother is "very lonely" so it may be assumed that Sharpe has died sometime before that date.

Thank you! but Sharpe can never die!

 

[FarawayFriend]

Thank you! but Sharpe can never die!

Very well said!!
I agree 100%.

 

[Nytram01]

So the French Colonel is Sharpe's son? Wow. I never got that - where is it revealed?

It's been a long time since I've read the book so I cant give you exact referance points. I do remember reading it an recognizing he was Sharpe's son but I cant remember exactly why.

Googling it quickly I find this website http://sharpecompendium.net/cast.html#L - a Sharpe fansite - that writes:

Name:
Henri Patrick Lassan aka Patrick Lassan
Viscount Seleglise of the Duchy of Normandy
Occupation:
Observer for the French Government of the American Civil War.
Rank:
Chasseur Colonel of the Imperial Guard
Brevet General during the Austrian Wars
Place of Origin:
Normandy, France
Appearances:
Sharpe's Waterloo, Devil (Books)
Sharpe's Ransom (Short Story)
Copperhead, Battleflag (The Starbuck Books)
Story Contribution
The bastard son of an English rifleman and a French aristocrat, born shortly before the battle of Waterloo and named for his father's Irish best friend. Patrick is tall like his father, with his mother's dark, thin face. Choosing the French Calvary over the British Rifles (and breaking his father's heart in the process), he became an officer cadet at St Cyr in 1832, Patrick has served in the Crimea and Austrian wars, amongst others, as a advisor to the American Confederate Army and though very handsome and charming, and very much the rogue, his face shows the marks of these wars. He has a scar from a Russian sabre on his right cheek, a scar where an Austrian rifle bullet broke his left jaw and a Cossack bullet took out his left eye. Nevertheless the adventurous Lassan is never short of female companionship, though his father disagreed with his taste in women.​

 

[Lt R. Blackwell 4th Texas]

That's a clever twist from Cornwell. Thanks!

 

[Nytram01]

I have just spent the day reading through Rebel, the first in the series, and my main thoughts beyond just how much I enjoyed the story was how much I enjoyed the character of Thaddeus Bird. Both these fact make me look forward to re-reading the sequels and upset that Cornwell had written any more in the series.

 

[thomas aagaard]

That's a clever twist from Cornwell. Thanks!

His Azincourt (that natually takes place in 1415) book also mention Thomas of hookton( who fought at Crecy and Poitiers...) as one of the famos archers who was knigted and recived some land...

 

[jay gale]

Yes, an old post but I just recently found out about this series. I really got addicted to Bernard Cornwells "Saxon Chronicles" and knowing a bit about Vikings (Northmen) I think he did an awesome job on the reality of it.
Now that I found out about the "Starbuck Chronicles", I am definately going to read them, too.
....after the new Saxon Chronicle" book of course....

Thanks for the info here ya'll................

Just finished reading the latest in the Saxon Chronicles, The Pagan Lord.....can't wait for the next one.

If you like Cornwell's writing and I do, having read the entire Sharpes series and most of his standalone novels, I recommend his three book series on the King Arthur legend......really good.

Now, maybe it's just me....and maybe it's just that I live in the Seattle area, but I have just had a lot of trouble wrapping my head around a series of books on the Civil War where the main character is named after a coffee chain.....one more of my many quirks I guess.