This is it. After following Richard Sharpe (and, later, Patrick Harper) through 19 novels and the jungles of India, the seas off Trafalgar, the mountains of Spain, it all comes down to this: Waterloo and the final defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte. If you’ve come this far, there’s no way you’re going to miss ‘Sharpe’s Waterloo.’

If this is your first Richard Sharpe novel, welcome. You’re in for turgid prose, repetitive turns of phrase, and simplistic character development. You’re also in for a carefully researched, rousingly told narrative of the Battle of Waterloo, as told from the perspective of a British staff officer whose job, quite fortunately, puts him in the heat of the action at each major turning point of the battle. You could read a history of the battle, sure. But we humans remember stories best of all: you’re best shot at retaining the information lies within these pages.

As a personal reading experience, however, I had difficulty immersing myself in ‘Sharpe’s Waterloo.’ I read it as Russia began its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and it’s hard to thrill to distant battles in the Europe of long ago while people are dying in distant battles in Europe right now. Still, the wheel turns, nations come and go, but books are forever - or as close as we can come. May you, who read this months and years hence, enjoy the distance required to enjoy ‘Sharpe’s Waterloo.’