Book #51: Napoleon's Run

Taking me into the second half century of books before the halfway point of the year is another new book, one which I picked up from the market in Gosport. There's a really good book stand, where you can get new books (and quite a few are recent releases) for a deal of 3 for £10. I don't want to ask where they're from, but who cares, it's paper and ink!

So here we have it, Napoleon's Run by Jonathan Spencer. Three things drew me to it. Firstly, the awesome looking cover, secondly it's set in the Napoleonic Wars, and thirdly, at the top/on the back cover it says "Better than Sharpe". Now that's a ringing endorsement if ever I heard one. And so I just had to try it. Sharpe is well up there for historical fiction, so for it to be 'better' would be brilliant.

I'm not going to lie... it wasn't better than Sharpe. It wasn't even on a par with Sharpe in my eyes. I felt a bit let down after reading it. I don't know what it was about it, but I just didn't really enjoy the book.

The storyline was okay and easy to follow, but it was just a bit flat. The action scenes when they did happen didn't. I felt a bit disconnected from it all.

I didn't really like the main character, William Hazzard, I thought he was a bit of a dick to be honest. Yes, he's a decent enough officer and had a strong rapport with his men who would follow him into the very gates of hell, but he just wasn't very likeable in my opinion.

Overall, it's a rare book that I didn't enjoy. I'd think hard about whether or not I'd want to read the second book. But having struggled my way through the majority of the book, I'm not sure whether I will. Who knows though!

Napoleon's Run: 2.5cm

Total Read so far: 51 Books, 153cm

Total left to read: 40cm