The Duke of Wellington is preparing to invade Spain , but there’s a little matter of prep work to do first. The Duke needs to separate French forces in northern and southern Spain, which means destroying a bridge deep behind its lines. There’s a guerilla leader in the area who may be of help, so Sharpe is dispatched with an artillery captain to make contact with the guerilla leader and then evaluate the forts protecting the bridge. Sharpe soon discovers that the guerilla leader is a vainglorious ass and worse — he’s more of an enemigo than an amigo. After things go sideways, Sharpe is rescued by his wife, the guerilla leader Teresa, and they begin preparing a plan to somehow disable three fortresses and utterly ruin a bridge. Sharpe’s Command is a fast-moving Napoleonic romp that takes readers back to where the series began, and what’s more, brings back favorite characters like Major Hogan and Teresa. Cornwell knows what he’s doing, bringing his usual strengths to bear: historical details, plenty of humor (dialogue, especially), sharp characters (pun not intended but not avoided), and a nice variety of action from sneaking about to general battle. Some in the BC fan group on facebook commented about some continuity issues with rank, but it’s been so long since I read Sharpe’s Gold and the early Iberian books I didn’t notice it, personally: at any rate, it certainly didn’t hurt the book for me. It was a fast, fun read, wholly consistent with Cornwell’s other books, and with two especially fun characters: a priest-turned warrior, and an eccentric artilleryman. Interestingly, this was published in April and another Sharpe book is coming in October.