I loved Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin books. Are Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe books as good?
I’ve been renting the Sharpe DVDs from Netflix, and I am enjoying them so far. I do wish they had subtitles.
Personally, I like both series. O’Brian is a better writer, IMO, and I like the growth and scope of his books more than Cornwell’s. But Sharpe has its moments, and is worth the read.
The Sharpe books are very different, but I still like them. I revel in O’Brian’s love of the language, and rollick in Cornwell’s adventurous plots.
How about the Horatio Hornblower novels?
Also good. Not as good as O’Brian, but good.
Also good, although I can’t read them without wanting to grab the eponymous Captain by the shoulders and give him a thorough shake.
Remember that C. S. Forester pretty well invented the “ British Naval Officer’s Career in the Age of Nelson” stories and that his protagonist is an Everyman filled with insecurities and self doubts. Forester was plowing new ground in the Hornblower stories. He certainly anticipated the O’Brien novels even though each of the Hornblower books was complete of its self, and some times made up of a series of loosely connected short stories. There is a little bit of that Hornblower self doubt and anxiety in the first of the Aubrey-Maturin stories, Master and Commander (the book, not the movie). Forester also anticipated the Sharpe stories with his Rifleman Dodd and The Gun. While never the wordsmith O’Brien was, Forester certainly was a better writer than poor old Dudley Pope. Forester’s best, however, was The Good Shepard, about the Battle of the North Atlantic and convoy duty in WWII.
My agèd father (his own words I assure you) is an avid reader of both and I can imagine his reply “Hhm, yes, well it’s difficult isn’t it - they’re both very different”. He’ll read out as many passages from one as the other.
Personally I’m a Sharpe gal and can’t recommend it/him enough (& not just because of do Sean Bean’s glorioulsy earthy accent - local to where I was brought up so no subtitles for me 
)
I haven’t read any O’Brien myself so I can’t compare but as racinchikki says the Sharpe books are rollicking good yarns - there is a lot of good dialogue
Wellington Where the devil’s Sharpe ?
Nairn I’ll be damned if I know sir
Wellington You’ll be damned if you don’t find out Nairn !
and they are in the most part historically accurate - at the end of each book there is an Author’s Note specifying the historical incidents and real people which inspired that particular book and outlining the liberties taken for the sake of ‘story’, IIRC he’ll also point you towards books he used as his sources.
But … read them in the order they were written Eleanor of Aquitaine . Cornwell has tried to find success with a couple of other series but nothing has matched the popularity of Sharpe and so he has written prequels - set in India and on the way home - which although as historically accurate seem a tad forced/formulaic as far as the storylines go.
Hope you enjoy them.
Thanks, Cat Jones. I bought Sharpe’s Eagle yesterday. I think that was the first one he wrote. I would rather read a series in the order they were written, rather than the “chronological” order.
I love Sean Bean’s accent in the Sharpe videos - even if sometimes I have to rewind and listen again to catch what he said. 
O’Brien is by far the best of the bunch. But Cornwell isn’t bad at all. I discovered Cornwell after O’Brian’s death, when I realized that there weren’t going to be any more Aubrey/Maturin novels.
If you’re a fan of late eighteenth/early nineteenth century naval stuff, I’m reading Dewey Lamdin right now. He’s not bad. O’Brian was infinitely better. Cornwell is better (yes, I know it’s not naval stuff). Dudley Pope is terrible. Forrester pretty much invented the genre with his Hornblower series, so he’s worth a look.
Finally, I absolutely loved the film Master and Commander. I’m aware that there are a series of television movies out there featuring Richard Sharpe, but I haven’t seen any of them yet.
The Aubrey/Maturin books are wonderfully written. The Sharpe books are competent page turners, but they’re not as well written and the later ones tend to be formulaic. Worth reading, but not, maybe, worth rereading the way the O’Brien books are.
I was dissapointed that Lewrie went from being a Flashman like character to a King’s Officer.