I have read your series of books on Sharpe, Starbuck, Arthur, Hookton and Uhtred. And I loved most of them. I also had read some of your shorter stories like “Redcoat” and “Scoundrel”. Your best, to me, was in your Sharpe and Uhtred series. The story is easy to follow, the characters not too numerous to confuse me and there are MAPS to guide the reader along. I gave up reading “Redcoat” and “Scoundrel”, and very nearly gave up reading “Heretic”. The 2nd and 3rd books of the Grail series were good though. I personally felt that they were badly written, when compared against your Sharpe. Far too many characters coming into the plot at one time, and there was too much telling of facts, and not enough character development. Same for the first 200 pages of “Rebel” that I skipped. I jumped straight to the battle of Manassas, where you wrote true to your great form. The rest of your Starbuck books were great, and I didn’t skip the 2nd – 4th book. BTW, I love your Sharpe series very much. I had read most of them at least 3 times, and will continue to re-read them. They have a very high re-read value, as compared to most other books I have read. I am in the midst of writing my own novel, and I am using the quality of your Sharpe and Uhtred novels as a benchmark of quality. I am not a full-time writer, just some guy holding down a regular day job, and writing is just a hobby of mine. Merry Christmas and God-bless, Bernard. Mark