MinDonner Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 I think The Great Game is my favourite, but with so many different parts of the world covered by the series, there's brilliant and fascinating stuff in all of them (eg. the plot of Flashman's Lady may have been a bit weaker, but the Madagascar parts were crazy enough to inspire me to track down some of the source material). Royal Flash I don't really like that much, as it's more about the "characters from other Victorian fiction" than real-world events, and I really wish Fraser had gotten round to writing the books on Australia, Mexico and the US Civil War that were hinted at throughout, but they're all definitely worth a read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 I agree: The Great Game is my favourite as well. Given that we'll never see the Civil War adventure, it's the largest-scaled event Flashman takes part in that we are privy to, certainly the biggest event involving British forces and includes some of the worst atrocities that Flashman witnesses first-hand. It's also the one where he genuinely behaves with bravery (mostly reluctantly) throughout and (for once) deserves the accolades he receives at the end of the book.Bit off topic here, but ASOIAF is the first series of books I've loved anywhere near as much as I loved the Flashman books.It should be noted that GRRM is a huge fan of Fraser and has bigged up the books on his blog many times. He gave Fraser a memorial when he passed away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolverine Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 The series basically follows the career of the bully from Tom Brown's Schooldays, and his various adventures in the British military during the nineteenth century. The protagonist is a very much an anti-hero - Flashman is cowardly, lecherous arsehole who nevertheless always gets out of tight spots through sheer luck (he's not stupid either). Think a first-person memoir written by a luckier Theon Greyjoy and you wouldn't be far wrong.The first book (the best one) opens with his expulsion from Rugby School, and from there you follow him to the First Anglo-Afghan War in 1841. Historical fiction laced with very dark humour.Other books follow him to various other settings: the Indian Mutiny, Custers Last Stand, and so on. The author died before writing about Flashman's American Civil War adventures, which was a real shame.This makes it sound like I would get seriously annoyed by Flashman fairly quickly. Does he have any redeeming qualities?This is something that has been on my Amazon wish list for a while but I just have so much to read already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinDonner Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 He's charming and funny? The memoir style allows him to be entertainingly self-deprecating about his foibles and general arseholeishness (as well as being equally scathing about the politicians and generals of the time), it's not like he's just some whiny coward or anything. Hard not to like the guy even if he is a totally amoral dick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolverine Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 He's charming and funny? The memoir style allows him to be entertainingly self-deprecating about his foibles and general arseholeishness (as well as being equally scathing about the politicians and generals of the time), it's not like he's just some whiny coward or anything. Hard not to like the guy even if he is a totally amoral dick.Sounds like a guy who contradicts his own opinions of himself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinDonner Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 Sounds like a guy who contradicts his own opinions of himself.Not exactly, though there's an element of it - of course the way it's written as a memoir allows Old Flashman to be more jaded and cynical about his arrogant younger self, and be rather scathing about his poor decision-making at the time - and of course there's the fact that the British Empire believes Flashy to be a hero so he has to keep up the pretence, when we all know what actually happened to cause his reputation - but it's not really a contradictory character. He's a charming arsehole with a gift for languages and horseriding, who survived most of the major events of the 19th century through dumb luck and a bit of light backstabbing, and is now gleefully telling us about it. What's not to like? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reposado Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 This makes it sound like I would get seriously annoyed by Flashman fairly quickly. Does he have any redeeming qualities?well he's also quite racist. but like all his negative qualities it only increases how interesting he is. he typically has negative things to say about all ethnicities in general, but ends up greatly admiring individuals from all societies he encounters.He's a charming arsehole with a gift for languages and horseriding,and umm, rogering Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WrathOfTinyKittens Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 He's funny, and he uses fun quaint curses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hill Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 Definitely. They're like Sharpe if Sharpe was a total cad. Very funny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antonius Pius Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 and umm, rogeringAccording to his memoirs, he only has two talents: a gift for languages and horse-riding. Rogering is just a hobby. An obsessive hobby perhaps, but still a hobby. He's also good at cricket, but he had to work very hard at it, so he doesn't consider it a talent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hill Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 Ha! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maltaran Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 According to his memoirs, he only has two talents: a gift for languages and horse-riding. Rogering is just a hobby. An obsessive hobby perhaps, but still a hobby. He's also good at cricket, but he had to work very hard at it, so he doesn't consider it a talent.Really? My recollection was that he considered his skills with women as a third talent alongside the languages and the horses.And the reason he worked so hard at cricket was so that he wouldn't have to play rugby football, in yet another example of his cowardly nature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antonius Pius Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 Really? My recollection was that he considered his skills with women as a third talent alongside the languages and the horses.And the reason he worked so hard at cricket was so that he wouldn't have to play rugby football, in yet another example of his cowardly nature.Yeah, rugby was too rough for him.I believe he says in Flashman's Lady that he only ever had two talents (language and riding), and had to work at cricket. Perhaps in one of the other novels he calls rogering a talent, but AFAIK he doesn't really think about his skill as a lover/seducer, other than simply sizing up his prey the object of his affections and having lots of horny thoughts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arataniello Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 Haha, I was going to provide a couple of links here to the Flashman Society of the UK, and one in Canada. The link to the former is now defunct, and my work firewall has blocked the second as "pornography".What a sad jape (the second point). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delete this account pls Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 Sounds like a guy who contradicts his own opinions of himself.A running theme in the series is the massive hypocrisy of Victorian England and how most of it's military heroes of the time were lecherous drunken bastards, cowards, or complete morons. Flashman's biggest virtue is that he is at least honest about who and what he is, unlike many of his contemporaries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mosi Wanostracht Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 I honestly think the best part of Flashman's Lady is the cricket bit: it really is fascinating to see how the game has changed in a century and a half.This is the only Flashman novel I have read precisely because of the cricket bit! I loved reading about those nineteenth century cricketers like Felix and Alfred Mynn, brought to life on the page. And the origins of the hat-trick ... ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arch-MaesterPhilip Posted August 28, 2012 Author Share Posted August 28, 2012 Haha, I was going to provide a couple of links here to the Flashman Society of the UK, and one in Canada. The link to the former is now defunct, and my work firewall has blocked the second as "pornography".What a sad jape (the second point).It's blocked on my work computer too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanF Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 This makes it sound like I would get seriously annoyed by Flashman fairly quickly. Does he have any redeeming qualities?This is something that has been on my Amazon wish list for a while but I just have so much to read already.The fact that he's an arsehole *is* his chief redeeming quality.Can a man who roasts fags, gets expelled for drunkenness, seduces his father's mistress, cheats at cricket, turns tail on his comrades, steals the glory of better men, sells one girlfriend into slavery, trades in opium, throws another girlfriend off a sled into the snow, serves aboard a slave trader, be all bad? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antonius Pius Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 Can a man who roasts fags, gets expelled for drunkenness, seduces his father's mistress, cheats at cricket, turns tail on his comrades, steals the glory of better men, sells one girlfriend into slavery, trades in opium, throws another girlfriend off a sled into the snow, serves aboard a slave trader, be all bad?Something tells me you're going for "no". :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angalin Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 Haha, I was going to provide a couple of links here to the Flashman Society of the UK, and one in Canada. The link to the former is now defunct, and my work firewall has blocked the second as "pornography".What a sad jape (the second point).The closest thing I could get to a Flashman Society anywhere was on Facebook, with some old scans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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