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quote:“Will you raise your head, mother of discord and ruiner of good food?” says Izzat. “They shaved her scalp, I say, which is why she goes with a turban about her always—for she has kept it shaved, and vowed to do so until she has Engmann’s own head on a plate at her feet. God, the perversity of women! But what can one do about her? She is worth ten heads in the council, she can ride like a Kazak, and is as brave as…as…as I am, by God! If Yakub and Buzurg Khan of Khokand—and I, of course—hold these Russian swine back from our country, it will be because she has the gift of seeing their weaknesses, and showing us how they may be confounded. She is touched by God, I believe—which is why our men admit her, and heed her—and turn their heads aside lest they meet her eye. All save Yakub Beg, who has ever championed her, and fears nothing.” Dope. I want the book with her as the main character, she's clearly protagonist material.
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Sep 6, 2020 03:45
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| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 01:27 |
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Yeah, he'd have been dead his first time out basically. For a guy of his social status in the era, he'd probably have been doing some form of colonial work though. Middle to upper class gentlemen were basically raised and indoctrinated to go out and support the Empire. I think it was mentioned in the analysis of the first book, but those public schools were basically factories for producing semi-expendable drones. I'd actually like to see an alternate universe Flashman where he got shunted into the political service instead of the military. To reference the Cain series, at one point he reminisces about what an idiot the administrator who decided he'd be trained as a commissar was, since Cain views himself as a self serving coward. The footnotes from the Inquisitor editing his manuscript notes that, to the contrary, the administrator must have been very forward thinking.
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Apr 26, 2021 21:31
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I'm far from an expert on the topic, but I think it's been very solid so far. I can't speak to the accuracy of specific points, but I think he's nailed the feeling quite well. That blend of arrogance and stupidity by the British certainly matches other sources I've read.
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May 10, 2021 12:40
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