|
Selachian posted:(Flashman drops a couple of references in the early going of this book to having taken part in the Second Anglo-Sikh War, which ran from April 1848 through March 1849. This is the same rough time frame as the last section of Royal Flash and Flash for Freedom!, so there's no way Flashy could have been involved – in particular, the battle of Chillianwala, which he mentions above, was January 13, 1849, around the same time that Flashy was arriving in Memphis with Cassy. Either Flashman is exaggerating his accomplishments for his papers, despite his promise to be completely honest, or Fraser didn't look closely enough at his notes. I only remember two major continuity errors in these books (though it's been decades since I read most of them), our recent acquaintance Mrs. Mandeville being one. In Flash For Freedom he mentions that he meets her again in the Civil War, but then he brings her back in Angel of the Lord. The other being Uncle Bindley who in one book is of the Flashman stock and hates the hoity-toity Paget side of Harry's family, while in another book he is a Paget who can't stand the common Flashman side.
|
#
¿
Aug 7, 2020 11:28
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 12:12 |
|
|
The descriptions of the battle coming up are some of the funniest poo poo in the entire series.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 10, 2020 08:27
|
|
|
Selachian posted:Over the course of the Papers, Flashy drops some hints about spending time out West after the US Civil War, including being Wild Bill Hickok's deputy in Kansas, but that's another part of his life that Fraser never got around to writing up. IIRC the closest we get is Flashy rolling into Deadwood (following Little Bighorn) on the day Wild Bill dies.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 29, 2020 11:01
|
|
|
Beefeater1980 posted:This is one of the best of the series, for my money. Also Flashie always at his best when he’s pretending to be a bluff simple soldier. I honestly don't know why, but this one never connected with me that well. Maybe it's because the subject matter is so grim (once the actual mutiny starts) that the humour kind of seems out of place? I mostly remember it for getting extra credit on an exam for something I stole from this book. I really hope we get to the next one as Flashman's Lady is easily my favourite book in the series.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 19, 2021 10:05
|
|
|
Marshal Radisic posted:Harry mentions that his (legitimate) son Harry Jr. ends up becoming a bishop, so I think the assumption is that wee Havvy attempted to bowdlerize his dad's memoirs with an eye to publication sometime after Harry's death in 1915, but soon gave up on the project and locked the memoirs away in a chest that eventually wound its way into George MacDonald Fraser's hands in the late 1960s. It definitely isn't Harry. I want to say it might have been one of Elspeth's sisters?
|
|
#
¿
Apr 26, 2021 09:35
|
|
|
How are u posted:Wow, that guy led an extraordinary life. Wait until we meet Josiah Harlan.
|
|
#
¿
May 5, 2021 09:16
|
|
|
Really hope this continues. I'd say the next three books are still peak Flashman before the series starts to slip. Flashman's Lady is probably my overall favourite. It's much lighter and more fun than this one, with lots of Elspeth and Morrison. It also has more interesting settings that I didn't know anything about prior to reading it. Flashman and the Dragon's setting is fascinating, taking place during what some historians say may be the second most deadly war ever (and no, it's not the opium wars), which almost nobody has heard of. Flashman and the Redskins is more familiar again and IMO not on the level of the other two, but it does contain the single most despicable act of Flashman's career.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 21, 2021 09:36
|
|
|
Genghis Cohen posted:I think F&the Mountain of Light is also pretty drat good. It is, but for me it's clearly a step down from the peak. It just isn't memorable to me the way the best are. What I remember about it is the respect Flashy/Fraser had for the Sikh soldiers (of course those same soldiers would go on to serve the Empire, and their loyalty was one of the main factors for British rule surviving the mutiny). Most memorable is probably a story I read when looking up some of the characters; one of the British officers had 10 kids, then his wife died (gee, I wonder why), so he married the 16 year old daughter of one of his fellow officers and had another 10 kids with her...
|
|
#
¿
Jun 22, 2021 09:09
|
|
|
Trin Tragula posted:"Brougham" is unclear, but may be a queeny cheap shot at the recently-ennobled Lord Brougham, who while serving as Lord Chancellor was one of the chief architects of the Great Reform Act and the Slavery Abolition Act a year later, which would not have endeared him to Flashy one bit. He commissioned the original example of the horse-drawn carriage that was of such use to Sherlock Holmes, and his long association with Cannes helped establish it as a popular resort for Europe's well-heeled. I don't have my books to check, but wasn't Brougham one of Flashy's gambling pals from when he humiliated Bismarck? If so, maybe he is identified better in that book. quote:So winter and spring went by, and then in June I had two letters. One was from my Uncle Bindley at the Horse Guards, to say that negotiations were under way to procure me a lieutenancy in the Household Cavalry; this great honour, he was careful to point out, was due to my Afghan heroics, not to my social desirability, which in his opinion was negligible—he was from the Paget side of our family, you see, and affected to despise us common Flashmans, which showed he had more sense than manners. Uncle Bindley appears (or is mentioned) in several books. I am pretty sure he is noted as being from the Flashman side in at least one appearance.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 2, 2021 13:50
|
|
|
Genghis Cohen posted:How do you mean? Flashman has constant doubts that Elspeth is actually a bit deeper than she seems, at least as far as carrying on affairs behind his back. The journal extracts (you can debate how self-serving they are supposed to be) tend to support she's almost simple, just very sheltered, in a way, in how she sees the world. They don't make her look good, she comes off as petty, vain, silly, self-centred etc, but nowhere near as bad as Flashman. Remember that for all his likeability and acute observations, he is a rapist, murderer and all round sociopath bastard. I'm not sure how much more clear Fraser can make it that her diary entries aren't supposed to be taken at face value than having her sister constantly calling bullshit.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 3, 2021 08:21
|
|
|
TheGreatEvilKing posted:Didn't Flashy catch Elspeth with Lord Haw Haw in another book? Probably. There's enough doubt that he decides to let it go (plus of course, Elspeth is the one with the money).
|
|
#
¿
Sep 7, 2021 08:06
|
|
|
Elspeth's finest hour coming up.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 23, 2021 11:52
|
|
|
Undead Hippo posted:The move feels driven more by narrative than character. That's exactly what I was going to say. This doesn't feel like something Flashy would do (in this situation), but something Fraser needs to drive the plot.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 29, 2022 10:41
|
|
|
Keep Mrs. Mandeville in mind as this is one of the few outright mistakes Fraser (or Flashy?) makes in the series.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 14, 2022 10:46
|
|
|
Beefeater1980 posted:He’s the villain in these books. Flashman’s a monster, and the author tells us that in so many words several times. He’s just an entertaining monster, so it’s hard to dislike him as much as the character deserves. He's generally not THE villain of the book, he's usually facing someone worse. Also as the series progresses it's noticeable he goes from villain who steals glory to being heroic, just not willingly.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 13, 2022 14:44
|
|
|
I have no problem with the twist in theory, but I feel the execution really isn't up to Fraser's usual standards. My theory has always been that he came up with it while writing the second book (Flashman and the Redskins is very much two books released together), and for whatever reason didn't want to change anything significant in the first one so he just added a few lines, leaving the betrayal extremely poorly motivated. He also doesn't actually explain any of her physical changes, just points them out. Maybe she went to Brazil for plastic surgery...
|
|
#
¿
Oct 12, 2022 12:59
|
|
|
Genghis Cohen posted:Yeah, perception of someone's height is one of the most change-able things about them in my experience. We all know people we think of as taller or shorter than they actually are. Sure, but not to this extent. Cleonie is mentioned as being medium height, which in the 1870s is something like 155 cm while Candy is near 6 foot so around 180cm. That is an absolutely massive difference.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 17, 2022 08:46
|
|
|
FMguru posted:Dragon might be my favorite of all the Flashman novels. Extremely evocative of a world and setting (Qing dynasty China) that I knew absolutely nothing about before picking up the book. Plus, you get to learn about one of history's most amazing (yet almost entirely unmentioned) grand atrocities and meet one of history's weirdest characters. I'm very much looking forward to this! Seconded, although Flashman's Lady might be my favourite, this is right up there, for the reasons you mention. I'm very much looking forward to the reactions to some of the real world history in this one. Norwegian Rudo fucked around with this message at 11:42 on Mar 6, 2023 |
|
#
¿
Mar 6, 2023 11:40
|
|
|
Beefeater1980 posted:Parliament or Prison. Lambeth Palace is the residence of the head of the Church of England, so he's suggesting Josiah will either be Archbishop of Canterbury or in prison.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 8, 2023 11:28
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 12:12 |
|
|
Man, I miss Arbite...
|
|
#
¿
Jan 24, 2024 10:37
|
|