|
I don't know that Flashman is "omni-competent" - while he has a lot of skills, he's also bad at a lot of stuff. He repeatedly notes that he's a "strong swordsman, rather than a good one", and he loses whenever he goes up against a good swordsman. He's deeply ignorant of politics and art, and he's got no real skill for commanding troops (which is a pretty big fault in a soldier. I think it's also notable that Fraser goes out of his way to show us that Flashman works hard to develop the skills that he thinks will be useful - studying languages in his free time, seeking out proper sword training, getting someone to teach him how to be a good lancer, and so forth. Flashman clearly enjoys learning - there's a line of his that goes something like "time spent watching men who are good at their work is never wasted" - it's just that he's not interested in learning about anything he doesn't care about.
|
#
¿
Sep 28, 2019 18:49
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 18:12 |
|
|
Genghis Cohen posted:I always thought that was one of the more obviously pulpy plot hooks in the series. The villainous Ruskis hatching their dastardly schemes even discuss the fact that there are British officers staying who may find out what's going on. But for some incredibly stupid reason they decide that doesn't matter. It's been a couple years since I read the series, but I believe that was the whole point - the "plans" they were discussing were phony. They wanted Flashman & East to escape, carrying misinformation.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 13, 2020 19:33
|
|
|
Yeah, I was deeply unimpressed with The Reavers, Captain In Calico, and The Pyrates, but I quite liked Black Ajax. Frasier was a brilliant satirist, but less skilled at farce. I had the same problem with the Royal Flash movie - it leaned way too far into farce. However, his non-fiction history of the reavers, The Steel Bonnets, was quite good...if a little biased. At one point, he describes a massacre of about 200 Scotsmen, all members of criminal clans, as "one of the most comprehensive and cruel examples of race persecution in British history".
|
|
#
¿
Jun 26, 2022 02:26
|
|