Book reviews - "The Flashman Series" by George MacDonald Fraser

A personal reminisce - I first got on to the Flashman novels after reading a terrific book, Hollywood History of the World by George MacDonald Fraser. This was a light hearted (but soundly fact-based) look at how Hollywood has portrayed history over the years, from ancient times onwards. I wanted to read more by the author and the blurb on the back said Fraser was "author of the Flashman novels" - as if I was supposed to know what that meant. Eventually I found out, gave them a read, and loved them.

I'd never read Tom Brown's School Days but Flashman was the bully who tormented Tom Brown until getting kicked out of school. Fraser was attracted to the character, showing a sly preference for scoundrels that is kind of bewildering in light of the author's recent emergence as an"angry old man" at the decline of values (eg Light's On at Signpost), but we won't get into that here. Even though Flashman was a coward,Fraser elected to send him into the army, thereby enabling Fraser to indulge in his passion of historical adventure. He loved Sabatini, and like Sabatini the Flashman novels would weave their fiction around historically sound backgrounds. He based Flashman partly on Errol Flynn- not so much the Flynn of Captain Blood but the Flynn of My Wicked, Wicked Ways - lecherous, unscrupulous, cruel, funny.

The first Flashman spends its first section on setting up our character - his expulsion from Rugby, his home life, entry into the army(the inherent corruption of this is vividly portrayed), social life in London (even though Victoria was new on the throne it took a while for her morality to clamp down so things were still wild and woolly), fighting a duel, getting involved in an industrial riot, being shanghaied into marriage to the beautiful but dim Elspeth. The introduction of Elspeth particularly leads one to believe Fraser was already thinking even at this stage of a long running series.

The rest of the book mostly centers around our hero's adventures in the first Anglo-Afghan War - rather, the second part of it, after the British had fought a tough campaign to occupy Kabul, which resulted in a disastrous retreat. I was not familiar with this battle (such is the glory of the Flashman novels, shedding light on many little known episodes of 19th century history) but it makes vivid reading - the hellish retreat from Kabul, thousands freezing to death of being massacred. (This retreat is popular among writers attracted to stories about imperial super powers humbled by the third world: Ron Blair and Tony Kutcher both wrote play son it. The second Afghan War and the Russians in the 1980s showed the same thing as did the Allies in 2002 - its totally easy to invade Afghanistan but impossible to occupy it permanently).

There are some thrilling sequences which highlight what a first rate"action" story teller Fraser is - the death of Sekundar Burnes, the murder of McNaughten, the entire retreat, the battle in a Fort, the final conflict at Jallalabad (Flashman sees the last stand at Gandamack but its from a distance so this doesn't have the impact).

The "duel"sequence highlights another skillful aspect of Fraser's writing - his ability to convey a "sporting event" (which he presumably honed during his reporting days). The historical background to the British in Afghanistan is well done, but even better is reporting on what life was like in the days before disaster struck. There is humour throughout,notably in the sketches of people Flashman meets (often real people)like Lady Sale, Elphinstone and his father in law.

Two things from this novel which should be mentioned.

Firstly, Flashman's character is a lot harder than it would become in later novels - he actually smacks around Judy, his father's mistress, when she won't sleep with him again (Judy subsequently gets her own back on him but it's still pretty rough). He rapes a woman - Nareem (there are some"mitigating" factors - he says it's the only time in his life he did this, Nareem is a nasty piece of work who later tries to torture him to death [removal of genitals is implied], but still rape is pretty full on for the hero). During the final battle Flashman just sulks and sobs in his bed and moans and cries - in later episodes he would still be terrified but the terror was more internal.

Secondly, Fraser is fairly withering about British society of the time - the British army is shown to be hopeless, corrupt and incompetent, lording it over the natives in India, being totally given the run around by the Afghans, run by aimless buffoons who cause great damage like Elphinstone, or vile creatures like Cardigan; only a few officers like Colin McKenzie are shown to have any sort of spunk. At home, British society is full of mill owners who oppress the poor, who in turn want to riot. There is talk of the "lying rot" about Britons being superior to followers. Fraser later became very right wing and harsh on the way Britain and the Western world had decayed - but he's jaundiced on his view of 19th century Britain (his attitude did change - just read Flashman on the March by way of comparison).

But it is a very good read. By the end of all the fighting you are exhausted. Flashman's fame is a lovely end, as is the sting in the tale of suspecting Elspeth may have been unfaithful (which we never find out- a device which I thought would be tiring but actually is effective). A worthy start to the series, only marred by the rape and assault (which weren't really needed, I don't think).

Film rights for Flashman were bought up and Richard Lester tried to make a film out of it but was unable to get funding in the wake of the collapse in the British film industry at the end of the 60s. Lester subsequently teamed with Fraser on the Three Musketeers films which were a great success and led to Lester making a film from Royal Flash, the second in the series. This was presumably picked as the story was a bit more self contained and cheap to make - Flashman would have required bunches of extras and what not. Also the basic story of Royal Flash had been used before, very successfully, as The Prisoner of Zenda.

The transplant of Zenda was fairly strong in Royal Flash - the plot was lifted wholesale, including characters. However, it is not a mere copy - Fraser very cleverly inserts the story into the context of Danish-Prussian politics at the time. The whole Flashman-happens-to-be-identical-to-a-prince is inherently far fetched,but once you buy that it's fine. And Fraser puts his own spin on the matter. Lola Montez is a lot of fun as Flashman's short-term paramour(surely being beaten by hairbrushes was taken from My Wicked Wicked Ways"? Or maybe Errol Flynn pinched it off Lola?)

NB Flashman would say in later novels Lola Montez was one of the great loves of his life, but you don't get that here at all. Bismark is a worthy adversary, and Dutchess Irma is fun. The final battle is very exciting and it is a marvellous romp. Fraser seems to have become particularly attached to Rudi von Sternberg and often had Flashman reminisce about him in later novels (like he did with John Charity Spring) - I have the feeling the author would have liked to have brought him back in another adventure but he wrote himself out of that at the end of this book.

(Just trying to remember the film version of Royal Flash, I think it was sunk mostly from Malcolm McDowell's casting as Flashman, he just wasn't right - too spindly and wimpy. Nor did Alan Bates have the necessary style for Rudi, or Florinda Balkan as Lola, and Richard Lester's direction was too jokey - the excitement in the novel was missed. However, some of it was spot on - Joss Ackland has a Danish freedom fighter, Oliver Reed as Bismark, Britt Ekland in perhaps her best performance as Irma, Bob Hoskins as a police officer. I would love to see another bash at an on screen Flashman.)

The third Flashman, Flash for Freedom, kept up the high quality. Flashman takes on slave trading and has some truly exciting adventures on a slave ship and up the Mississippi. For all Flashman's purported indifference to slavery, Fraser's portrayal of it is Hellish (ditto his depiction of life under King Gezo of the Dahomeys). There's some great stuff here - Flashman along the underground railroad, finding out he's going to be sold as a slave (in fact there could have been more of this), the final tense pursuit involving slavers - this is really thrilling - and the sketch of Abe Lincoln. Most of all there is the climactic court room case where Flashman is totally trapped but manages to get out of a tight spot by sheer will power - this is Fraser at his most brilliant (along with sporting events, he was very good with trials). Flashman pretty much does the right thing a lot in this one(however unwillingly) - although he does leave Cassie to the slavers!John Charity Spring is a vivid character and Fraser would refer to him often in subsequent adventures, making his eventual re-appearance in Flashman and the Angel of the Lord no surprise.

Fraser had great fondness for Flashman at the Charge because of one moment in particular - when he throws Valla into the snow. This is Flashman at his most roguishly likeable - Valla is a rich bitch Russian aristocrat so we don't care, he's in peril at the time and she's going to live so it's not that bad (it's a long way from him raping someone, for instance). The book falls into two parts - the first one leading up to the Charge of the Light Brigade, which Flashman ends up causing, then gets caught up in. It's a powerful sequence - and Fraser allows Flashman to get serious about it for a bit (when he talks of true courage being"for nothing" - like the charge was). Everything before that is good,too - the war fever of the 1850s, the horror and incompetence of the Crimea - it's very strong stuff.

The second half shifts the action to Russia and - in a brilliant leap of imagination - Flashman winds up repelling a Russian invasion of India. This section is just as good,too, with Flashman meeting up with various rogues and actually being brave (though it's through being poisoned with hashish - a lovely touch).When Fraser talks about his influences he normally mentions adventure novelists such as Sabatini, Jeffrey Farnol and old movies. He rarely talks about sex, which the Flashman novels have a fair bit of (cf the MacAulsen stories which have none).

Flashman at the Charge is the sexiest of the Flashman's, with some genuinely erotic scenes - the vision of Elspeth wearing nothing but feathers is very vivid, Flashman's seduction by Aunt Irma in the steam bath is downright hot; having sexwith Valla in the sled pretty good too, ditto having it off with the bald "Silk One". An enjoyable history lesson and highly entertaining romp.

Flashman and the Great Game is, for my money, the classic of the series. In Hollywood History of the World Fraser suggested that filmmakers steered clear of making movies about the Indian Mutiny because of the subject's "obvious hazards" - but to my mind he totally licks them here, coming up with a story that is about one man's tale of survival and shows the cruelty, bravery and buffoonishness on both sides. This would work as a straight action script and I think if they were ever to make another Flashman movie they should pick this one. It has the most "wholistic" story line since Royal Flash - even more than that, in fact, with Flashman being given a mission just like James Bond and going off to save the day. The Rhani of Jansi is brilliantly sketched, a true star part if there ever was one, and I love the twist which hints she may not have slept with Flashman. Then he goes undercover as a Sepoy, shows Indian dissent (there is another sexy scene when he sleeps with an English woman).

Once the mutiny starts up it never lets off - the horrifying massacre at Meerut, the British civilisations who have gone near-mad seeking revenge, the Hell of the Cawnpore siege, the escape (Scud East's death is incredibly moving - and the most incredible thing about this sequence, with its betrayals,massacres, crocodiles, forts and bows and arrows is that it all happened), plunging into Lucknow, the comic escapade with Kavanagh (Fraser seems to have decided he couldn't top Cawnpore for Hellish-ness so went funny with this one - it's a great sequence), then on to Gwalior for a surprisingly touching finale with the Rani... then a brilliant coda, really superb, with Flashman getting out of being strapped to a gun. It's all wonderful, wonderful stuff."


Flashman's Lady is another very strong entry. I remember reading it going "I am having a great time reading this". Like Flashman of the Charge, its another two parter: part one is Flashman's adventures in Borneo rescuing Elsepth from pirates, part two is him in Madagascar.Both are quite wonderful. The life of James Brooke was so action packed one wonders why Hollywood never turned his life into a film, it seemed a natural - maybe after the events of 1941-42 the idea of a white man conquering natives single handedly seemed too far fetched. You really feel Flashman is in terrible peril throughout this book mostly because he's so cut off from civilisation. The Madagascar sequence is especiallyeffective - Ranavolova makes a terrific character, again one wonders why Hollywood never used her in the 30s and 40s, maybe because Madagascar was a French country. The final escape is thrilling.

Kingsley Amis once told George MacDonald Fraser that Flashman and the Redskins was the best in the series. I wouldn't go that far but can see its appeal - it is perhaps the most emotional, certainly the most epic.

Its another two parter, the gimmick here is that the two parts are separated by years. Part one is a wagon trail across the West following on from "Flash for Freedom" - there are some exciting fights with and flights from Indians, and an interlude with scalpers. Flashman does his flat out nastiest thing since Flashman in selling Cleonie to the Indians - even if she does wreck revenge on him and is a ruthless person, it's still a really mean thing to do.

Part two benefits from being centred around one event, comprising one of the most spectacular climaxes in a Flashman series - to wit, the Battle at Little Big Horn.Maybe it is drawing a long bow how he gets there (Cleonie's revenge),but Fraser adds a lovely twist by turning Frank Grouard into Flashman's long lost son - he's a real person, too. Their moments together are very moving - more so than anything in the series.


After seven great Flashman's, one can perhaps allow Fraser a weaker entry, which is what Flashman and the Dragon is. Hearing Flashman was going to visit China I had hopes he'd be fighting with Charles Gordon in the Ever Victorious Army. (Fraser probably got interested in China after adapting Tai Pan - a script that was unfortunately never used.)But instead we have another two parter - one with Flashman going undercover to visit the Taipings, who are colourfully depicted. Then he goes the Peking Expedition of 1860. There is lots of good stuff here -the sketch of the Tai Ping rebellion, the characters of the Tai Ping generals, the world of the Chinese court, the Empress Dowager (Flashman becomes her sex slave), the Chinese pirate who falls for him. But it doesn't work. Well, it does, but it's not as good as the others.Flashman never feels to be in enough peril - his life is threatened briefly by a Tai Ping general, but then the general lets him go. Then when he gets captured by the Chinese he spends most of his time in comfort. Also the march on Peking wasn't that important (Fraser to the destruction of the Summer Palace - its around this point I think Fraser becomes increasingly defensive of the BritishEmpire). He tries to hype the story every now and then by going "I was about to plunge into deadly peril" but you never feel he is in great danger, the emotional stakes are low (he says at the end he fell in love with the Empress Dowager, but you never get that from the account of their time together) and the whole thing is simply a bit sluggish. And the ending is too confusing (in an unsatisfying way) and there is no map on many of the editions."

Flashman and the Mountain of Light is a bit better, benefiting from being focused around one event - the first Sikh War. Although some of it feels a bit too familiar - Flashman donning native gear, a sex crazed princess, various derring-do - but history helps out a great deal in that this was a war which apparently the Sikhs contrived to lose! (Flashman is in the thick of it, naturally). So that's a fresh thing. Another twist is that Flashman does a god job but receives little credit for it because of his clashes with Hardinge (which actually is a bit stressful to read). Fraser gets a bit sentimental about the British Empire and Sikh warriors here (legacies no doubt of his own war service in India)

Flashman and the Angel of the Lord also focuses around one event but marks a big step downwards. It is the worst in the series so far. Hearing Harry Flashman is going to return to America makes you excited that maybe this is finally going to be the Civil War story he's talked about so much - but actually it's just John Brown's raid, which is kind of interesting, but not interesting enough for a whole book. So to pad it out we get lots of pages on Brown and also Joe, the black who is sent to guard Flashman - Joe isn't that interesting. (Fraser went through a"black" phase in the 90s with this and Black Ajax).

Too many elements have been seen before: another shanghaiing (this book actually has two),another pursuit up America with the underground railroad, another bout with Miss Mandeville, a re-appearance of John Charity Spring (not as fun as you'd think it would be). Most unforgivably the reason Flashman gets involved in the raid isn't nearly as strong - William Seward says if he doesn't go he'll tell Queen Victoria he chickened out. That's the reason?? Flashman should be able to avoid that in two seconds - it's a foreign government, foreign dispute, he has to get home, etc. So the whole book is flawed at its centre. There are some good bits - the final raid is OK (not the spectacle we've come to expect but not bad), and the Laird Cregar-like Count Le Force is a memorable villain.

Flashman and the Tiger was a sort-of return to form. It consists of three stories, the first of which is a sort of sequel to "Royal Flash",centered around an assassination attempt of Franz Joseph, complete with a repeat of the device of we'll-throw-you-in-a-German-gaol-if-you-don't-help-out to propel the action, which just doesn't ring true, and the son of Rudi von Starnberg as the villain. Flashman gets out of trouble only through a deux ex machina superwoman rather than his wits, and he refers to two adventures(fighting in the Sudan and Maximillian's occupation of Mexico) both of which sound more fun than the one here. You can't help think the whole thing was mostly written for the final scene in the sulphur mine.

However the last two segments are better: one about the Tranby Croft Affair, which is a tight little episode, perfect for a Flashman short story; the third is a short story written in the 70s and touches on Flashman's time in the Zulu Wars and later on meeting Colonel Jack Moranand Holmes and Watson. Several points about this one - surely there is awhole book in the Zulu Wars (one of the most interesting and colourfulof Britain's 19th century colonial wars)? I didn't quite believe thecabin boy from "Flash for Freedom" would turn into Col Moran, andintroducing other fictional characters kind of "crosses the streams" andmixes up the reality of the Flashman universe too much. Also, I didn'tbelieve Flashman would turn brave just to save his niece's reputation. But having said all that it was fun, and I preferred the whole book to Angel of the Lord.

Flashman popped up in two other Fraser novels - old Flashman in Mr American, about the adventures of an American who moves to England in the Edwardian era. Fraser seems to have been interested to write a"novel" with this one - there's lots of description and encounters with historical figures, but without Flashman's (or Dand McNeil's) jaunty narration. The main problem is the lead character, Mark, is so bland, despite being a former member of Butch Cassidy's gang. When Flashman appears (its never for very long) he has so much life and verve you wish a little of him would rub off on the hero. I mean, even though the bloke's wife cheats on him, he just mopes about, even though there's that hot dancer waiting, not to mention the imperious but horny suffragette. What's your problem?

And the climax is contrived - he loves England so much you know he's not going to leave. It's another two parter, basically - the first bit ends when an old member of the gang turns up looking for money, the second takes place just before World War One. I got the feeling at times Fraser mainly wrote this to evoke the Edwardian era. The best bits are a brilliantly written card game involving Edward VII and a suffragette trial - again showing Fraser's strengths at sports evenings and trials.

In Black Ajax, Fraser takes on the time of George IV, so we have Flashman's dad, who is a bright rascal (he's actually brave, though). Fraser uses the Citizen Kane like technique of getting people to talk about black boxed Tom Molineux, who was a real person, fought Gullytwice. Its an enjoyable romp, despite Molineaux being an unlikeable person (NB both he and Joe Brown are major black characters shown to be mysterious brutal savages). He's more than compensated, though, by a glittering array of support characters and I think this is Fraser's best novel since Redskins (not book, though - that would go to his masterpiece Quartered Safe Out Here with Hollywood History following in second place).

The most recent entry Flashman on the March - I have to make a confession: I've been unable to get all the way through it. Fraser showshis colours in the opening introduction - to make a very pro-British Empire thing to contrast with the irresponsible adventures today. He goes undercover, meets a beautiful girl. It was getting tired, I put it aside and haven't finished it.