The second Flashman, it's never been one of my favourites, though it's a quality entry, full of pace, and humour. A few reasons. Flashman is too dumb, foolishly going to Europe on the basis of a dodgy letter and at the end foolishly throwing in with Lola Montez. It's set in a fictitious place, a duchy, which is inconsistent with the rest of the series. And it borrows the plot wholesale from Prisoner of Zenda, though that is amusing covered - it still feels like cheating.
Still, Lola and Bismarck are vivid characters, Irma and life in the duchy is entertaining, the plot really kicks into high gear half way through when Flashman realises he's been conned, there's plenty of fun made up characters even if pilfered from Zenda like Rudi von Sternberg, I enjoyed the Karl Marx cameo.
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