I think most Flashman fans, hearing Flashman was on his way back to America, were excited - would this be his Civil War tale so often alluded to, where he changed sides, worked for Lincoln, helped resolve the war... or his experiences with Wild Bill Hickock... but no, this one is an account of a small scale incident, though an admittedly interesting one: John Brown's Raid. Brown is a fascinating story (and character) but not really big enough for a whole Flashman - or at least so says I, used to Flashman adventures that entailed wars and massive campaigns. Also this book has far too much of Flashman's attitude on race and too much time spent on the black agent,Joe. It just goes on and on.
I mean it's not badly written, the observations are lively and the action (when it comes) is fine. But there's too little of it. Not enough twists, spectacle, cleverness. Some of it felt lazy like Flashman sneaking off during the Brown siege and rooting this black woman then coming back. The story is bodgy. The weakest Flashman to date, even more so than Flashman and the Dragon. Ok, Fraser didn't want to do Civil War but if only he'd done one on the Mexican American War, Khartoum, Zulu War...
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