PatFlashman and the Redskins
April 13th 2009 09:31
The plot of this book follows on from the ending of Flash for Freedom (which I've read, but haven't reviewed for this website) and which details Sir Harry Paget Flashman's forced departure from a comfortable life in England and press-ganged into involvement in the slave trade.
[THIS IS THE PART WHERE YOU WOULD SEE A LOUSY PHOTO OF THE COVER OF THE BOOK IF THE ORBLE NETWORK ACTUALLY FUNCTIONED PROPERLY AND LET ME UPLOAD THE PHOTO RATHER THAN JUST SITTING AND WAITING HERE IN FRUSTRATION AS NOTHING HAPPENS, THANKS A BUNCH ORBLE]
Essentially, that book covers Flashman's reluctant journeys onboard a slaving ship which unsurprisingly runs into trouble which results in Flashman unsurprisingly wriggling his way clear, but finding his feet on the other side of the Atlantic and unable to find his way home to England.
The story of Flashman and the Redskins picks up with the main protagonist avoiding detection by the local authorities in New Orleans, where he's wanted (somewhat fairly) for crimes too numerous to mention, and conveniently takes refuge in a local brothel with whom he has some 'acquaintance' with the madam.
From there, the whores up and head west to service the needs of the gold rush, so to speak, with a view to setting up a new house of ill-repute in California and Flashman is volunteered into escorting the group westwards.
The obvious takes place in terms of sexual escapades and near-death violent encounters and the whole gold-rush whore episode ends in a relatively predictable fashion when you take into account the fact that the story is based around a famous coward who has no hesitation in betraying anybody and everybody to save his cavalry whiskers, especially when the idea of some less-than-friendly natives gets thrown into the mix.
The remainder of Flashman's time in America is spent in the company of the natives (who the author, Fraser, manages to casually describe with some playful racism as is common in these books), before the story jumps ahead a number of years with Flashman escorting his wife to see the sights of a more refined America and, with perhaps inevitable certainty, ends up being involved in yet another famous military jaunt by fighting (using that term loosely in the context of how events developed) alongside General Custer in the Battle of Little Big Horn.
Overall, this book lacks a bit of the convincing detail which Fraser lashes onto the reader in the more military focussed novels. His stories seem to lose a bit of their focus when it comes to events outside the narrow scope of war, and while we're still talking about a lot of men running around with a lot of guns in this story, it doesn't have the same authority of a lot of the other Flashman books.
Also lacking is the reliance on rape and violence against women which is the usual modus operandi of Flashman, and in fact this book is notable for Flashman restraining himself from rape with positive results - a bewildering event for all fans of violent sex crimes in popular fiction. On a positive note, Flashman still manages to repeatedly cheat on his wife, sell women into slavery, abuse his position of trust over vulnerable prostitutes, and commit bigamy twice (yes, twice). Not too bad overall.
This isn't one of the best Flashman books that you could ever read (which all probably deal with Afghanistan and surrounds to be quite honest) but it's ok and it'll put a bit of hair on your chest.
[THIS IS THE PART WHERE YOU WOULD SEE A LOUSY PHOTO OF THE COVER OF THE BOOK IF THE ORBLE NETWORK ACTUALLY FUNCTIONED PROPERLY AND LET ME UPLOAD THE PHOTO RATHER THAN JUST SITTING AND WAITING HERE IN FRUSTRATION AS NOTHING HAPPENS, THANKS A BUNCH ORBLE]
Essentially, that book covers Flashman's reluctant journeys onboard a slaving ship which unsurprisingly runs into trouble which results in Flashman unsurprisingly wriggling his way clear, but finding his feet on the other side of the Atlantic and unable to find his way home to England.
The story of Flashman and the Redskins picks up with the main protagonist avoiding detection by the local authorities in New Orleans, where he's wanted (somewhat fairly) for crimes too numerous to mention, and conveniently takes refuge in a local brothel with whom he has some 'acquaintance' with the madam.
From there, the whores up and head west to service the needs of the gold rush, so to speak, with a view to setting up a new house of ill-repute in California and Flashman is volunteered into escorting the group westwards.
The obvious takes place in terms of sexual escapades and near-death violent encounters and the whole gold-rush whore episode ends in a relatively predictable fashion when you take into account the fact that the story is based around a famous coward who has no hesitation in betraying anybody and everybody to save his cavalry whiskers, especially when the idea of some less-than-friendly natives gets thrown into the mix.
The remainder of Flashman's time in America is spent in the company of the natives (who the author, Fraser, manages to casually describe with some playful racism as is common in these books), before the story jumps ahead a number of years with Flashman escorting his wife to see the sights of a more refined America and, with perhaps inevitable certainty, ends up being involved in yet another famous military jaunt by fighting (using that term loosely in the context of how events developed) alongside General Custer in the Battle of Little Big Horn.
Overall, this book lacks a bit of the convincing detail which Fraser lashes onto the reader in the more military focussed novels. His stories seem to lose a bit of their focus when it comes to events outside the narrow scope of war, and while we're still talking about a lot of men running around with a lot of guns in this story, it doesn't have the same authority of a lot of the other Flashman books.
Also lacking is the reliance on rape and violence against women which is the usual modus operandi of Flashman, and in fact this book is notable for Flashman restraining himself from rape with positive results - a bewildering event for all fans of violent sex crimes in popular fiction. On a positive note, Flashman still manages to repeatedly cheat on his wife, sell women into slavery, abuse his position of trust over vulnerable prostitutes, and commit bigamy twice (yes, twice). Not too bad overall.
This isn't one of the best Flashman books that you could ever read (which all probably deal with Afghanistan and surrounds to be quite honest) but it's ok and it'll put a bit of hair on your chest.
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