If you like historical romance, hot women, horny British cowards with stiff upper lips, pistols at dawn, and mad cavalry charges into hopeless situations, you'll love Flashman.

George MacDonald Fraser was the finest composer of rum-and-strumpet history. Nobody now alive does it so well and it's possible that nobody will ever do it better. No fictitious hero is half so bad (which is really good) as Flash Harry. ( )

V. good, like the first Flashman.

See my review of all the Flashman books: http://jzsbooks.blogspot.com/2008/07/... ( )

Fraser has created another excellent Flashman adventure in this third installment of the series (publication not chronological order). The first half (or so) of the book concerns how Flashman ends up serving unwillingly in the crew of a slaving ship (after running afoul of his despicable father-in-law). The second half of the book -- a bit weaker than the incredibly strong first half, I think -- involves Flashman's exploits in the American South after he gets dragooned into helping the Underground Railroad. Flashman encounters a soon-to-be retiring Congressman Lincoln a couple of times during the course of the novel, and these scenes should be fun for fans of Abe. (As we might expect, Lincoln and Flashy taken an instinctive dislike to each other, though neither can really put their finger on why.)

The plot is strong, the pacing very fast, as we've come to expect from Flashman, and the dialogue is lots of fun. Fraser's historical accuracy is as good as ever. This is the third Flashman book I've read, and it's almost as good as the first book in the series ("Flashman"), which I liked quite a lot, and it's considerably better than "Royal Flash," the second book in the series. I'd recommend "Flash for Freedom" to anyone who's enjoyed the series so far. As with other Flashman books, if you're easily offended by bawdy -- though not obscene by any stretch -- language or activities, you should take a pass on this one.

Review copyright 2008 J. Andrew Byers ( )