It's really hard to review this entry in the adventures of Harry Flashman. On the one hand it is researched well enough to make the time and place feel authentic (America in the mid-19th Century), and the various perils and awkward moments confronted by Flashman are some of the best in the series (court room drama, spies, slave ship battles, the underground railroad!) but the racism and rampant sexism are difficult to read.

One of the defining characteristics of the Flashman papers is how Fraser manages to put distance between Harry Flashman and the reader so that we are encouraged to view him as despicable and much of the humor comes from watching how this low character fails upwards. So when it comes to the slave trade a similar distance is created between the reader and that subject. The racist attitudes and "common sense" bigotry of the time period all feel accurate. This is how a society engages in justifying slavery, even in the cavalier no big deal racism of our hero.

Fraser's method of exposing the details of the middle passage and the horrendous acts slavers were capable of committing while simultaneously describing Harry Flashman's idiotic moral views walks a very interesting psychological tightrope. By allowing the reader to relax about Flashman's status as a jerk (it is never a question in these novels: he's a jerk) Fraser frees the reader to enjoy the very well written genre elements of the novel. We can rest, assured that slavery in the inhumane details described here are a form of evil and we can come away from an adventure novel with that as a legitimate backdrop without the burden of it being dramatic distance necessary for our protagonist to come. Flashman doesn't really do moral takeaways, ever, but as readers we don't need him to. He can keep on being Flashman while we come away disturbed by the setting he experienced. ( )

It's really hard to review this entry in the adventures of Harry Flashman. On the one hand it is researched well enough to make the time and place feel authentic (America in the mid-19th Century), and the various perils and awkward moments confronted by Flashman are some of the best in the series (court room drama, spies, slave ship battles, the underground railroad!) but the racism and rampant sexism are difficult to read.

One of the defining characteristics of the Flashman papers is how Fraser manages to put distance between Harry Flashman and the reader so that we are encouraged to view him as despicable and much of the humor comes from watching how this low character fails upwards. So when it comes to the slave trade a similar distance is created between the reader and that subject. The racist attitudes and "common sense" bigotry of the time period all feel accurate. This is how a society engages in justifying slavery, even in the cavalier no big deal racism of our hero.

Fraser's method of exposing the details of the middle passage and the horrendous acts slavers were capable of committing while simultaneously describing Harry Flashman's idiotic moral views walks a very interesting psychological tightrope. By allowing the reader to relax about Flashman's status as a jerk (it is never a question in these novels: he's a jerk) Fraser frees the reader to enjoy the very well written genre elements of the novel. We can rest, assured that slavery in the inhumane details described here are a form of evil and we can come away from an adventure novel with that as a legitimate backdrop without the burden of it being dramatic distance necessary for our protagonist to come. Flashman doesn't really do moral takeaways, ever, but as readers we don't need him to. He can keep on being Flashman while we come away disturbed by the setting he experienced. ( )

The character of Flash is pure scoundrel. MacDonald writes about him in such a way to amuse and entertain the reader. It was a quick, succinct read. It was also easy to follow. Nevertheless, the book does not hold long-standing value in the larger scheme of what composes literature.

3 stars. ( )

Entertaining and very English. Incredibly un-PC. I love the pace of the writing and the plot though. It keeps the reader thoroughly engaged throughout. The only problem I anticipate is I have read a couple of the series and they seem to be very similar in formula, so I anticipate some fatigue over time. I think the answer is to read one every six months for entertainment. ( )

Flashman goes through the whole Slave trade cycle, being shanghai'd onto a slaver, and traveling to Africa. the destination of the cargo is New Orleans so then he escapes his boss and the South with an attractive female fellow escapee. Then it is up the Mississippi to meet with Abraham Lincoln before getting back to Blighty. Good fun. ( )