Flashman and the Tiger (1999)

A mixed bag --adventure at the Congress of Berlin, at Tranby Croft in Yorkshire, and in Africxan during the Zulu campaign. The account of Isandlhwana is wonderfully vivid. On Tranby Croft he accepts Cummings' inncoence,but other accounts I have seen do not. The last section includes Sherlock Holmes and Col. Moran --personally, I prefer not mixing in fictional aspects. ( )

Repetitive, dull and boring. I get the joke – that just about any military action or political intrigue in the second half of the 19th century – Flashman was involved in it. And despite his best efforts to the contrary, he comes out of it feted as a hero. OK. Got that. But it wears thin after 50 pages, let alone after 12 novels. Mind you, the meeting with Sherlock Holmes was brilliant. Perhaps I have been unfair. ( )

George MacDonald Fraser took the loathsome Flashman character from Tom Brown's schooldays and turned him into a cowardly soldier-spy anti-hero who finds himself caught up in the major global events of the 19th century. Over the series he becomes a hero of the empire, associated by his nation's press with either success or glorious action in defeat, despite the fact he was usually just putting his own survival first. His principal interest, apart from himself, is sleeping with as many women as possible. In the modern world we now inhabit his behaviour and language is shocking, even though it might have been more commonplace in the 19th century. He is duplicitous, sexist and racist; Fraser clearly enjoyed re-creating him, a great contrast to the heroic figures novelists often populate books with. The earlier books in the series are perhaps the best. This novel is three short stories and, though entertaining, is less absorbing than some of the earlier Flashman novels. ( )

This book consists of three stories, independent but paradoxically more related than the episodes of Flashman's Lady ; they have in common to showcase an elderly Flashman, to be tangentially related to his African adventures, and to take place in Europe.

The first and longest by far expands on the events of Royal Flash, one generation later ; as a result its events and characters are largely fictitious. Its beginning is extremely aggravating to literate readers, since Fraser writes much of the dialogue in a cringe-worthy faux-French, stilted at best and incorrect at worst. This is unprofessional and actually casts unpleasant aspersions on the other idioms with which Fraser peppered his other volumes (so much for my plan to swashbuckle and fornicate my way to kingship in Central Asia when I grow up, with Fraser and Kipling as sole documentation). Nevertheless, it is quite the page-turner, with engaging characters, numerous twists, old-school action scenes and some serious gorn. Flashman also plays a big role in the events instead of just witnessing them as he sometimes tends to do.

In the second story, for example. That one is largely grounded in historical facts, obscure though they are especially for a non-Briton. It reveals what behind-the-scenes role the Flashmans played in effecting one of the big scandals of Victorian England, for motives quite unseemly. Mostly though it is a study of characters and social mores, and a quite interesting one.

The last one presents the hero at his oldest (if you except the framing story of narrator Flashman), with the old scoundrel for once trying to do something honourable and bumbling it like the rest. Its last page is bitter-sweet and such a fitting conclusion to the saga that after reading it I am pretty sure Fraser did not intend to write the Boxer Rebellion book after all. The Sherlock Holmes crossover I dreaded is actually quite funny and relevant, and provides a hilariously twisted recapitulation of Flashman's CV. Truly this very short story is the highlight of the book, which I would recommend reading last in the series. ( )

Discovering Flashman has been my highlight for 2010.

Fraser’s skills as a novelist and historian is such that he created a character who remains ultimately likeable, despite his treatment of women. There have been many such men in life – why not in art?

This was my first foray into the world of Flashman and I can thoroughly recommend it as a starting point. Flashy is at his charming best with the ladies, and toadying best with his foes. His account of the Zulu attack on Rorkes Drift is spine chilling. ( )