The Flashman Papers

If you, dear reader, have visited my blog before, you may be aware that I'm an avid fan of historical fiction; with some of my favorite books, movies and comics, belonging to this genre.
One of my favorite works in the genre is The Flashman Papers.

Flashman himself dressed in royal garb from the cover of Royal Flash, the second book in the series. Hail to the King, baby.

A series of novels written by George MacDonald Fraser, The Flashman Papers are the fictional memoirs of Harry Flashman, the antagonist of Thomas Hughes' novel, Tom Brown's School Days (which I must admit I have not read); as he looks back on his days as the British army's greatest hero during the Victorian Era.
Let me make one thing clear to you from the start: If you have problem with novels that features morally dubious people as their leads,  you might want to give Fraser's novels a wide berth, since Harry Flashman; the lead protagonist, is without a doubt, a complete and utter bastard. You've been warned.

Hopefully you're not, because that would mean that you'd have to miss out on a series of great novels. Now, I must confess that I have not yet read each of Flashman's exploits, but those I have read have been of a consistently high quality. As far as writes of adventure novels  go, Fraser must rank among the very best, right alongside the likes Alexandre Dumas (Fraser did in fact write the screenplay for the 1973 movie adaptation of The Three Musketeers) and Robert Louis Stevenson. Like the best works of these famous authors, Fraser's novels are page-turners in the best possible term, being unfailingly entertaining and exciting. They are also meticulously researched with Fraser making sure that the historical details are as accurate as he could possibly make them, without sacrificing the momentum of the narrative.

One of the series' biggest assets is the narrative voice of its central character: Harry Flashman may be a bounder and a cad of the lowest order, but he is nonetheless highly entertaining company and, as is the case with many of his fellow anti-heroes, there's something weirdly likable about the fellow that compels one to root for him, in spite of his many personal failings.
Aside from Flashman himself, Fraser presents the reader with a gallery of memorable supporting characters: From interesting historical figures, such as Ranavalona I of Madagascar and Abraham Lincoln to purely fictional creations. In the second category, the most memorable member by far is John Charity Spring. A disgraced former Oxford don turned slave-trader, Spring is a cultured psychopath with a temper similar to that of Tommy DeVito and the closest thing Flashman gets to an arch-enemy.

I should point out that while The Flashman Papers are funny,it would be a mistsake to refer to them as comedic novels. Some of the bloodiest, most terrible events in history are depicted within their pages and Fraser handles these events, such as the African slave trade or the battle of Balaclava, with the gravity they deserve.
Finally, while Thomas Hughes may have created the character of Flashman, it was George MacDonald Fraser who truly gave him life and made him one of the most memorable characters in all of fiction. I am glad that I have not yet sampled all of his exploits, because that means there are still volumes in the series left for me to discover and enjoy for the very first time. Hopefully, I've managed to transfer some of my enthusiasm to you, dear reader.