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I've been hearing about the Flashman Papers for years, it seems like something every wargamer reads at some point.

Basically a con man and liar drinking and !@#$ing his way across the British Empire.

But are they actually good, or just a cool idea with meh execution?

Or are they so AMAZEBALLS I should drop everything and read them?

They are really good. If they weren't genre fiction (historical spy comedy-drama) they would be counted as literature. The author wrote a lot of non-genre stuff too.

I enjoyed the two I've read, as well as the 40K style spinoff, Ciaphas Cain. Flashman is the perfect counterweight to Richard Sharpe.

I've been reading Cain this month ("acceptably mediocre") which is one thing that got me thinking about Flashman.

Plus y'know being here in the Jewel in the Crown and all that.

I've read Flashman and Flashman on the March. They were both good. Avoid the terrible film.

I've read most of them, years ago. There are two set in the Raj, one covers the First Afghan War, and the other one covers the Mutiny.

You can get the whole set of 12 on Kindle for about £45. It covers Flashman's career from the late 1830s to 1895, about.

It's worth taking a crack at the first one and if you like it you can get more.

One of the good things about these books is the amount of accurate historical detail in them, judged from my actual historical readings of the Crimean War, Mutiny, and so on.

Only read a couple but I really enjoyed them. Definitely worth trying one or two to see if you like them.

I never finished the first one. I'm a huge Cain fan, but about 1/3 of the way through Flashman the character was just too much of a douche for me to enjoy reading about him. I'll pick it up again sometime and see if it gets better.

He's meant to be a douche. He's the Flashman out of Tom Brown's Schooldays.

He's real. Someone found the manuscript in their loft.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I never finished the first one. I'm a huge Cain fan, but about 1/3 of the way through Flashman the character was just too much of a douche for me to enjoy reading about him. I'll pick it up again sometime and see if it gets better.

Ah that actually helps sell it to me. My main complaint about Cain is he isn't nearly as much of a douche as I would like.



Seems worth downloading a sample at least.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
He's meant to be a douche. He's the Flashman out of Tom Brown's Schooldays.

I gathered that from the author's introduction, which is also the first time I ever heard about Tom Brown. Still know nothing about him. Is there supposed to be some relevance?

Essentially, I had no context and no prior engagement with the character, so douchiness is all I knew, and it wasn't a turn on. But then, I couldn't stand Seinfeld because all the characters were so stupid and self-involved, so maybe I just can't empathize with that character type.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I get all the douchiness I can stand in real life.

I have a job requiring tact, good manners and enthusiasm at all times.

Fanticizing about being a total douch and getting away with it sounds like a good time to me.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
I have a job requiring tact, good manners and enthusiasm at all times.

Fanticizing about being a total douch and getting away with it sounds like a good time to me.

I just go on Dakka...

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I never finished the first one. I'm a huge Cain fan, but about 1/3 of the way through Flashman the character was just too much of a douche for me to enjoy reading about him. I'll pick it up again sometime and see if it gets better.

I am the same - I have read both and never really got on with Flashman - whereas I love the Cain stories.......................

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
I have a job requiring tact, good manners and enthusiasm at all times.

Fanticizing about being a total douch and getting away with it sounds like a good time to me.

I just go on Dakka...

Yes, we know...



Anyway - this series certainly sounds interesting enough to check out the first book - thanks for bringing this up, as I'm always looking for something new to add to the Reading List!

I enjoy both Flashman and Cain, they both have their positives and downsides. The one thing is don't binge on them (as in multiple books in a week), because I find the writing can get a bit repetitive if you do that. "If only I'd known what was waiting down that X, I've had stayed to fight Y in a heartbeat"

This is true of all series.

I would also recommend the Aubrey-Maturin books set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars.