Flashman and the Dragon
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4.8 • 25 Ratings
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- £5.49
Publisher Description
Coward, scoundrel, lover and cheat, but there is no better man to go into the jungle with. Join Flashman in his adventures as he survives fearful ordeals and outlandish perils across the four corners of the world.
An international mission calls for unflinching bravery in the bedroom . . .
Caught between an opium-selling vicar’s wife, an Amazonian bandit queen looking for her next husband and the Chinese Emperor’s ravishing concubine, Harry Flashman is busier than ever.
Reviews
'The Flashman Papers do what all great sagas do – winning new admirers along the way but never, ever betraying old ones. It is an immense achievement.' Sunday Telegraph
‘Not so much a march as a full-blooded charge, fortified by the usual lashings of salty sex, meticulously choreographed battle scenes and hilariously spineless acts of self preservation by Flashman.’ Sunday Times
‘Not only are the Flashman books extremely funny, but they give meticulous care to authenticity. You can, between the guffaws, learn from them.’ Washington Post
‘A first-rate historical novelist’ Kingsley Amis
About the author
The author of the famous Flashman Papers and the Private McAuslan stories, George MacDonald Fraser worked on newspapers in Britain and Canada. In addition to his novels he also wrote numerous screenplays, most notably The Three Musketeers, The Four Musketeers, and the James Bond film, Octopussy.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The delightful cad Flashman stalks again, now through China's 19th-century Taiping Rebellion, in this eighth and perhaps most sparkling volume of his "memoirs.'' Though a little longer in the tooth, Colonel Flashman, V.C., has lost none of his dash, cunning, amorous propensity or cowardice. His adventures begin when he accompanies a consignment of ``opium'' (actually guns) to Canton on behalf of a British missionary. Thereafter, as Ambassador Elgin's chief intelligence officer, he gets into a succession of dire scrapes which include being attacked by pirates and falling into the hands first of the ferocious but disciplined Taipings, then of the equally ferocious but decadent Manchu imperialists. At one point he comes within a hair's breadth of having his poltroonery exposed; at other points he finds himself the sexual partner of a Chinese Amazon and, more plaything than partner, of the formidable Imperial Concubine Yi, later empress, to whose treacherous court intrigues he becomes privy. He winds up witnessing Elgin's destruction of Peking's Summer Palace, an act of vengeance described with horrifying vividness. There's a deal of shrewd observation in Flashman, and a deal of solid history in his flamboyant memoirs, factors that add weight to their dazzle.
Customer Reviews
Flashman at his best
Being that I’m reading the flashman papers in publication order rather than chronological, it took several moments for me to establish at what particular moment in his career our great hero flashy is at. The story takes place several months after his adventures in India (Flashman in the Great Game). As usual his attempts at cheating, womanising and down right skullduggery have landed him once again in a heap of bother resulting in him being sent head first into some of the major events of the Chinese Civil War however as always our hero keeps to his cards and through his usual attempts of hiding, running and the more the usual mount, we see him bound for glory once again. As always GMD beats every other historical author by the mark and this piece is a must read for all Flashman fans as well as men young and old who enjoy a proper adventure.