Daren

This fits into Idriess's autobiographical travels book topic (as opposed to a biography about a historical figure, a collection of historic stories around a theme, or a straight out book on mining or precious stones). I have liked his previous autobiographical tales best of all, but this was a little flat.

Idriess was recovering from a bout of malaria, and so was a little low-energy, and that seemed to come through in the writing of this. He joins friends on a driving trip from Sydney to Perth and back (with some side diversions in south-west WA and through Adelaide , Geelong and Canberra on the return): the leader on this journey The Super - L. Colin Smith, who is in the bookselling industry and for work travels across part of Australia visiting bookshops - while the detail is never shared, presumably to make sales to them. The other, co-driver etc is Quiz Kid - CW Priestly, of Canberra - a civil servant.

The three are jokingly argumentative the entire time, each pair ganging up on the third at ay given time to gently mock. Idriess is referred to as Inkpot and is treated as incapable of anything - he is not permitted to drive, has no tasks to perform, he doesn't even carry his own suitcase (an oversized thing his wife insisted on packing). Whether this is due to his recovery from malaria, or whether his friends really judge his as incapable is not really spelled out. Certainly Idriess is singled out for the most mocking.

So primarily a book of their journey of some 10 weeks, 9000 miles across the Nullarbor, but The Super and Quiz Kid throw in lots of random facts, and Idriess fills out local history.

Its a fairly gentle read, telling positive stories at a local level through the four states they travel (New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia on the east to west , with ACT added in on the return journey).

3.5 stars, for its unusual low energy.

Short excerpt chapters from William Dampier's A New Voyage Around the World, published 1697. Quite a well selected series of excerpts, covering a lot of ground - a bit of piracy, a lot on natural history (turtles, manatee, flying foxes, sucking-fishes (that's a noun)), some adventurous sea travel, and of course some geography.
Very readable, and it moves from subject to subject quickly for those of limited attention span, like my review.

The Flashman books are written as satire of the classic Victorian schoolboy / military character. They are presented as the compiled memoir, looking back across his life at the age of around 80, written by Flashman. The original Flashman character is taken from the book ‘Tom Brown's Schooldays' by Thomas Hughes, where he was the school bully.

Flashman's story here (and the remainder of the series, I understand), is bedded in accurate history. The main characters and events are all real, just with Flashman embedded in them. It is incredibly clever, and well pulled off.

No getting around it, Flashman - is a horrible character. He is a caricature of all the bad parts of your typical British public schoolboy. He is vain, cowardly (and a bully), manipulative, racist, misogynistic and self-entitled. He is a true anti-hero. And yet, the saving grace of all these character flaws, is that he is completely aware of them, and in his story he does nothing to hide them. He willingly lies to the other characters, but not to the reader, and this makes him, in a strange way, a subject for pity.

This is the first of the Flashman Papers series, and primarily covers the period 1839 to 1842. As the first book, it outlines his expulsion from Rugby School (similar to the story in Hughes' book, but from Flashman's perspective, he irons out some untruths), and his subsequent enlistment in the Eleventh Light Dragoons. There was clear reasoning in his choosing the Dragoons, as they had recently returned from India, and there was little chance of them being sent back in the near future - cowardly Flashman wanted only to draw his salary and look good in his uniform, not engage in any battles!

Events of course transpire such that he must be transferred, and he find himself packed off to India, and henceforth Afghanistan as a herald to Major-General Elphinstone. As we know (me from reading Dalrymple's Return of a King), the first Anglo-Afghan war ended with the entire British garrison be massacred. Flashman, of course, finds a way to survive, and becomes one of only two survivors to make it out of Kabul, and is subsequently invalided back to England, and his young wife.

I thought the weaving of history and fiction masterful, and Flashman despicable, however hugely entertaining. I own another three Flashman books, and will continue the series.

I must also note that the Flashman character almost certainly provided some inspiration for Lord Flashheart in the Blackadder series.

4.5 stars, rounded down.

Fraser's #4 Flashman - and we take in the Crimean War, some time in Russia and a sojourn in Kazakhstan / Uzbekistan where Yakub Beg was leading resistance to Russia pushing in to Central Asia, the book covering the period 1854-55.

As usual, we are treated to Flashman being woven into accurate historical events and mixing with some well known historical figures. The Battle at Balaclava is the key in this novel.

There are various spoilers below, so it this is a Flashman novel you plan on reading in the near future, give this review a miss!

Flashman is back in London, but aware of pending trouble between the Ottoman Empire and Russia secures himself a position on the Board or Ordnance, to avoid being mixed up in it. Events conspire however, and he is appointed by Prince Albert to look after a young German cousin, Wilhelm of Celle, eventually accompanying him to Bulgaria where the British troops were massing for the advance, and then across the Black Sea to Crimea.

When Flashman fails to protect Willy, who is young and reckless and charges out onto the field of battle prematurely, he is attached to Raglan's staff, where is falls in with Lew Nolan - the famed deliverer of the battle commands who is largely blamed for the miscommunication that led to the charge. As well as Raglan and Nolan, Flashman mixes with all the other well known figures at Balaclava - Cardigan, Scarlett, Lucan, Campbell. As it turns out, Flashman plays a larger part than anyone, taking part not only in the Charge of the Light (cavalry) Brigade, but also present at Campbell's Thin Red Line with the 93rd Regiment and Scarlett's uphill charge with the Heavy Cavalry in their attach on Russian Cavalry.

But it is the Charge of the Light Brigade that Flashman breaks the enemy line and while looking for escape is captured by the Russians. There is now a passage of the novel where Flashman is taken to an estate beyond Sevastopol where he is the prisoner of Count Pencherjevsky – a Cossack Hetman who is now the feudal Russian lord of the large estate. Supposedly waiting until he can be exchanged for a Russian prisoner of equal standing, Flashman is here reunited with an old schoolmate, Scud East, from Rugby School, also a prisoner. While Flashman is bedding the daughter of the Count, Scud East is spying on a meeting of important Russian officers and they discover the Russian Plot to invade British India through Central Asia. The escape from the estate, East's escape to Crimea, and Flashman's recapture by Russians ends this part of the story and we join Flashman in Central Asia for the third part to this novel.

With his recapture, Flashman meets Nikolay Pavlovich Ignatieff again, having briefly encountered him before his time in the estate, and Ignatieff is cast as the violent villain of this story. Taken on the Russian advance into Central Asia, on the way to the attack on British India, circumstances again conspire to place Flashman in a prison cell with Yakub Beg and Izzat Kutebar, the former being a Tajik leader of the resistance fighting against Russia's advances into their lands, the latter an aging guerilla leader working with Yakub Beg. In a daring rescue the three are thrown together and Flashman is forced into a role in attacking the Russian ships coming down the Syr Darya river to deliver the masses of ammunition for the attack on India - the destruction of this not only stops the Russian attack on India but sets the Russians back on their advance through Central Asia.

Again Fraser is masterful in wrapping historic events around Flashman and some fictional supporting characters. The historic characters come to life (accurately or not, who can say) as they interact with Flashman, as he looks to minimise his involvement in risky business, events conspire to have him in the thick of it.

This book along with the original are perhaps the strongest of those I have read so far.

4.5 stars, rounded down to the typical 4 I have awarded each Flashman novel so far.

Set in Jamaica, 1957, in the village of Gibbeah, and revolves around the Holy Sepulchral Full Gospel Church of St. Thomas Apostolic. In the opening pages, a charismatic stranger arrives, heralded by black vultures (John Crows) crashing into the windows of the church. The stranger, who calls himself Apostle York, drags the alcoholic and off-the-rails preacher, Hector Bligh, from the church, and takes his place - setting off a series of conflicts as the two struggle for power.

Magical realism, Obeah, Old Testament punishments, sex, brutal violence and no shortage of sin.

I was taken with the writing style, and the characters (despite them all being flawed, damaged and unlikeable), and the Jamaican words and phrases were not often hard to understand, although I had to check up on a few as I went.

I don't read a whole lot of fiction, but when I do, I like it gritty. No shortage of grit in this, the first book of the acclaimed Jamaican author Marlon James.

Four stars from me.