Empire by Jeremy Paxman

I occasionally like to break my steady diet of fantasy up with some non fiction and Jeremy Paxman's Empire is one such volume. I saw it and the idea intrigued me. It's subtitled What ruling the world did to the British.

While it is a fascinating look in how the British built their empire up from the days of piracy in the Caribbean until when it all came crashing down not long after WW 2, it doesn't really accomplish the stated aim of investigating how the conquest affected the conquerors, more how they affected the rest of the world.

That in itself is quite interesting. I've studied a bit of history, and so had read some of what was in Empire, although this certainly put flesh on the bones of what I already knew. The one exception was the Indian Mutiny in the 1850's, when the sepoys revolted, that's covered at length and in more detail in Flashman in the Great Game, and yes while Harry Flashman is fictional, the extensive research undertaken by his creator George MacDonald Fraser when he places his hero in the middle of certain events, is not.

The chapters while both educational and entertaining were written in a somewhat flippant almost tabloid style, (as Paxman is a journalist this may not be all that surprising), and preferred to focus on the atrocities committed by the British in a fairly lurid way at times. The final conclusion is that Britiain discovered like others before them, that the bigger your empire gets the harder to hold onto it, it is.

I don't doubt that British forces made mistakes and that they committed some awful atrocities in the name of Empire and oppressed native cultures, and in one case, actually wiped one out, I know that they did, I would have liked to see a less biased, more even handed account.

As I said it's an entertaining read, but should be approached with an open mind.

Flash for Freedom - Chapter 3

The action ramps up in the 3rd chapter of Flash for Freedom. John Charity Spring continues his reign of terror aboard the Balliol College (Flashman says he was expelled from Oxford for attacking a professor over some trivial point, I think there's more to it than this). Despite the fact that he's not a big man Charity Spring's psychotic rages lend him immense strength and Flashman witnesses him beat a much larger sailor senseless for talking back to him.

After what was for Flashman a fairly hellish passage they arrive on the coast of West Africa to deal for slaves with the Dahomey chief; King Gezo. Harry makes an observation at this point, quite an accurate one, that slave trading simply would not have been possible without considerable cooperation from the Africans themselves, and King Gezo is one such worthy. This man's entire kingdom and all his wealth were built on trading the members of other tribes to people like John Charity Spring.

Gezo is of particular interest to Spring, not just for the fact that he seems to get some of the best slaves, but more because of his honour guard, large, powerfully built women. The former academic believes that these women are the historical basis for the female warriors of legend; the Amazons. He wants to buy some from Gezo, study them, sell them for immense profit and make his name in academia like some of the age's great explorers such as Banks and Parks.

Gezo actually does sell half a dozen of his prized women to Spring for a case of guns, but it all goes horribly wrong when the rest of the ladies revolt and take a large number of the tribes with them. They leave behind a cabin boy, who was part of the deal, apparently Gezo wanted a white slave, one can only imagine the terrors that await the young man if he even survives this episode. One sailor gets left to the mercies of the women, they lose all of them and Comber is speared, probably fatally. Flashman vainly believes that had his cavalry whiskers not appealed to the female warrior he would have been the one she wounded, not Comber.

One thing that has always astonished me about this chapter is the casual way Spring and one of his sailors, possibly his first mate or bosun speak about how they'll transport the slaves, how much space they'll allow for each person, how stinting on space could mean they'll lose a certain amount of men or women, which will cut into their profit, but conversely allowing to much space means they load less slaves, which will also affect the profit. It's quite bizarre, but I have no doubt that many similar conversations took place in the days of slave trading.

Midnight Never Come by Marie Brennan

The dreamy title of Midnight Never Come, the first of Marie Brennan's Onyx Court series really sets the tone for the sort of book it is. The premise of this series is that the world of the fae exists alongside our own, only underground. The setting is the ancient city of London during the height of Queen Elizabeth I's reign, in the days when Spenser wrote The Faerie Queene in homage to his monarch, and when Elizabeth herself was referred to as Gloriana.

An imprisoned young Elizabeth is visited by the faery Invidiana, and makes a deal with her, the deal is mutually beneficial and both people, mortal princess and faerie queen lead their subjects in what is perceived as a golden reign.

The story takes place 30 years after the deal and concerns the efforts of a determined young fae spy in Lady Lune and an ambitious young courtier; a member of Elizabeth's Gentleman Pensioner honour guard; Michael Deven.

It is part spy story, part urban fantasy, part historical fiction and part Romeo and Juliet love story. Marie Brennan obviously did extensive research for this, and put her academic background as an archaeologist and anthropologist to use. I wonder if she studied folklore as well, because she had a good deal of knowledge about the various fae races of England at a time when belief among the populace in these mythological creatures was quite high. She used this very well and I took to the brownie sisters; the Goodmeade's, who ran the Angel tavern in the Islington area of London. There were also elements of London's history; Father Thames (also dealt with in Ben Aaronovitch's excellent Folly series) and the rebel leader Jack Cade, as well as the execution of Mary Stewart, better known as Mary Queen of Scots.

As Lune and Michael's relationship progresses and they dig deeper into the mystery that surrounds Elizabeth and Invidiana they found what they are doing necessary to ensure the continued existence and prosperity of both the kingdom of Britain and the Onyx Court, the fae that live under Britain.

Marie Brennan never actually intended to write a sequel, she felt the research she had to do for Midnight Never Come was so extensive and exhausting that she was crazy to attempt it in the first place, let alone do it all over again for a different era, but she has written 3 sequels to Midnight Never Come and I'm looking forward to reading the sequel; In Ashes Lie, which is set in 17th century London about the time of the Great Fire of 1666.

Flash for Freedom - Chapter 2

Remember how I said this is where the series closest thing to a ‘big bad’ is introduced? Well it happens in Chapter 2. Bryant survives his encounter with Flashman, which is a good thing for Harry, had Bryant died Flashman could have very well been hung for murder. Despite that Morrison thinks is might be best for Harry to lay low for a while, and makes plans to get him out of the country for a period.

This isn’t the best turn of events for Flashman, and things are about to get worse. The devil in the form of John Charity Spring is the captain of the ship that will take Harry out of merry olde England for a short ‘holiday’ whilst the fall out over the blackjack affair dies down. Let me introduce you to John Charity Spring. Physically he is not imposing, he is of average height and stockily built, he wears a short, neat beard, his eyes are what first alerts people to the madness that lurks within. Charity Spring is actually a former professor of classics, he learned at and also seemed to teach at Oriel College, Oxford. Despite this he names his ship Balliol College because he hates Balliol, his father and brothers went there. Whether his psychotic hatred of the rival college stems from a hatred of his father and brothers is never stated, but it does seem to be implied. It’s also never explained exactly why he was driven out of teaching, possibly he killed a student for incorrectly remembering a classical Latin or Greek phrase. He certainly appears capable of doing just that. From a classics professor to running a slaving ship, quite a career change. Flashman doesn’t know it yet, but John Charity Spring is insane, he’d be locked up for being psychotic now. His wife is also insane, but in a different way, possibly she’s been driven to madness by being married to the big ball of crazy that is Spring. Spring haunts Flashman in Flash for Freedom, Flashman and the Redskins, Flashman and the Angel of the Lord and is indirectly responsible for an incident that nearly brings the good name of Flashman down in Flashman and the Tiger. He will also be the stuff of Harry’s nightmares from this point on.

The fact that the Balliol College is a slave ship also gives Flashman pause. He doesn’t particularly care that their cargo will be human misery, but it does bother him because slaving is illegal. The last thing he needs is to be discovered aboard a slaver and actively assisting the trade. He does however store the information that Morrison is one of the directors of a company that owns a slaving ship. Could be useful as a tool for extortion later on.

The rest of the crew are all as dangerous or crazy as Spring and his wife, with one exception. That would be the third mate, a well bred, educated young man by the name of Beauchamp Comber. Flashman wonders exactly how Comber came to be serving on John Charity Spring’s pleasure cruise of insanity.

Honestly if he had wanted to George MacDonald Fraser could have written entire books about Spring. How he went from teaching classics to running a slave ship, the adventures he had, etc… A truly fascinating character and a great villain. He’s not based on anyone specific, but in those wild days there were people like him running around causing havoc and quite often making themselves obscenely wealthy and powerful in the process.

Flash for Freedom - Chapter 1

I’ll begin by describing the cover. This time in keeping with the subject matter Flashman is dressed like a plantation overseer, complete with a coiled whip, he’s definitely channelling Simon Legree here. In the background King Gezo’s female honour guard are squaring off against a bunch of slavers. I have to remark here on how much more I like the current covers as opposed to the original copy I had of this which I got from a second hand store. Flashman was dressed in some sort of striped shirt and looked like he was getting ready to go out and play an afternoon of rugby, he was accompanied by 2 ladies, both presumably representative of women in the book, he also had vaguely reddish hair, which indicated that the artist didn’t pay a lot of attention to George MacDonald Fraser’s description of his hero.

There’s the by now familiar explanatory note before the text. Mostly it concerns itself with informing any new comer (one of the beautiful things about the books is that they are all, even this one, relatively standalone and can be read in any order and started anywhere, although I would recommend reading Flash for Freedom before Flashman and the Redskins) about the discovery of the packets, and a little bit about the argument over their authenticity. One different thing is the confirmation that they were written between 1903 – 1905. There’s also an odd move by Fraser, he took the step of partially editing the text, censoring Flashman’s profanities (he generally doesn’t use anything stronger than damn, but in the early days of the 20th century that wasn’t considered polite language) and blasphemies. Fraser claims that this was done by Elspeth’s younger sister Grizel, who presumably discovered the packet after Flashman’s death and altered it, although she gave it up partway through and she’s also inconsistent. The author probably did it in an effort to further the authenticity of the work, but he really just made work for himself and his publisher. It doesn’t add anything to the story.

Flashman explains that seeing a picture of former British Prime Minister Gladstone holding a truncheon took him on this journey down memory lane. The story picks up just after the end of Royal Flash. Not a lot has changed in the Flashman household, although Elspeth is pregnant. There are two things that bother Harry about this turn of events. One is that he’s not entirely sure that the child is his, and could conceivably cause some awkwardness if it doesn’t resemble either of them when it pops out, the other is that in an effort to ensure the baby’s safety Elspeth’s not particularly motivated to have sex with Harry. Elspeth is convinced that the baby will be a boy and she intends to name him Harry Albert Victor, after his papa and Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert. Harry says that the child was in fact a boy and was named Harry Albert Victor. He went on to become a bishop! Flashman can’t work out how that happened, although I’d say it was because he was away on one adventure or another for most of the boys life and he was under the influence of his maternal relatives who were all God fearing Scots Calvinists.

Morrison suggests that Harry could occupy himself by getting into politics, it would pay well enough and at least mean he was contributing something to the family. Initially Harry’s not keen, but the more he thinks about it the more appealing the idea becomes. He also confesses at this point that he was unaware exactly how rich or power his father-in-law was. He knows now that the royal family and the country’s politicians danced to the tune played by Morrison and his peers. That, he says, is the way it has always been and probably always will. Considering that even a cursory glance at the news of today proves Harry’s assertion, suggests that he was more astute than he has been given credit for. George MacDonald Fraser, being a journalist by trade, was a fairly cynical type and he often shows that during the Flashmans.

In an effort to get into politics Morrison takes his son-in-law on a weekend at a country estate. Flashman muses on the death of the hunting weekends that he used to go on with friends, which were boys weekends where largely anything went. These country weekends are family affairs and everyone is on their best behaviour. Despite the enforced good behaviour Flashman is making the most of it and rubbing shoulders with the politicians, although he doesn’t much like Disraeli, curiously he wasn’t alone there. Disraeli was never liked by many of his contemporaries, possibly due to his background. He’s also trying his luck with young Fanny Locke, who would later go on to some small measure of fame as Fanny Duberley when she accompanied her officer husband on campaign in the Crimea. Things are going well until Fanny’s fiancé arrives with a fellow officer from the 8th Hussars; Tommy Bryant.

If you read my reread of Flashman you will remember Tommy Bryant was in Cardigan’s 11th Hussars with Flashman, and helped Flashman win his duel with Bernier by ensuring that the other officer’s pistol wasn’t loaded. Flashman promised Bryant 10,000 pounds for that, and never paid him. Bryant has been waiting for his chance at revenge and now he has it. Harry doesn’t help matters by remarking that the 11th must have been too rich for Tommy’s blood.

Bryant’s chance comes during a ‘friendly’ game of blackjack. Flashman is a good player, he’s what would have been known at the time as a sportsman, and he is, but he’s also a keen gambler. He and Fanny make a pair and are doing quite well until Bryant points out that Flashman is cheating. Harry hotly denies the charges, but then discovers 3 cards in his pocket! He knows Bryant is responsible, but can’t prove it and in a fit of rage goes after the other officer. Before anyone can prevent it Flashman has punched Bryant in the face and knocked him down the stairs. Even with all the other honours he’s won: the VC, the knighthood, etc… the memory of hitting Bryant is still one of his fondest. Initial fears are that he’s killed Bryant, and it is touch and go. Had Flashman known what the action was going to lead him into he would probably consider Bryant the lucky one.

Flash for Freedom - a few brief words to begin

I did this for Flashman and Royal Flash, I liked writing them and it kind of got me in the mood to read the books, so I’ll stick with it for Flash for Freedom. There’s not as much background needed as was for the other two, but I can still find things to point out. This was the first Flashman book where George MacDonald Fraser could branch out and break away from what he’d done before. It’s also Harry doing something largely on his own. What he did in Flashman was his duty, or attempt to do his duty, and Royal Flash was because he was being forced to impersonate Prince Carl Gustaf by Bismarck and his bully boys. In Flash for Freedom he’s certainly not a willing participant, but he’s largely dropped into things and forced to keep himself alive and get back to England. That last thing is a common theme through nearly all of the books, Flashman is always trying to get back to England and Elspeth, it’s like he see the two things as safe, which to him in many ways, they are.

Flash for Freedom is also the first time Harry goes to the United States, he returns there for other adventures after, George MacDonald Fraser seems to have a good deal of affection for the US, and as always his research is impeccable. I think he tended to like wherever he set the adventures, because you couldn’t do that amount of research and write the books without such a sense of irreverent fun without being somewhat fond of your setting and situation.

I’ve never liked the title. The titles work much better when they’re Flashman and the… or Flashman in the…, etc… This was the last time they got clever with the titles. It does sound really clunky and doesn’t make a lot of sense. Royal Flash was a rather clever play on words and directly referenced the content of the book. Okay, Flash for Freedom deals with slavery, but it doesn’t really convey an awful lot. I’m not sure what an alternative title that wouldn’t offend people may have been, given the sensitive nature of the content, but I’m sure the marketing department of the publisher could have come up with something better than what eventually came out.

It’s the first of the books that actually ends on a cliffhanger, seriously it does. I’m damn glad I didn’t read it when it first came out, because Fraser left readers hanging for 3 books and a few years before he wrote the packet that directly follows Flash for Freedom. Evil, evil man!

If no one’s worked this out I’m a Joss Whedon fan, and I will occasionally use Jossisms here. I said that to explain the next little bit. The Flashman’s don’t really contain a single bad guy as such. It’s generally whoever is trying to kill Harry, and he certainly knows how to get people’s backs up. Villains don’t often appear for more than one book at a time, although there is an exception to this in Flashman at the Charge and Flashman in the Great Game. Flash for Freedom contains the first appearance of a character who in 'Joss speak' is the series’ equivalent of a ‘big bad’. I shall say no more until I get to the introduction of said character, but you have been warned.

This is also where you first run into issues with publication order versus chronological order. Flash for Freedom picks up where Royal Flash left off, but to be strictly chronological you should read Flashman's Lady and Flashman and the Mountain of Light, which cover the years in between the first part of Royal Flash and the final two thirds.

That’s about all I can really come up with, join me tomorrow when the fun really begins!

Lex Trent Versus The Gods by Alex Bell

I like inventive YA books that take familiar mythology and twist them to create new worlds and interesting concepts. I like caper stories. I like stories that focus on cocky anti heroes like thieves and conmen. With a list like that I should have been right into Lex Trent Versus The Gods, Alex Bell’s YA debut.

It contains an interesting setting; a world split into two halves, the Lands Above, inhabited by those who are not Gods, and the Lands Below, curiously in an inversion of the regular trope, inhabited by the Gods. It was hard to pin down exactly what time period the author was aiming for, it seemed to shift depending on where the action was. Some settings were medieval in origin and others resembled the 19th century, there was also a mention of action figures and plastic bags, which come from the 20th century, but the rest of the non magical technology was largely pre industrial. The ‘hero’ of the piece is Lex Trent, an insufferably cocky, amazingly lucky thief/conman. In an effort to escape justice and under a powerful enchantment Lex is used as the ‘player’ by his Goddess the Lady Luck, along with his reluctant former employer, the straight laced and highly moral lawyer Mr Schmidt, in a game the Gods play amongst each other for their own amusement using mortals as their pieces.

It’s a cool idea and the setting allows for all sorts of fun; a village of fairy godmothers, a magical hat, an enchanted flying ship, Alex Bell gave her imagination full reign with this one, she mined Greek mythology quite heavily and there were also elements of Paul Stewart’s and Chris Riddell’s Edge Chronicles, especially in the naming of some of the creatures and the idea of the worlds being tethered to each other via a series of ladders.

Given all these elements I should have loved Lex Trent Versus The Gods and should be happily devouring it’s sequel (Lex Trent: Fighting With Fire) by now. Why didn’t this happen? Mainly because of Lex himself. The character is a seventeen year old thief/conman, somewhat in the mould of a young Locke Lamora or Raymond Feist’s Jimmy the Hand, but after initially appealing to me, he proved to not have the charm of the other two, and I couldn’t warm to him. He starts out incredibly cocky and willing to stab anyone in the back to get ahead, and that’s how he ends up. Despite multiple opportunities to change and his greatest strengths (arrogance, duplicity) also being shown up to be his greatest weaknesses, the character never alters and consequently remains rather shallow and one dimensional. I found his unwilling accomplice Mr Schmidt a far more interesting and layered character (now a book about him may be really worth reading). I had hoped Lex may change, but he never did, and seems destined to continue in the same vein in the sequel. Another small nit pick was the lack of a strong female character, aside from Lady Luck, and she doesn’t really classify as a main character, there are remarkably few women in Lex Trent Versus The Gods, it would have been nice to have a female version of Lex to slap him down or best him once or twice. The opportunity was there to do this with Lex’s twin brother, but it wasn’t taken, and Lucius was used as Lex’s whipping boy for most of the book.

I realise I’m not the target audience, but I’ve read YA with more multi layered and far more likeable protagonists in the past, it may be that I’m comparing Lex Trent Versus The Gods unfavourably with my last few reads, which were books that grabbed me early on and refused to let me go until I completed them. I was genuinely reluctant to put those books down and kept going back to them every chance I got, I unfortunately didn’t get that with Lex Trent Versus The Gods.