Chronologically, this is a tale of Flashman's early career, he is a young man here, this adventure taking place at roughly the same time as "Flashman's Lady." Actually, of course this book is a late entry in the series, 9th in the 12 book sequence.
This means that the Harry Flashman here is the heroic version of the character, featuring in the later books. He evolves in the dozen volumes from a character recognisable as the horrible bully from "Tom Brown", a cowardly, casually racist two face rapist, to ,well to the man we meet in this book. Here, Flashman is given an extremely difficult task which he performs brilliantly with intelligence and perserverence. The closing scene shows him giving up a king's ransom to regain his honour. On this showing, despite claiming several times to be a coward and liar, Harry Flashman deserves the accolades heaped on him...at one time he even fantasises about making love to...his own wife! Oh, Harry. It'll be pipe and slippers next!
If we can forgive Flashman's full on conversion to hero, there is much to admire here in a fast moving description of mighty battles and political manouvres. MacDonald Fraser manages to keep everything clear and brings the characters to life. The historical analysis, as always in these books, is interesting and comprehensive.