Flashman at the Charge by George MacDonald Fraser

Flashman at the Charge, written by the late George MacDonald Fraser, was one of the best featuring Fraser's iconic cowardly, lecherous Victorian anti hero. Flashman involvement in the infamous Charge of the Light Brigade is just the beginning.

Flashman at the Charge has our anti hero in England amidst the war drums being beaten for a crusade against Tsarist Russia, which at the time was having a set to with the Ottoman Empire. Flashman, knowing how these things work, suspects that he will be called upon for active service.

While he has no desire to be anywhere near where the cannons roar, Flashman knows that his position in British society and his reputation for past heroics in Afghanistan and India (all undeserved) depend on him doing his part to smite the Tsarist hordes. So, using family connections, he gets himself a desk job with the Board of Ordinance.

Flashman at the Charge would be a dull book if this ploy had succeeded. But Flashman's tendency for mischief and his desire to suck up to his betters finds him headed for the Crimea and that fateful day in the Valley of Death despite himself.

Flashman's adventures give Fraser a wonderful opportunity to give an account-through Flashy's eyes-of one of the most fascinating campaigns of Britain's imperial age. The stalwart heroism of the British soldier was only matched by the total lack of competence of most of that same soldier's Generals. Flashman directs his particular ire toward Lord Raglan, the aged, senile, and overly considerate commander of the expedition and, of course, Lord Cardigan, the pompous ass who led the Light Brigade into destruction and with whom Flashy has already had several run ins.

Indeed it is Flashman's desire for revenge that sets in motion the events that inspired Tennyson's most famous poem.

"Forward the Light Brigade!

Was there a man dismay'd?"