| The Reavers | 
 enlarge | Author: George Macdonald Fraser
Publisher: Knopf
Category: Book
List Price: $24.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 63907
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 5.7 x 1.3
ISBN: 0307268101
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780307268105
ASIN: 0307268101
Publication Date: April 22, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
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 The Reavers/George MacDonald Fraser October 15, 2008
Classic over the top GMF. The Reavers draws on three of his previous works, in no particular order: The Steel Bonnets, a serious (yes, serious) history of the border region between Scotland and England in the Tudor era; The Candlemas Road, a novella about the area and era he wrote some years ago; and The Pyrates, a send up on all those 30's Errol Flynn pirate movies. He moves from the late 16th century to the 21st and back again without missing a beat and the anachronisms will leave you in tears, if not totally convulsed with laughter. It's sad that this was his last book, because there will never be any more; at least we can take comfort in the fact he went out on top.
 Disapointment October 11, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I am a Great Fan of Fraser and loved his Flashman series.All of his fans were waiting in high anticipation for his next Flashman book.I was expecting it to be about Flashman and his adventures in Mexico that he refered to in a couple of other stories.The Reavers was a Big let down in so many ways.Other reviewers have compaired it to Pyrats.Pyrats was a pretty straight foreward story with a little interjection by Fraser.The Reavers had a story if you took the time to dig it out from Frasers Ramblings.Some of the sentences did not make sense to me and I had a hard time following the story.A lot of the words I had to look up to find out there meaning.This is the only book by fraser I could not finish.It was more of a chore than a pleasure.I feel very bad that such a great writer had to finish his career with Garbage like this.Fraser created Flashman and then Flashman Created Fraser.To bad he did not go out with a Flash.
 A Farcical Farewell September 18, 2008
Like most others who will pick up this final book from Fraser, I am a longtime devotee of his Flashman series. And the sheer pleasure of reading that series has driven me to seek out and read most of his other fiction and non-fiction over the years (including this book's ancestor, The Pyrates). Of these twenty or so books, this one is clearly the silliest of the lot, and anyone picking it up should be ready for a pretty heavy dose of wink-wink, nudge-nudge.
The book is essentially a farcical rewriting of his earlier novel, The Candlemass Road, complete with many of the same characters and situations. The story is set in the same 16th-century Scottish/English borderlands that Fraser wrote a history of under the title The Steel Bonnets: The Story of the Anglo-Scottish Border Reivers. It concerns a Spanish plot to kidnap King James and replace him with an impostor (and if that sounds familiar, it's because Fraser used the device in Royal Flash). Seeking to foil this plot are an Elizabethan secret agent, a Scottish highwayman, a stunning English noblewoman, and her saucy sidekick.
If this sounds like a delightful historical thriller, well, be warned that Fraser wrote this one with his tongue even more firmly planted in cheek than usual. It brims with modern pop culture references, anachronisms, authorial asides, and over-the-top renderings of thick Scots dialect. None of these bothered me, but plenty of other readers seemed to find some or all of these elements annoying. However, in the preface, Fraser is pretty clear that the book was primarily written to amuse himself, so I'm willing to go along with the ride. Especially since it's the last we're likely to get from such a great storyteller. (Unless, that is, a literary executor manages to uncover one last packet of Flashman adventures....)
Ultimately, a pretty minor and self-derivative work from a very entertaining writer. If approached in the right frame of mind, it should provide a few hours of very light entertainment, and possibly spur the reader to check out some of the true history of the setting.
Insane, hilarious and brilliant. August 8, 2008
This book is a delightful, lunatic romp through a story part Elizabethan, part Hollywood, and part surreal, wonderful insanity. No, it's not Flashman and wasn't meant to be. It's just George MacDonald Fraser letting his hair down and doing the literary equivalent of a cocaine-fueled, head-banging, 4 minute guitar solo. Unfortunately, this joyous frolic turned out to be his swan song, as the old fellow passed away earlier this year. What's great about this book isn't so much the story but the writing. It is the effervescent artistry of a master wordsmith, hilarious and brilliant. What makes it more amazing is that it is the work of an octogenarian. If he could write this well at age 82 or so, the next Flashman novel would have kicked some serious you-know-what. Well, we can only imagine what might have been and enjoy what he's left us. And this is a great final gift.
 A lesser Fraser July 28, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Reavers is not up to the author's Flashman series -- but, then, what can be. He mixes modern sensabilities in a 17th century setting and too numerous authorial asides that impede the otherwise galloping narrative.
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