Some works of historical fiction are more "accurate" than others. Some bend and rewrite history to suit their stories, and some try to stay true to historical detail by only inserting fictional characters. George Macdonald Fraser even goes so far as to include endnotes with references to actual books of history. How does knowing that much of the story, besides the outlandish character Flashman, is actual history affect your enjoyment of the book? If you were to pick one or two real historical characters to read about more, which ones would they be?

Flashman often does cowardly and despicable things more fitting a villain than a hero. Why would we condemn this behavior in a villain but excuse, even applaud, it in Flashman?

Do the frequent intrusions by the "editor" in the form of endnotes help you to pretend that Flashman and the Mountain...