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63 of 67 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Monsieur D'Artagnan, meet Capitan Alatriste, July 5, 2005
I picked up Arturo Perez-Reverte's "Captain Alatriste" recently. I put another recent book down while I read the first couple of chapters, just to get a feel for the book. I ended up reading "Captain Alatriste" in virtually one sitting. The other book was placed on hold. I consider that high praise.
Captain Alatriste is set in Madrid, Spain in the early 17th-century. The Spanish Armada had already been defeated but Spain was still the world's greatest superpower. The Captain is recently home from fighting in Flanders in the Dutch war for independence from Spain. He has come home because of a serious wound that has left him unfit for the military. However, and like many of veterans of Spain's wars, he is fit enough to eke out a meager living as something of a gun, or sword, or knife for hire. He collects debts, avenges the honor of cuckolded husbands, and even kills for the right price. He is very good at his job.
The story is narrated by Inigo, the son of one of Alatriste's friends who died in combat while fighting alongside Alatriste. Inigo is sent to Madrid by his impoverished mother, to work for Alatriste. As Inigo notes with some irony, if the mother did not know how the Captain earned a living. The style of the narration is reminiscent of Watson's narratives in Sherlock Holmes.
The plot is rather simple and evokes memories of the plot lines of the swashbuckling books of yesteryear. Alatriste is summoned to meet with some mysterious, yet clearly influential people. He is hired to waylay two young British civilians on their way to Madrid. He receives conflicting information about the extent of the damage he is to inflict on the young men. Partnered up with a sinister accomplice the assault does not go according to plan. Alatriste is swiftly embroiled in the political intrigues that swirl around the Spanish royal court. Danger lurks everywhere. It would reveal too much of the plot to say much more but events careen rapidly until they reach the inevitable climax.
I think it fair to say that Reverte has not invented a new genre. Reverte honors the basic outlines of the romantic swashbuckling novel. A man of honor (and yes there is honor amongst hired guns) gets swept up, and almost swept awa in a sea of political intrigue. The corruption of the court and its courtiers is a given. In essence, the individual takes on a society that is morally bankrupt or rapidly on its way there. So although there is nothing uniquely new here, I think it also fair to say that Reverte does justice to the genre. The story is well written and fresh even if it follows a tried and true formula. Reverte does an excellent job making the streets, and street-life of 17th-century Madrid seem realistic. Reverte also has a flair for describing the changing status of Spain as a world power. He writes with clarity, of Spain's status (even after the Armada) or image to the world as the world's great superpower while conveying with great skills the internal corruption and decay that would soon topple Spain from those exalted heights.
Margaret Sayers Peden's translation seems very skillful. Captain Alatriste is filled with bits of poetry from Alatriste's group of friends. Poetry may be the most difficult work to translate while retaining the power of the words used in the original language. Yet the poems as translated by Pedens retain a certain gracefulness that is often lost in translation. This makes the book that much more satisfying to someone reading Reverte in English.
Captain Alatriste is a fast-paced enjoyable romp that can trace its literary heritage back to the likes Scaramouche, Captain Blood, and the Three Musketeers. It is a perfect book to read on a summer afternoon (or a winter evening for that matter).
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33 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
a fantastic read in spite of some frustrations I had, May 16, 2005
A veteran of the Flemish Wars, the brave and gallant Captain Triste has now been reduced to hiring out his sword. In this first installment, the Captain, along with an Italian mercenary, has been hired by two masked men of obvious wealth and power to "scare" two Englishmen, and to steal their belongings -- especially all their papers and documents. But when the more powerful of the two masked men leaves the room, the Captain and the Italian are told that their actual orders are to kill the Englishmen. The new orders make no difference to the Italian, but this change in instruction makes the Captain uneasy, especially when they come from the President of the Holy Tribunal of the Inquisition, Fray Emilio Bocanegra. But the Captain has little choice: he needs the money and doesn't have the luxury of going against the wishes of the tribunal. On the night of the attack however, the behaviour of the Englishmen, makes the Captain realise that these Englishmen are not merely two ordinary travelers and he puts a halt to the whole thing, earning himself the enmity of the Italian and the tribunal. And once the identities of the Englishmen are revealed and their purpose for being in Spain, Captain Alatriste realises that he has put himself in the middle of court politics, that the likelihood of surviving this mess is slim and that his enemies, who think that he has betrayed them, implacable and deadly...
As has been already noted, Arturo Perez-Reverte's "Captain Alatriste" is for the reader who enjoys a good swashbuckling read that's deeply imbued with the history and spirit of early 17th century Spain. However, I'd have to say that it is not the most breathtakingly fast paced read, because things do sag a little about a third way from the end, as our whimsical narrator, Captain Alariste's page, Inigo Balboa, goes into great detail in order to give the reader an idea about the history, politics and culture of Spain in the 1600s. This, in itself, is not a detraction. But because it came right about the time when things picked up and became rather exciting and suspenseful, the break in the "action" in order to give a more vivid picture of Spain at that moment, felt like an intrusion. Which was a rather strange reaction for someone like me to have because I for one always appreciate it when an author takes the time and effort to paint in the historical realities of the moment. The problem was that "Captain Alatriste" is the first installment in a series of adventures, and it is a short novella. And because it is the first installment in a series of five adventures, the author spends quite a bit of time setting things up for future books -- the politics and intrigues of the period, as well as thumbnail sketches of the various characters who figure in this adventure, and who will obviously figure in the subsequent adventures. So that what actually occurs in "Captain Alatriste" is a very short accounting of how the gallant Captain manages to make so many enemies, and yet survives to fight another day. And as I noted all this is great fun and makes for very enthralling reading. However, the narrator's musings and ruminations do get in the way, especially when they come at the point where the Captain is about to face another attempt on his life, and all I wanted was to read on, instead of which I was treated to a few pages of stanzas from the period. And while this added to the charm of the novel, I found myself skimming these bits in order to get to the "action." All in all, however, "Captain Alatriste" was a very fantastic read, and one that I would recommend wholeheartedly to anyone who enjoys heroic historical novels. I just cannot believe however, that I have to wait till January of 2006 to read the next Captain Alatriste installment!
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Left me wanting more!, May 11, 2005
This is a wonderful read for anyone who loves Dumas, Sabatini, and the rest of the swashbuckler canon. Perez-Reverte gives us all the classic elements: a devious political plot, a sword-swinging hero (hooray!), a few eminently slimy villains (boo!), and a colorful cast of minor characters.
There's also a terrific sense of mood and place. The tone is introspective--the narrator is an older man remembering his youth--and the wealth of detail makes seventeenth-century Spain spring vividly to life. The level of literary ability is unusually high; kudos to both the author and to the translator.
There are only two shortcomings in _Captain Alatriste_. First, our hero (the eponymous captain) is rather passive throughout the story. He lets events come to him, rather than taking an active part. Second, much of the book seems to be set-up for later volumes in the series. That's not wholly a bad thing; it certainly made me eager to read the next volume. But it does lend the book a faintly unfinished quality.
Those kvetches aside, I can heartily recommend _Captain Alatriste_ to anyone who likes swordfights, historical novels, or both. And if you don't . . . try it anyway. You might find yourself sucked in.
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