Customer Reviews

Captain from Castile

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I love this book completely. I found it in a used bookstore when I was thirteen (1993) and completely fell under its spell. It's an incredibly EPIC and rich tale, following Pedro de Vargas from the Spanish Inquisition at home to the New World, with lots of drama and swashbuckling in between. I must have read this yearly through early high school. However, it has probably sat on my shelf for the last 6 or 7 years, which is a tragedy. (Confession time: I am a NUT for historical epics, in both literature and film, I love the grandure, the sweeping scale, the broad vistas). Recently, I was gripped by a need to partake in something EPIC so I pulled this off the shelf and it's been such a delightful ride, again. I've been long enough removed from the story that, while it is familiar, I am still in suspense for all but the largest of plot twists. I'm so glad that this is being published again. This was written in the 40s and deserves a chance at a new audience.

After re-reading this recently, I found that it is even BETTER than I remembered. The story is so rich and complex...warm fuzzies! I stayed up WAY TOO LATE last night trying to get past all the "tense" moments so I could get some sleep. UG! But then, there were only twenty pages left so I stopped because I didn't want it to be over just yet. It was very interesting seeing the 16th Century Spaniards' sentiments toward the Native Americans, and then Shellabarger (the author) as an "enlightened" 1930's male trying to justify/explain them. Yet, the author had NO ISSUE with his characters' treatment of women. While several of the female characters are much more than dish rags (yay!) the concept of beating a woman into obedience is treated as an acceptable solution. I had forgotten that part and how it had rankled me during my readings of this a dozen years ago. Still, it's a tiny 2 page blight on a 500 page great adventure.

...you'll love this book! I have to agree with "No from Seattle." This is one of my five all-time favorites as well. I first read it about 35 years ago when I was a kid, and have re-read it probably 5-6 times since (it's pretty intense and not a once-a-year read). Its compelling characters, graphic and historically accurate account of the Inquisition and the Conquest, heroes and villains, tough hombres and scoundrels, are no less real to me now than they were 35 years ago. Pedro de Vargas has been my archetypical hero since my first read, and few others have matched or exceeded him in my mind. Cortez was every bit as complex in reality as he is portrayed in the book, and the Conquistadores' audacity and greed in believing that a few hundred men could conquer a martial civilazation was realistically and breathtakingly portrayed. The period in Tenochtitlan is portrayed in a detail rarely seen anywhere else, including in histories I've been inspired to read as a result of this book. The account of the Sad Night was grim, desperate, and exciting. The author's descriptions of the Aztecs, a tough warrior race with a strange mixture of brutality and beauty, gave me a much better sense of the high culture present in North America when the Europeans arrived. And of course we can't forget the romantic storyline - enough to satisfy any romance addict. Be warned - the movie doesn't really do the book justice: it only covers about the first half of the story, with a contrived ending, and Tyrone Power was a little too old and a little too wooden to play Pedro de Vargas with conviction. But don't let that stop you from reading this book! It has to be one of the all-time great adventure stories.

"On the evening of June 28th, 1518, young Pedro de Vargas, aged nineteen, confessed his sins of the month to Father Juan Mendez."
So begins Captain from Castile, a great adventure set in Renaissance era Spain. Pedro de Vargas is an eminently likable young man who gets by through quick thinking and a deft hand. The story is quick paced, taking the reader on a journey that leaps from imprisonment in the dungeons of the Inquisition, to the invasion and conquest of Mexico to intrigues in the court of Emperor Charles V. The treatment of the native populations may come across as dated but definitely true to the views of the 1500s. This is pure swashbuckling action written at a time when Tyrone Power and Errol Flynn ruled the box office. Swashbuckler fans won't be disappointed with this book.

This intriguing novel immediately propels the reader into the life of a young and courageous Spaniard who sacrifices everything he owns for a chance to find honor and treasure in the New World. Each adventure, from the escape from the Spanish Inquisition to the conquest of Tenochtitlan (Mexico City), seems so real that you feel as if you were there alongside the characters, fighting for a common cause. This novel offers a vivid and accurate depiction of the Conquest of Mexico, the atrocities of the Spanish Inquisition, and a comparison between the "pagan savages" of the New World and the supposedly superior and religious conquistadors. The excitement of battle is also intertwined with an enthralling, romantic story line.
Although this book would be fantastic with only its compelling story line and breathtaking adventure, it is enriched by a profound and universal philosophy that questions and defines such concepts as love, friendship, racism, and religion. Captain from Castile is an inspiring and enthralling novel that I would equally recommend as an adventure, a romance, a historical and cultural depiction, or a deeper, almost philosophical piece. I found it a book that was hard to put down, yet so absorbing that when I reached the final page, I wished that the book was longer so that I might remain in the story a few moments longer.

I came to the novel "Captain" by something of a back door. Years ago I saw the screen version and loved it. As a matter of fact, I first read Prescott's history as a teenager and have been entranced with the Conquest ever since. In the last number of years I decided to write and, being a true aficionado of Mexican history, I explored the possibility of writing about the Conquest. Surely, I thought, there has been abundant English-language fiction written on this, one of the most phenomenal conquests in history. I was wrong. Except for Schellabarger, there seem to have been few novels written on the Conquest...from the Spanish point of view.

Having decided to write on the Conquest and, recognizing that Schellabarger and I would necessarily be walking on the same ground and contending with the same people--and recognizing that my novel[s] must be entirely unique--I purchased his book and read it thoroughly and critically. I believe I succeeded and my novels, "Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God", are the result. Are my insights and is my writing as good as Schellabargers'? I obviously can't answer that question myself. It's up to the reader.

My lead character, Rodrigo de la Pena, is a far darker character than Schellabarger's Pedro. Rodrigo is no "Count of Monte Cristo" and his relationships with women and Hernan Cortes are more tortured and complex. This doesn't mean that I don't enjoy Schellabarger's tale. Quite the contrary, I love it and think it is one of the truly great novels.

Ron Braithwaite author of Mexican Conquest novels, "Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"

"The dream, not the realization; effort, not fruition; battle, not victory - these were life." -Fray Bartolome Olmedo (CAPTAIN FROM CASTILE)

The words of Father Olmedo fire the spirit of young Spanish nobleman Pedro de Vargas for glory, riches, fame, and honor in the New World in 1518. Falsely charged with the crime of heresy by The Dominican Inquisitor of Jaen, Father Ignacio de Lora, and the scheming and greedy aristocrat Diego de Silva, Pedro and his family are imprisoned and condemned to suffer unspeakable torture and certain death. From this exciting beginning of CAPTAIN FROM CASTILE we follow Pedro and his two closest friends Juan "Bull" Garcia (recently returned to Spain from the Indies with gold in his purse and adventure in his blood) and Catana Perez (a poor but beautiful dancer and servant girl at the Rosario Inn) as they leave the decadence and corruption of the Old World behind to explore the promise of the New World with Captain General Hernan Cortes and his small Company of Conquistadors. Along the way, from Cuba to the Yucatan Peninsula and then to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, they discover a strange world that is both enchanting and frightening, beautiful and savage, and forge the bond of friendship that will be severely tested in the coming years and will carry them through many harrowing adventures and confrontations with Aztec warriors and Spanish evildoers alike. This is an extremely well-written novel rich in history and full of excitement. I highly recommend it.

A few readers may be put off by the author's portrayal of the indigenous people of Mexico during the 1500s as being brutal and bloodthirsty. The Aztecs did practice human sacrifice by tearing the beating hearts out of their captors and then cannibalizing their corpses. One reviewer expressed a concern that Samuel Shellabarger condoned the thrashing of a wife by her husband. In the 16th century, women were considered to be chattel and fathers and husbands had the power of life and death over them. Mr. Shellabarger's novel brings to light the realities of the time.

It's surprising this novel has gone out of print. It's an adventure book with love, war, and honor, everything that makes the genre great. It's also a very well-researched book set in the era of early Spanish exploration of the New World in the 16th century. Our hero is a young Spanish aristocrat, Pedro de Vargas. His family is falsely accused and imprisoned by the Inquisition. He is forced to flee the country, so he sails to Cuba, joins the ranks of General Cortez, and earns a reputation for valor and skill. Full of romance as well, the book is not necessarily of interest only to those who enjoy history or action stories. De Vargas navigates through interesting straits as he is forced to decide between marrying the young noblewoman he courted as a youth and a likable but disreputable girl who keeps cropping up in his adventurous life. I've read this book over and over. If it ever becomes available again, you're sure to enjoy it.

This book is so good I rate it one of the 5 best I have ever read. It is pure adventure and will transport you to a time when a young Spaniard went to a new world, battled evil men from the Spanish inquisition, and fell in love with a beautiful senorita. Possibly the best adventure novel ever written. My other favorite books? All the Kings Men, The Hobbit, War and Peace (I haven't found #5 yet).

I picked this book up for twelve cents (yes, twelve cents) at a used book sale, and it was by far the best twelve cents I have ever spent. I had previously read Shellabarger's Prince of Foxes while on a swashbuckler kick last summer, and so had reasonably high expectations for Captain from Castille. This book went well above and beyond my expectations. I find it hard to express just how good this book was. The reason I like the genre of swashbuckler books is that in them one finds the truest expression of the unbridled youthful imagination. From sword fights and pirates to code of honor and witty dialogue, this genre is the embodiment of the imagination of every young man. I have rarely, if ever, encountered a book which so stirs this sort of imagination as this book does. I think Shellabarger rises above even Dumas in this category. I am still amazed at the greatness of this book. How it is so unknown is beyond my means of explanation.

Captain from Castille is the account of the adventures of Pedro de Vargas, a young Spanish nobleman from Castille. He encounters the corrpution of the Spanish Inquisition, flees to the newly discovered New World, and joins Cortez in his war against the Aztecs. I have never read such an accurate depiction the journey of an innocent boy into a worldly-wise man as Shellabarger has created in this book. The transition is so smooth and seamless that it is not until the end of the book that you suddenly realize how far he has developed. It is only then that you can look back and see how incidents slowly shaped Pedro's thinking. In respect to innocence, Shellabarger seems to me to be exactly half-way between the childlike innocence of Robert Louis Stevenson and the crafty/worldy Dumas. Stevenson's books were born of the imagination of a young man confined to his mind by illness. Dumas' were the product of real-world experience. Shellabarger has sucessfully combined the two, managing to retain the innocent imagination of Stevenson along with the real-world practicality of Dumas. Pedro himself makes the journey from the one to the other in this book, and in the end rejects the latter for a newly-understood version of the former.

I really have little else to add that has not been said by previous reviewers. A few reviewers have been bothered by some of the chauvinistic remarks in the book, or by the justification of the conquest of the Aztecs. I think they have entirely misunderstood Shellabarger himself to be promoting these things. He was simply writing the book from the perspective of someone living in the 16th century. He actually spent a significant amount of time researching the people, places, and events he wrote about in this book (which is remarkably historically accurate), and what he wrote of those subjects in the book could easily have flowed from the quill of a 16th century writer. The fact that Pedro struggles with the morality of killing the natives, and in some cases tries to prevent it, shows that Shellabarger understood the problem, but purposely wrote it from the perspective of a Spanish man fighting the Aztecs. To those who decry the savage portrayal of the Aztecs as lying human-sacrificers: well, it's actually quite accurate. It is hardly fair to call Shellabarger culturally insensitive for accurately depicting the Aztecs.

In short, if you like swashbucklers in the style of Dumas, Stevenson, Sabatini, etc., you need to find a copy of this book. For a long time The Three Musketeers has reigned (in my opinion) as the best swashbuckling book, and the Captain from Castille is its first significant challenger. If Shellabarger's other books are nearly as good as the Prince of Foxes and this book, he well deserves to be enshrined alongside Dumas in the lists of great authors.

Overall grade: A+

I have loved this book since I was a teeny weeny little girl. I totally agree with everything that has been previously said about how good it is. It's accurate, it's a headlong read - you can hardly put it down once you get rolling. I had one of the original hardcovers (it was my aunt's), plus a falling-apart paperback which I just gotta replace. True, the movie does not do it justice although it is real, real good - I think this was Tyrone Power's role of a lifetime. The music is now considered a classic and the cinematography is utterly gorgeous (filmed in Mexico with all the mountains and flora and fauna, etc.). I told my daughter to bury me with a copy of this book... This is truly a movie they should absolutely re-make (and get it right) - anyway, more later!