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Arturo Pérez-Reverte

Pirates of the Levant: A Novel (Captain Altriste) Paperback – July 26, 2011

by Arturo Perez-Reverte (Author)

75 ratings

Book 5 of 5: Captain Alatriste

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The sixth novel in the international bestselling adventures of Captain Alatriste, set in a time when the only thing needed to summon hell on earth—or sea—was a Spaniard and his sword.

Accompanied by his faithful foster son, Íñigo, Captain Alatriste accepts a job as a mercenary aboard a Spanish galleon. The ship sets sail from Naples on a journey that will take them to some of the most remote—and wretched—outposts of the empire: Morocco, Algeria, and finally to Malta for a stunning and bloody battle on the high seas that will challenge even the battle-hardened Alatriste's resolve.

Now seventeen, Íñigo is almost ready to leave Alatriste, his foster father and fellow soldier. But will age and experience bring wisdom, or is he likely to repeat many of his mentor's mistakes?

Print length

384 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Plume
Publication date

July 26, 2011
Dimensions

5.3 x 0.8 x 8 inches
ISBN-10

9780452297302
ISBN-13

978-0452297302
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for the Captain Alatriste series

“Equipped with a quick-witted, charismatic hero and much to provoke and goad him, Mr. Pérez-Reverte has the makings of a flamboyantly entertaining series. Captain Alatriste ends with a wicked flourish, an evil laugh, and a strong likelihood that the best is yet to come.”—The New York Times

“Pérez-Reverte’s moody, wounded semi-hero—part cantankerous mercenary, part man of honor in a roiling society of pomp, pistols, and provocation—is a whole-cloth invention out ofa17th-century Madrid that has led to a 21st-century literary phenomenon....The clash and dash are thrilling; the swordplay is a bonus.”—Entertainment Weekly

“High-level intrigue and double-dealing in the tradition of Alexandre Dumas.”—Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Though Pérez-Reverte fills the swashbuckling story with nonstop action, Captain Alatriste is also a contemplation of life and death, which adds depth to the good, unclean fun.”—The Miami Herald

“Pérez-Reverte’s pacing is swift and suspenseful, the narrative voice both crisply cinematic and true to the setting of seventeenth-century Spain...a feast of dark historical detail and believable danger.”—The Denver Post

About the Author

Arturo Pérez-Reverte’s novels have captivated readers around the world and earned him a reputation as “the master of the intellectual thriller” (Chicago Tribune). Originally a war correspondent, he now writes fiction full-time. His novels include the Captain Alatriste series, The Flanders Panel, The Club Dumas, The Fencing Master, The Seville Communion, The Nautical Chart, The Queen of the South, and What We Become. His books have been published in fifty countries.He is a member of the Spanish Royal Academy. He lives near Madrid, Spain.

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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0452297303
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Plume; Reprint edition (July 26, 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780452297302
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0452297302
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.4 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.3 x 0.8 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #379,369 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #183 in Spanish & Portuguese Literature
- #1,470 in Sea Adventures Fiction (Books)
- #1,825 in Sea Stories

Customer Reviews:
75 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		70%
4 star		18%
3 star		8%
2 star		5%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

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David M.

One of the best in the series so far!

Reviewed in the United States on October 21, 2012

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If you have not read any of Reverte's "Captain Alatriste" novels, you are really missing out on some of the best historical fiction ever written and this latest volume is no exception. Vivid with details great and small and superbly translated from Reverte's native Spanish,the book follows the adventures of Capt. Diego Alatriste, swordsman par excellence, soldier and poet-at-heart and his young protoge Ignio Balboa continue as they find themselves far from their favored Madrid as hired men-at-arms, guarding a fleet of ships as they travel the Mediteranean Sea in search of fortune and safety from the many enemies seeking them in Spain in 1628. Along the way they meet many old friends, find new allies and fight off pirates, Moors, Turks and crooked gamblers while winning and loosing their savings more then once. The battle scenes, while few, are engrossing and well researched, as well as the techniques used in sailing those early sailing ships in battle. The characters are realistic and well done, the dialog witty and thought provoking with bits of poetry by Ingio's and the Captains's favorite authors, enhancing rather then detracting the story. Reverte's attention to detail is astounding and gives the reader the feeling of what life was really like almost 400 years ago in post Renaisance Europe

My one complaint would be this: if you have not read the previous Alatriste novels, then there are many references that could be confusing since they have occurred in the earlier novels. While this does not deter from the overall novel ti could lead to not fully understanding some of the character's actions. In looking at it another way, it just may induce you to read the previous Alatristed adventures!

4 people found this helpful

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Blue in Washington (Barry Ballow)

Alatriste and Inigo as marines - one of the best books in the series

Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2012

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I'm a fan of this series, but "Pirates..." just blew me away for the breadth of its history, character interaction and terrific naval battle episodes. We're talking serious swash-buckling here. There's something of Hemingway (in my opinion) about Perez-Reverte's writing that evokes places, environment and characters like few other authors of fiction at work today. Of course, you have to give his translator some credit for the near flawless language that comes through in the English versions.

As is often the case in the Alatriste series, this story is a series of action/interaction vignettes with narrative bridges that set the context. In "Pirates..." Alatriste and his ward apprentice Inigo Balboa have been working as mercenaries aboard a Spanish galley in the Mediterranean, chasing down Barbary, Turkish and other renegade pirates for modest booty. When you read the very authentic-sounding descriptions of how they lived day-to-day, it's clear that it was a very tough life, carrried out to a large degree with a sense of serving a feckless Spanish monarchy, with perhaps a greater sense of service to personal honor. Author Perez-Reverte's description of the Spanish mentality of the period (circa early 17th Century) seems pitch perfect.

Alatriste's adventures in the novel range from Ceuta and Oran in North Africa to Naples and eventually, the Aegean and Eastern Med. The book concludes with a horrific sea battle that is one of the most palpable and exciting that I have encountered in a long time. The author's long experience as a war correspondent serves him well in these contexts. This novel stands alone if you haven't been following the series; it is otherwise a must read for anyone who has become addicted to Alatriste and company. Really one of the best yet.

Other reviews have for some reason suggested that this is the last book in the Alatriste series. Happy to say that this is simply not the case. There is already a sequel out in Spanish and one or two others in the pipeline.

3 people found this helpful

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JMJMJMJM

A Swashbuckler with Class!

Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2019

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What makes the book enthralling to me is the story, the characters, the setting. This is a "pirate" story without anything to compare. The author finds names for the characters that are witty and creative. This is just the names! The situations are equally creative and unique. I am still reading the book but I look forward to what other adventures Inigo and Captain Alatriste will be thrust into.

One person found this helpful

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TheEngineer

My Favorite

Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2011

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Classic Alatriste with excellent writing, poetry and a sweet nostalgia that you can almost feel on each page. This is my favorite in the series. In all the other novels, there is a clear plot and the pacing reminds you of reading an Alexander Dumas novel. Brisk, adventure and camaraderie.

In this novel, very little remains of the naivete of youth. The truth of life and its loneliness is more apparent. There is not a clear grand mission but the true variety, chance and mundane existence of life. I promise you you will come to love this as time passes.

I thank Arturo Perez-Reverte for this joy he has given us all. He is a former war correspondent and at times you can peak beneath the surface and glimpse the absurdity and hopelessness of life that he depicts. But as Alatriste says "A man must be true to one thing". For him it is his code of honor which includes a fealty to his king. We should ask ourselves in these modern times "What is the one thing you are true to?" And you cannot say yourself for that does no one else any good. That is what this novel asks me. Is Igno true to his love, Angelica? Are you true to your love? Alatriste and Igno exhaust their savings on redeeming a comrade. Would you? The Moor follows them and dies in a strange land and for a strange flag. Would you sacrifice all to a cause that is not even your own?

I love this book for the questions it asks in a very subtle way. These questions and the answers will haunt me for far longer than memory of this novel.

5 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

inigo, alatriste, and Perez-Reverte at sea

Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2013

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I didn't know whether to give this 3 or 5 stars, so I settled on 4.

The Alatriste tales have always had a serving of nostalgia and a measure of melancholy, but in this episode the melancholy is all-consuming. I almost felt masochistic beating through the pages as our heroes went from one horrible circumstance to another. What kept me going was a faith in Perez-Reverte and a sense that perhaps there are too many books glorifying war, and too many chikenhawks circling my country, and that perhaps some despair is appropriate.

2 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

JPS

The other front

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 8, 2013

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This is the sixth book in the series of Captain Alatriste, the "Spanish Musketeer" and his former servant, now his fellow-soldier Inigo Balboa. The action takes place in the Mediterranean this time, allowing Arturo Perez-Reverte to continue his tour of the Spanish Superpower's Empire.

This time, we go to North Africa first, and to Ceuta and Oran in particular. Again, the theme of despair is present, as the garrisons of the two outposts are more or less left to their own devices, hardly paid and surrounded by hostile populations, and if the populations were not hostile to begin with, they quickly become so as the unpaid garrisons' soldiers raid them rather indiscriminately, and with little provocation.

Then, with the galley on which they are serving, they reach Malta, having managed to extract two of Alatriste's friends - an old one and a new one - but I will say no more about them to avoid spoilers. Here again, you get treated to a tour of La Valette, both the old city which survived the siege, and the new one build just after and even more formidable. Our heroes, of course, get into a rather nasty fight against a bunch of Venetians. This is unsurprising given that throughout the period Venice's attitude towards the Turks was rather ambiguous, and Spain was its big rival in the Mediterranean. Venice was ready to go quite far in its efforts to preserve its maritime possessions in the Mediterranean (and Crete, in particular) and its trading relationships with the East. If this meant a policy of appeasement towards the Great Turk, then so be it.

You also get glimpses of the fearless Knights of Malta (or of some of them, at least) and of Naples, the main Spanish base where our heroes finally arrive, and its Spanish garrison (and whole Tercio was stationed there. Then our heroes take part in yet another raising expedition against the Turks with a rather superb (and suitably gory and desperate, as per usual!) naval battle between the two squadrons.

As usual, the author's talent for setting the characters into a well-drawn and accurate historical context is first-class. All across the Mediterranean, and for decades after the battle of Lepanto, the sea warfare went on, yet this second front is generally much less well known than the also interminable war in Flanders against the Dutch (and their numerous and varied supporters, including the English, of course).

As usual also, the story is liberally sprinkled with quotations from the Spanish literature of the time, with Cervantes taking, rather unsurprisingly, the pole position since he had himself on the King's galleys and taken part in the battle of Lepanto. Life at sea on these galleys is also depicted with Reverte's usual vividness, with living conditions being rather awful.

So, in addition to the usual swashbuckling story, you also get all of this. A free tour to visit some of the Spanish superpower's dominions the Mediterranean, and a taste of what it meant to be one of the soldiers embarked on a Spanish galley fighting for the Faith, King and country against the Ottomans. This was a rather superb treat which was still worth five stars for me.

3 people found this helpful

The Manchurian Candidate

very interesting plot&historical info - recommended

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 6, 2013

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Mr Reverte is one my favourite author, my most favourite novel of him being the "Seville Communion" and "Captain Alatriste" (the first of the Alatriste series).
I recommend the "Pirates" only after having read "Captain Alatriste", "Purity of Blood" and the "Sun over Breda", because the most important is to see Mr Reverte's unique ability to portray his heroes, Captain Alatriste and Captain's young comrade Inigo. They are not just some derring-do heroes. Far from that. They are weary in body and mind and they seem resigned to their fate. So, these three novels are the best intro to the heroe and his hardships (I've read all the Alatriste series).
As for the plot, it is a very interesting fictionalized history (Mr Reverte is always historically accurate), describing, among other things, naval battles in the Mediteranean Sea in 17th century. This novel is enhanced with historical information on the Mediteranean status quo of past centuries.
Although I think it is not the most characteristic novel of the Alatriste series (the most characteristic are the three afforementioned books), it is certainly recommended.

3 people found this helpful

john teneff

great book

Reviewed in Canada on January 1, 2014

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i like the style of arturo perez reverte one of the greatest history novel ever read all his novel are great read it

Amazon Customer

Good read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 10, 2013

Verified Purchase

I have enjoyed all of the captains escapades and this is no exception. Good read for fans of Arturo Perez-Reverte.

One person found this helpful

Graham R. Hill

Continuing saga

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 15, 2011

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There is no doubt that the narrative of this sixth part in the series is episodic, but that structure suits the stage the series has reached where most characters and their motivations are well known (as indeed are much of their futures). What Perez-Reverte is enabled to do thereby is to concentrate on set piece description and introduce new characters and develop relationships between old ones at a pace that suits him and this reader at least.

One person found this helpful

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