NUMBER: 63TITLE: Captain Alatriste
AUTHOR: Arturo Perez-Reverte
STARTED: September 7, 2005
FINISHED: September 18, 2005
PAGES: 253
GENRE: Fiction
FIRST SENTENCE:He was not the most honest or pious of men, but he was courageous.
SUMMARY: [From barnesandnoble.com] It is the height of Spain's celebrated golden century - but beyond the walls of the Royal Palace there is little on the streets of Madrid that glitters. The Invincible Armada has been defeated. The shadow of the Inquisition looms large. And the Thirty Years' War rages on in Flanders. When a courageous soldier of this war, Captain Diego Alatriste, is forced to retire after being wounded in battle, he returns home to live the comparatively tame - though hardly quiet - life of a swordsman-for-hire. In this dangerous city where a thrust of steel settles all matters, there is no stronger blade than Alatriste's." The captain is approached with an offer of work that involves giving a scare to some strangers soon to arrive in Madrid. But on the night of the attack, it becomes clear that these aren't ordinary travelers - and that someone is out for their blood. What happens next is the first in a series of riveting twists, with implications that will reverberate throughout the courts of Europe.
REASON FOR READING: It jumped out at me at the time.
THOUGHTS: [This is actually the review for my university's paper, The Tower] Spanish author Arutro Perez-Reverte has created a fabulous character in Captain Diego Alatriste, in his novel "Captain Alatriste." Unfortunately this novel, which is meant to be the first in series, lacks the action and suspense the swashbuckler needs to survive. The novel comes off as an extended prologue, but it leaves a small glimmer of hope that the following novels will live up to the masterful and daring lead character.
"Captain Alatriste" begins the tale of a swordsman for hire during the Spanish inquisition. The novel is told primarily from the viewpoint Inigo Balboa, the captain's ward. The book chronicles how Alatriste is hired by Inquisition officials to assassinate two foreigners as the enter Madrid. He is accompanied by another swordsman, a swarthy Italian named Gualterio Malatesta who has questionable motives and morals. During the attack, when one of the travelers cries mercy for his friend. Alatriste is able to stop Malatesta before he can finish off one of the foreigners. The action ends up complicating his life more than he could ever foresee. One of the travelers turns out to be the Prince of Wales; he has come to Madrid in order to romance Spain's princess. The story that follows is an uneven narrative that documents how Alatriste is dogged by danger as the men who hired him attempt to silence him - permanently.
Captain Altriste is the strength of the novel. He is an aging soldier whose only source of income is his skill with a sword. Alatriste comes across as an inquisition era James Bond who is always just escaping death. The reader never develops an emotional rapport with the swordsman and thus his escapes from grievous injury are not nearly as exhilarating. Balboa, Alatriste's ward and main companion, comes across as a naive and starry-eyed follower of Alatriste. During the first few pages of the novel, Balboa develops a youthful infatuation for a beautiful lady-in-waiting to the Spanish princess. While this plot line never fully develops in "Captain Alatriste," Balboa constantly implies that the beauty will play a more prominent role in following novels. Aside from Alatriste and Balboa there is an entire cast of characters that are in and out of the story. The plot swirls with so many names that the reader is left dizzy and more than a little bit confused.
Perez-Reverte's writing style is quite different from most American fiction. It has a definite unfamiliar quality to it that helps to set the novel on the streets of Madrid. The author uses an extensive vocabulary to describe his characters and plot lines. Also scattered throughout the novel are poems that the characters spin enhance the depth of the novel. Sadly, they stall the narrative more than they advance it. Perez-Reverte's writing is intricate and rich but it fails to produce a continuously enjoyable novel.
Any reader picking up this book would expect exciting swordfights between Alatriste and his many enemies. Regrettably, they are few and far between. The reader must plod through a quagmire of politics and names to get to these all too infrequent moments of gratification in the book. Perez-Reverte attempts to cram too many characters and back stories into the short novel. While the novel as a whole is uninspiring, the author's story is intriguing enough to leave most readers wondering what will happen to the characters in the rest of the series. "Captain Alatriste" is not worth purchasing but is worth borrowing from a local library.
MISCELLANEOUS: Knowing me, I'll buy the rest of the series anyways.
KEEP/SHARE/CRINGE(?): Keep, at least for now.
RATING: 5/10 [I didn't particularly like it or dislike it; mixed review]
CR: Highlander in Love by Julia London
RN: Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes
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