Capitan Alatriste, El

Description: Action, history and adventure come together like a whirlwind in the unforgettable pages of this first novel in the series "The Adventures of Captain Alatriste", which begins when the brave protagonist accepts a dangerous assignment... "He was not the most honest man or the most pious, but he was a brave man." With these words begins Captain Alatriste , the story of a veteran soldier from the Thirds of Flanders who ekes out a living as a hired swordsman in 17th century Madrid. His dangerous and exciting adventures immerse us breathlessly in the intrigues of a corrupt and decadent Spain, the ambushes in dark alleys between the shine of two steels, the taverns where Francisco de Quevedo composes sonnets between quarrels and bottles of wine, or the corrals of comedies where Lope de Vega's performances end with knives. All this at the hands of endearing and fascinating characters: the young Íñigo Balboa, the implacable inquisitor Friar Emilio Bocanegra, the dangerous murderer Gualterio Malatesta, or the diabolical secretary of the king, Luis de Alquézar. Critics have said... «Arturo Pérez-Reverte, whose previous works include La Reina del Sur , has created Alatriste with evident affection. The author shares an undoubted talent with the swordsman. Captain Alatriste is written with brilliance and an infectious enthusiasm for the genre it attempts to revive..." Janet Maslin, The New York Times «[...]we have as a result a fascinating novel, which grabs you as soon as it begins and holds you until its last page. [...] the novel has subjugated me so strongly that my eyes moved ahead of the text because my heart was in suspense or accelerated due to the random events that happened on the paper.» Santos Sanz Villanueva, The World «Let's say it clearly: Reverte can never be thanked enough for having introduced so many readers to that literature and that story, captivating them with fascinating stories and, due to the fascination that the hero produces, involving them as co-protagonists.» Francisco Rico "The style recreates the language of the Golden Age, with its lexicon, idioms and set phrases, numerous verses and even some Germanic voices, all of this well integrated into a text of extremely effective narrative." Angel Basanta "His narrative wisdom, always so well constructed, so exhaustively detailed, documented and structured, to the point that, in the face of all this, the real story seems weak and sometimes even topical." Rafael Conte