Captain Alatriste

By Arturo Pérez-Reverte

Translated by Margaret Sayers Peden

Putnam Adult, 2005

Reviewed by Robert Rhodes

Captain Alatriste, the first of five projected swashbuckling historical novels by Arturo Pérez-Reverte (The Fencing Master), introduces the titular character and, as importantly in the author's conception, the elegance and decadence of seventeenth-century Spain.

The tale is chronicled by Inigo Balboa, the son of Alatriste's dead comrade-in-arms, whom Alatriste adopts to fulfill a wartime promise. After returning from the Flemish battles, Alatriste has begun living hand-to-mouth as a hired swordsman in 1620s Madrid, where, Inigo relates, "a man had to fight for his life on a street corner lighted by the gleam of two blades." Shortly after Inigo's arrival in the city, Alatriste, freshly out of debtors' prison, is offered a lucrative but peril-fraught commission involving the ambush of two mysterious Englishmen. When Alatriste's code of honor intervenes, he and Inigo find themselves embroiled in a conspiracy among the most powerful entities in Spain.

Pérez-Reverte's writing is brisk and clear; it moves the tale along swiftly, pausing only--though sometimes frustratingly--to elaborate upon points of culture or the biography of some historical luminary. (Inigo and Alatriste occasionally cross paths with celebrated poets and playwrights.) Peden's translation likewise seems smooth and deserves credit for attempting to preserve both a sense of meaning and rhyme in several verses attributed to the aforementioned luminaries.

The author's economy and pacing, however, open the novel to criticism on two fronts. First, the story itself is lean and straightforward, consisting of the characters' introductions; the commission; the ambush; and Alatriste's subsequent efforts to survive. In this regard, Inigo's historical elaborations sometimes feel like page-padding and the entire tale nothing more than a prologue for the remainder of the series. (Indeed, Inigo candidly notes that the enemies made in this adventure have much more villainy to accomplish.) Second, Inigo's narrative portrays few, if any, characters with more than passing complexity and depth. Contrary to various blurbs, Alatriste's demeanor and choices make him less an endearing, innovative character than another rehashing of the hero whose frosty bearing never entirely hides his warm and honest heart.

The sheer energy of the tale, however, and the vividness of Inigo's Madrid reduce these to minor flaws. Captain Alatriste is a quick and worthwhile undertaking, especially for those enchanted by the wit, dangerousness, and full-bloodedness of the past.








As a bonus, the second tale, Purity of Blood, has recently been released in translation.


Also, look for the Spanish-language film Capitán Alatriste, starring the fluent Viggo Mortensen (The Lord of the Rings trilogy), to be released later this year.