 |
CAPTAIN ALATRISTE
Perez-Reverte wrote the Captain Alatriste seies as a homage to the adventure books
that had been his own initiation into the world of reading as a boy - books such
as Dumas's The Three Musketeers. Captain Alatriste is a swordsman for hire in Spain
in the 1620s - a time when Court intrigue was high and the decadent young king had
dragged the country into a series of disastrous wars. As a hired 'blade', Alatriste
becomes involved in many political plots and must live by his wits. He comes face
to face with hired assassins, court players, political moles, smugglers, pirates
and of course, the infamous Spanish Inquisition... All the stories are told by
Inigo Balboa, Alatriste's young page. The cast of characters also includes Quevedo,
an irrepressible subversive poet who likes to start fights in the local tavern,
the kind-hearted innkeeper and ex-prostitute who shares Alatriste's bed, the elegant
Count of Guadalmedina, the beautiful but deadly Angelica de Alquezar, and a whole
host of underworld figures.
|
|
|
|
