Captain Alatriste

Captain Alatriste
Arturo Perez-Reverte
Weidenfeld and Nicolson
320 pages. $29.95

Finding a new novelist whose fresh approach to writing, character and plot makes his or her work hard to put down is like finding a new love, or a rare opal – something to be treasured.

And so it is for this jaded historical fiction aficionado upon chancing on Captain Alatriste by Spanish journalist and author Arturo Perez-Reverte.

Captain Diego Alatriste is a sword for hire in 17th-century Madrid. Formerly a soldier in the Spanish Army, he is available should someone need a skilled blade and nerves of steel to accomplish nasty tasks.

He becomes unwittingly embroiled in a power struggle within the Spanish Court when the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Buckingham arrive from England to woo the Spanish King’s sister.
The story is told by the Captain’s teenage ward, Inigo Balboa, who is one of the ensemble of lively characters who are the friends and enemies of Captain Alatriste.

Inigo goes on to save the Captain’s life from the deadly Italian assassin Gualaterio Malatesta.

The lively writing has not suffered in translation from Spanish, mixing action with acute characterisation and insight into the fictional and historical figures.

– David Sibley

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