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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
Format: Bargain Price
Label: Plume
Manufacturer: Plume
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 288
Printing Date: November 28, 2006
Publishing house: Plume
Sale Popularity Level: 47386
Studio: Plume
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Product Description:
Arturo Pérez-Reverte is one of the most beloved writers in the world. His bestselling novels, including The Club Dumas and The Queen of the South, have been published in fifty countries and translated into twenty-eight languages. Now, with The Adventures of Captain Alatriste, he delivers a magnificent series, already a million-copy bestseller in Spain, that chronicles the heroic adventures of a seventeenth-century swordsman.
In Purity of Blood, the second novel in the series, the courageous Alatriste is considering rejoining his old regiment to fight in Breda-but his blade leads him to another adventure. A desperate father hires him to rescue his daughter from a convent where a powerful priest is said to be using the girl as his personal concubine. The father has been prevented from legal recourse because the priest has threatened to reveal that the man's family is 'not of pure blood'-is, in fact, of Jewish descent -which will all but destroy the family name. Alatriste agrees to help, and several nights later, under the cloak of darkness, a rescue endeavor is made.
But soon Alatriste discovers that he has become part of a religious and political conspiracy that leads all the way to the highest levels of the Inquisition. When a date is set to burn the man's daughter at the stake, Captain Alatriste springs into action -sword first-setting off a series of twists and turns that will keep readers riveted to the page.
Translation by Margaret Sayers Peden
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Rated by buyers 
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This Captain Alatriste story has the wrong title. It should be, "Inigo Balboa Goes to Jail." However, the hero of the tale is neither Inigo nor the Captain. Rather it is don Francisco de Quevedo, who, like in an old oater western, literally rides into Madrid at the last second to save the boy from being burned alive at the hands of the hateful, fanatical, evil villains of the Inquisition, focused on Jews and "heretics" in all its disgusting, holocaust mentality and conduct.
And, once again (as in other Alatriste novels, the Captain, except for one thrilling knife fight in an alley, does little to move the story forward or contribute to the resolution of the dilemma. In fact, his several errors led to difficult complications for all the good guys. As for bravery, 13-year old Inigo -- alone -- gets the Oscar. There are no other nominees. Alatriste is shown as hardly an able swordsman, hardly smart enough to foresee catastrophe, and so enamored with Inigo as to make mistake after mistake in seeking the boy's release from prison. I remain puzzled as to the source of Alatriste's reputation as an ideal combatant.
While the Captain, Inigo, de Quevedo and others in the large cast of players who colorfully populate the tale, "Purity of Blood" is a novel not about them, but actually about the Spanish Inquisition in the early 1600's. The book furthers Perez-Reverte's long-lasting, continuing strong commentary about the demise of Spanish influence and culture, as it took a slippery slope ride toward oblivion.
True to his career-long theme and style as a novelist, Perez-Reverte does not disappoint here in his scathing and vicious telling (all well-deserved, of course, even if only in a novel) of the corrupt, dastardly Catholic Church, its Inquisition, and the impotence, complicity and incompetence of the then-ruling Spanish officials. I don't know if Perez-Reverte simply -- for his own reasons -- mourns the loss of the real Spain back then or if he just delights in a furious indictment of Spain's embarrassing history of cruelty and stupidity. Nonetheless, this theme of anti-Spanish government and anti-Church everything defines all of his novels. He writes with gusto and believability (even in novel format) from his heart and gut. He's a pleasure to read, of course.
Page 139. "...although all men are capable of good and evil, the worst among them are those who, when they commit evil, do so by shielding themselves in the authority of others, in their subordination, or in the excuse of following orders. And even worse are those who believe they are justified by their God.....And worst of all is the person who acts as exegete of The Word - whether it be from the Talmud, the Bible, the Koran, or any other book already written or yet to come.... Never trust a man who reads only one book."
My only real problem with this novel, despite its slow-moving beginning, was its "voice." Ostensibly narrated by Inigo, the book leaves a reader wondering -- about half the time -- why Inigo is still the narrator about events and facts that he could not have witnessed, due to his being in prison in Toledo. I found this flaw distracting and, for me, it was a major obstacle to my complete enjoyment of the book. There are other literary techniques which Perez-Reverte could have employed to allow the story to have its first-person feel without pretending that the boy had seen and heard all (that he did not and could not have) to maintain his phantom role as narrator. It just didn't make sense that Inigo remained the narrator throughout the novel.
True to course, there are many memorable lines (Page 69, "...the problem with words is that once spoken, they cannot find their way back to the speaker alone."), and I made lots of notes in the margin to look up words I do not ordinarily use or know, often from Spanish or Latin. (pustule, chasuble, quiddity, embrasure, jeremiad, for example). Perez-Reverte is sometimes a tough read with his wide-ranging vocabulary and big sweep of intellectual-historical topics, but always worth it - with dictionary in hand or Wikipedia at the ready. The quoted poetry, however, is always a bit much for my tastes.
Nonetheless, it is a good story, and the last half moves quickly. So, if you want your "fix" of anti-Catholic rhetoric, a strong and awful history lesson of the futility of lasting empires, and a sort-of mystery/swashbuckler cape-and-sword-story, then read it! It's not his greatest story or writing. His masterful "The Seville Communion," the sensational " Queen of the South," to say nothing of "Nautical Chart," "Club Dumas," "Fencing Master," " The Sun Over Breda" (but NOT "Painter of Battles") are far, far better.
I am a big fan and Arturo Perez-Reverte. He is one of my favorite contemporary authors. He is brilliant, erudite and a wonderful writer. I will read him anytime, anywhere, always smiling ... Read More
Rated by buyers -
Many a weaker man would have let Inito die. But fear not, Captian Alatriste is not a weak or typical man. He has few words and few loves, but don't mess with the people he does care for. Another fast and exciting journey in the world of swords, women, courage and treachery!!!!!
Rated by buyers -
As a sequel, it meets the same enjoyment level as the predecessor, Captain Alatriste. Set again in a faltering Spain of 1632, torn between war and a young, careless king, our narrator Iñigo again brings us through a story of intrigue, adventure, and betrayal. Captain Alatriste has taken 13-year old Iñigo on as a dependent, in consideration of the young boy's father, a fellow - if dead - veteran of the wars in Flanders. The captain is a distant fellow, following some unspecified, rather un-anchored sense of honor. This rather nebulous sense of honor often results in actions we approve, while not being chosen for any reason we would. Alatriste is also a sword-for-hire, giving him a separate professional guideline for honor.
The "purity" of a person's blood - the absence of any Jewish or Moorish (ie., Muslim) ancestors - is of great interest to the Church during this peak of the Spanish Inquisition. A father and his sons seek to free his daughter from confinement in a corrupt convent, equally seeking to hide the fact that they're Jewish. Directed to Alatriste, a plan is concocted to rescue the daughter. To Iñigo's delight, he has a role in this. It becomes a role chosen for him by other powers, seeking to make of him a tool for vengeance against his mentor.
Most intriguing is the narration in the very first person from the young Iñigo. His audience, "Your Mercies", are hearing the story from him as an adult. (You know he's going to survive, even if everyone else dies.) I find utterly fascinating the ability to hold the story balanced between the past and future. The occasional references to the future help paint the reader's perception of the current story. E.g., his self-admitted unhealthy infatuation with a young girl: he mentions a particular interaction between them in the future, leanding a bit different perspective on their behaviour now. The challenge, as always in such a situation, is keeing the reader on the edge of her seat wondering if he's going to live, despite knowing that he will. Very, very well done.
This is one of those strange assessments: I find the author's style, and especially his turn-of-phrase delightful. Except, the story was written in Spanish. How much of my enjoyment is from the author and how much from the translator? Regardless of the source, it is delightful. This ends with a note that there will be another two or three volumes of the story. I bought it in hardback, but that's 'cause it was for $3.
One of his other novels, The Club Dumas, was equally pleasant to read, perhaps more readily accessible, being set in the modern day.
Rated by buyers -
'Purity of Blood' is the second in the Captain Alatriste series. Pereze-Reverte once again takes the reader to 17th century Spain and the rule of Philip IV and the Spanish Inquisition. Monty Python may not have expected it, but the Spanish Inquisition is at the heart of this tale.
The story is fairly straightforward. Alatriste's poet friend the don Francisco Quevedo (an historical figure) seeks the swordfighter's help in freeing a family friend from an "unpleasant" life in a convent. Mayhem ensues and our narrator young Inigo Balboa finds himself in the tender clutches of the Inquisition.
A good story, but Perez-Rverte's real strength is putting the reader inside the skin of a 17th century hidalgo as well as the fears of living in a society where the Inquisition holds sway. The presentation of an auto de fe through the eyes of one its, umm, participants is fascinating. I highly recommend reading Captain Alatriste first. You will understand and enjoy the book much more.
Rated by buyers -
Arturo Perez-Reverte keeps his swashbuckling Captain Diego Alatriste going in this one, the second in the Alatriste series, as the indomitable soldier of fortune and his boy apprentice, Inigo de Balboa, son of one of the Captain's former comrades in arms, stumble into still another adventure.
This time they run up against the Inquisition and the Spanish obsession with the pure blood of "Old Christians", a euphemism for Catholic Spaniards who have no Jewish blood in their ancestry (since the Jews of the land were either driven out or forced to convert a century or so before this story takes place). Alatriste finds himself enlisted by a poet friend into a Quixotic scheme to rescue the daughter of a Spanish caballero of, it turns out, suspect blood. The young girl has been inducted, apparently against her will, into a convent that is said to serve as a front for a rogue priest's private seraglio and Alatriste is prevailed upon to lead a rescue attempt. Things take a sharp turn southward as Alatriste leads his small force of conspirators in the dark of night onto the convent's grounds and poor Inigo, the Captain's ward and page, ends up in the hands of the Inquisition.
Alatriste must figure out who is behind the machinations that have ensnared them and find a way to cut the knot that binds. The dauntless Captain remains the strong silent type as he scuttles about in the shadows, dodging the Inquisition's agents and seeking out those who have conspired against him. At the very heart of the plot lurks an old and deadly enemy and Alatriste will get his chance to at last engage this man before the story runs its course.
There are weaknesses here, unfortunately, including a slow and almost ponderous beginning and a heavy emphasis on poetic stanzas which don't play as well in English as they may, perhaps, in Spanish. All are recorded in a somewhat tiresome fashion by our narrator, none other than the young Inigo, ensnared, in this book, at the very center of the web that has been spun for Alatriste. Fortunately, the Captain, honorable and deadly as he is, still has a few friends in high places and a few chits he can call in.
One particular problem with the book, is its narration. Told in very first person throughout, Inigo spends much of this adventure in an Inquisition prison cell in Toledo, so it seems rather odd when he recounts the Captain's actions in detail, as they are occurring far away from him in Madrid. The idea, one supposes, is that Inigo learned everything that happened afterwards from the other participants and put it all together many years later. Still, it rings odd to switch from Inigo's firsthand account of his own captivity in the hands of the Inquisitors to an equally detailed telling of the Captain's nighttime escapades. Either Inigo had very good sources, including the Captain himself, who is famously taciturn, or a great imagination in which case his tale is not entirely reliable (though this is never suggested by the narration itself). Such reports as he provides are jarring because they seem to sap the logic of the narrative.
Still, the book proceeds swiftly and engages both in terms of plot and its capacity for recreating the era of Spanish imperial decline. We get a rich sense of what Spain in the early 17th century might have been like, of the swaggering caballeros, hidalgos, poets and other courtly hangers on who prance and mince about the towns and countryside, engaging in various schemes and preening themselves for the ladies. Along with the fast paced action which occasionally kicks in, and the fun trying to unravel the mystery that lies behind the Captain's latest situation, the book is certainly worthwhile. I plan to read the subsequent in the series.
SWM
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