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Captain Alatriste by Arturo Perez-Reverte
#1
I'd read The Fencing Master, so was intrigued by another swashbuckler by Perez-Reverte. Turns out, this is the first of a series which is being translated into English. Additionally, the film "Alatriste" is coming out next year, starring Viggo Mortensen.

Enjoyed the characterizations in the book. However, I really enjoyed seeing the period as told from the Spanish perspective. It's the same time frame, yet just prior, to the Three Musketeers. We even meet a young Buckingham and the future King of England.

Quick read. Enjoyable.
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#2
yup, it was good, unlike the new Zorro book by Allende. I like Allende well enough (her first couple, anyway) but it does point out the unbreachable divide between the sexes: Who can write a sword fight and who can't. With few exceptions, chicks can't. There. I said it. Gauntlet thrown.
In the Tudor Period, Fencing Masters were classified in the Vagrancy Laws along with Actors, Gypsys, Vagabonds, Sturdy Rogues, and the owners of performing bears.
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#3
It was fun. Yes, I liked the juxtaposition of historical books between the musketeers and Alatriste.
It was just too dang short. It was more like the first chapter than the first novel. I can't wait for more but could they please just double the size. No, I don't want a bigger font.
So much for the flickr badge idea. Dammit
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#4
I ws just starting to get into it when it was all "and here's a sample 1st chapter from the next book". I felt set up. Too much was left unresolved. It wasn't a book so much as a pilot. I found some of the descriptions repetative. The kid was always sleeping 'like a dormouse'. Everything kept coming back to Flanders, but only a few of those references contributed much to the development. The frozen pond eyes (not sure if Viggio is up to that part). The fights were good, and I think it'll make a great movie.

How many are there in this series anyway? I guess I'm not really into serials anymore.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
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#5
I'm with the DM.

There are five or six books. Two are currently in English. They should just bundle them all as one really big good book
So much for the flickr badge idea. Dammit
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#6
I can send it down with some of your books that have alnguished up here. Let me know.
In the Tudor Period, Fencing Masters were classified in the Vagrancy Laws along with Actors, Gypsys, Vagabonds, Sturdy Rogues, and the owners of performing bears.
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#7
Already read it. Looking for it's sequel which isn't quite out yet. Do you want the Boris Akunin books?
So much for the flickr badge idea. Dammit
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#8
I'm not leaning towards it at this time. Is it going to end with the first chapter of the next book?
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
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#9
I enjoyed it. Good, relaxing read about The Inquisition. With fights.
In the Tudor Period, Fencing Masters were classified in the Vagrancy Laws along with Actors, Gypsys, Vagabonds, Sturdy Rogues, and the owners of performing bears.
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#10
I suppose if it was a hand-me-down, I'd read it. Can I glue it to the back of the first book and pretend it's just a single complete volume? And you didn't answer my question about the first chapter of book three....
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
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#11
Another chapter in what is really going to be a fine book someday. The odd part is that this book takes place far from the intrigues we know, in the muddy fields of Holland where the Spanish armies are struggling to hold on to Spain's possessions ( A chapter of history I was unaware of)
It's basically a war diary of Inigo's time in Holland. It vividly depicts the conditions and struggles and lack of pay the Spanish army faced. There aren't a lot of twists and turns. Everybody is suitably heroic. I think these books are really going to pay off when I sit down and read all ten or twelve or however many there are back to back.

But they do talk about a picture and I've added it here for your edification.

[Image: breda.jpg]
So much for the flickr badge idea. Dammit
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#12
Thanks for posting the picture. I'm trying to figure out where in the image Diego was painted out. Need more study....
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#13
Thanks for the picture as well. I enjoyed the book. A little more of Alatriste's character is revealed, even more foreshadowing of our narrator and the "Milady" character equivalent from Musketeer3. OK, and I agree with Greg: It could easily all go under one cover. Hey, as long as I am reading them for free, they come out one chapter at a time for all I care.

My coworker called it "All Quiet on the Western Front, 1600's" and that is a pretty apt description. Not pretty, not at all. Should be required reading for historical combat enthusiasts. Fighting is Not Art, nor is it Pretty, Nor is it a Lethal Ballet, it is Nasty, Brutish, and Short.

Hey! Isn't that the name of the DOOM law firm?
In the Tudor Period, Fencing Masters were classified in the Vagrancy Laws along with Actors, Gypsys, Vagabonds, Sturdy Rogues, and the owners of performing bears.
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