Inspired by a post a few weeks back on the Wars of Louis Quatorze blog, I sourced the first 3 books in the Captain Alatriste series by Arturo Pérez-Reverte as holiday reading. I only took 2 of the 3 and wish I’d taken them all.
I’d seen the film with Viggo Mortensen and the books certainly didn’t let the side down.
The stories are in the mould of the Musketeer stories of Dumas (though I haven’t read any of the latter), but certainly compared to the films are darker and more ‘adult’. They mix fictional and historical characters and episodes like McDonald Fraser’s Flashman (but without the comedy and footnotes). The cover art on the two volumes I read remind me adventure novels published in the last century and are not good representations of the contents IMO.
 |
| Sort of contemporary to the novels. 16th C built coastal watchtower near the town of Piles in Valencia province. |
 |
| Information board for the tower in Valencian, Spanish, and English & French below. |
Not high literature but not trashy either.
Right, I’m off to think about using my ECW armies for the battle of Rocroi. 😁
Very interesting, I should look out for those! Nice to see an alternative to ECW period stuff which of course dominates in English. Rocroi? Probably just need to change the flags!
ReplyDeleteHadn’t thought of that! While I’m ordering the flags from Pendraken I probably need more cuirassiers than I do for the ECW……..no stop it! Say it, I have enough toys. I have enough toys.
DeleteChris
I am sure you can't have enough toys yet Chris. And anyway, just one more order won't hurt 😂
DeleteGet thee behind me Satan! 😆
DeleteChris
Those books sound marvellous. The covers suggest a swashbuckling, light read, as you say.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautifully restored/preserved tower. Marvellous that they provide text in three 'foreign' languages along with Catalan!
Best wishes, James
Ah, don’t call it Catalan to some people in that area! Though in truth I’ve not come across any phrases that Google Translate Catalan doesn’t work on.
DeleteChris
Interesting, I might give them a go.
ReplyDeleteAlan Tradgardland
I’m sure you’d enjoy them, given the interests displayed on your blog.
DeleteChris
Good feedback on the books Chris:). I watched the film recently, which was OK and naturally kept jumping around a lot due to the amount of stuff they had to try and cover. I didn't know old Viggo grew up in Argentina, hence his fluent Spanish, until our daughter told me!
ReplyDeleteI didn’t know that about VM either, until I saw a comment under a YouTube video about him having an Argentinian accent.
DeleteChris
Sounds like a reading recommendation I'll follow up on. Seems like plenty of inspiration being drawn from the holiday.
ReplyDeleteYep. There’s always history around wherever you go. I think the Valencia region had a lot going on in the Reconquista as well as more modern wars. The tower was built in response to depredations committed by Red Beard.
DeleteThe Alatriste books so far have been centred on Madrid, which I’ve never been to.
Chris
Sounds good - thanks for the suggestion
ReplyDeleteYou’re welcome MJT.
DeleteI realized later that I'm currently reading one of Perez-Reverte's standalone novels, The Flanders Panel, which is very good, as is his The Dumas Club (which was made into a film called The Ninth Gate)
DeleteIntriguing plots. As I was reading the Wiki summary of the Dumas Club I felt it was familiar, then realised I’d seen the film but couldn’t remember the name.
DeleteChris
Looks like a change of scenery has got the old grey matter a buzzin’, lol.
ReplyDeleteAlways helps. And you can’t beat sea air and t’watter.
DeleteChris
I've read them, although from memory the series doesn't reach the battle of Rocroi, and nor did all the promised novels get published even in Spanish. Perez-Reverte's non-historical novels are also worth reading. Having said all that, in real life the author himself is barking mad with strongly expressed views on all sorts of things , some of which are sensible and some of which most certainly aren't.
ReplyDeleteYou should definitely read the Three Musketeers saga, all five books and one and a half million words of it. When I read it all many years ago only the first book, 'The Three Musketeers' (which of course covers everything in both of the Richard Lester films, which were scripted by the aforementioned McDonald Fraser), and the final one, 'The Man In The Iron Mask', were available in modern translation. The prose in three in the middle, 'Twenty Years After', 'The Vicomte de Bragelonne' and 'Louise de la Valliere', was a little old-fashioned.
For those who like a bit of swashbuckling I'd also highly recommend the 'Fortunes of War' series by Robert Merle, although only the first four volumes have been translated into English, the last of those being published in 2018. The problem seems to be that he chose to write them in archaic 16th/17th century French, making translation very difficult. The chap who did the first four is now 82 and must assume he isn't going to do any more. However, they are brilliant.
Thanks for your comments. I really ought to read the Dumas books - should have read them before the Perez-Reverte ones as there seems to be a lot of allusions that I’m probably missing.
DeleteOdd that the Alatriste series doesn’t go up to Rocroi. I assumed it did because of the film and Iñigo’s references to it. It makes sense, poetically in a way, to kill off the character that way it being a ‘watershed’ moment (if such things exist).
Chris
PS, I read a little about Pere-Reverte’s views following your comment. I was surprised not to see anti-vaxxer listed 😁
DeleteLooks like you had an inspiring break in Spain Chris, and thanks to you and several of your respondents, I now have a good list of novels to consider reading!
ReplyDeleteHope you enjoy them Keith. Holiday was good but I got the books before coming. I like having books somehow linked to where I am going.
DeleteChris
Interesting looking books and nice tower, I'm planning on moving onto the continent eventually and adding more cuirassiers, although I guess I'd also need Croats, oh and winged hussars for Swedish versus Poland, of course it would make sense to do Turkish?!!! It would of course be but a matter of moments and barely any expense to cover those in your chosen scale, I look forward to Rocroi and all the battles of the thirty years war!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
I misread your first sentence and was going to reply “I’m not moving there. It’s just a holiday home.”
DeleteI won’t be getting any additional toys for the TYW, though David in Suffolk did have a good suggestion regarding the flags. I have separate command stands so it wouldn’t be too big a scheme.
Always fancied getting an Ottoman army but in 6mm (my ECW is 10mm). I should have gone for sixes and it would have been interchangeable.
Chris