Product Description

From the acclaimed and bestselling author comes the fifth adventure of Captain Alatriste, "the brooding, charismatic hero of his wildly successful Spanish swashbuckling novels" (The New York Times).

In the cosmopolitan world of seventeenth-century Madrid, with its posh theaters and gleaming palaces, Captain Alatriste and his protégé, Íñigo, are fish out of water. But the king and court are keeping Alatriste on retainer-he has proved useful in the past. As a veteran with no other source of income, Alatriste chooses to remain, even as his "employment" brings him uncomfortably close to old enemies. Íñigo, now a young man and veteran of the Hundred Years War, chooses to remain with his master and press his ill-fated romance with the beautiful but sinister Angélica de Alquézar. Alatriste, for his part, begins an affair with the famous-and famously beautiful- actress María de Castro, and discovers that the competition for her favors may be much more dangerous than he'd bargained for, especially when Alatriste and Íñigo become unwilling participants in a court conspiracy that could lead them both to the gallows.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #45614 in Books
• Published on: 2009-09-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 384 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780399156038
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
The swashbuckling spirit of Rafael Sabatini lives on in Perez-Reverte's fifth installment to the adventures of the 17th-century Spanish swordsman, Capt. Diego Alariste. The novel finds Diego back in Madrid, where even the slightest personal affront can lead to a clash of blades. Accompanied, as usual, by his loyal young servant, Iñigo Balboa Aguirre, and his friend, the poet and playwright Francisco de Quevedo, Diego learns that both he and King Philip IV are rivals for the attentions of the married actress Maria de Costa, who has many other suitors lined up at her dressing room door. Not even a death threat can scare off the ardent captain, who becomes a pawn in an old enemy's dastardly plot to assassinate the king. Richly atmospheric and alive with the sights, sounds and smells of old Madrid, this tale of derring-do is old-fashioned fun. It's elegantly written and filled with thrilling swordplay and hairbreadth escapes—escapist books don't get much better than this. (Sept.)
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Review
"Few contemporary writers conjure up derring-do as well as Arturo Pérez-Reverte, a Spanish literary maestro evoking Dumas."
-The Christian Science Monitor

"Great fun in the tradition of historical swashbucklers such as The Three Musketeers or The Scarlet Pimpernel."
-The Boston Globe

"Absolutely riveting from beginning to end."
-Entertainment Weekly

About the Author
Arturo Pérez- Reverte's novels The Flanders Panel, The Club Dumas, The Fencing Master, The Seville Communion, The Nautical Chart, and The Queen of the South have been translated into twenty-nine languages and published in more than fifty countries. In 2003, he was elected to the Spanish Royal Academy.

Customer Reviews

An Overabundance of Heterosexual Testosterone in 1626 Spain
Well, I cannot decide if this book was good or a big let-down. The best parts of "The Cavalier in the Yellow Doublet," as usual, were the lectures by Inigo Balboa about the decline of Spanish influence after Spain's heyday of the 1500's, (when among other exploits they killed off all the Incas in Peru) and the now commonplace preaching by Perez-Reverte about the shortcomings and evil-doings of the Catholic Church. I love all those passages - in no matter which book of his we find them. They are present in all his works. He's certainly at his best when putting down the idiocy of and reasons for Spain's decline and the actual and true horrors of the Church, including, of course the infamous and long-since rebuked Inquisition holocaust.

This book begins very slowly. One must suffer through (with eyes rolling to the ceiling often in impatience) the first 170 pages of lectures, background detail, quotations and praise of Spanish literature and art (even an astonishing claim that Shakespeare may hold no monopoly on lasting drama), and the seemingly endless descriptions of the sex drive, sexual ambitions and sexual exploits of Spanish men and women. No wonder Spain went down the drain with its absolute preoccupation with sex and abandonment of its hegemony power position. The history lessons are excellent however. Perez-Reverte is an erudite, educated, skillful narrator of Spanish history, especially all the bad stuff.

The last two thirds of the book move along more rapidly, and the finale is almost exciting. Not quite, but almost. The problem is that one can easily figure out the eventual result before it happens -- as all primary characters converge in a final denouement. There actually is some well-done humor in the story also. This story would make a good movie.

The foundational story line is good, and there are several actual swashbuckling scenes throughout the book.

Inigo proves to be the major figure and most important feature of these stories now. Despite his now predictable weakness for sexual gratification with the evil Angelica (his Achilles heel), Inigo emerges as the strength and the brains of the dynamic duo of Captain Diego Alatriste and his protégé side-kick, the teenager Inigo Balboa (who now many times has saved the life of the Captain). In fact, in "The Cavalier in the Yellow Doublet," the Captain often appears a bit befuddled, weak-minded, and error-prone, showing poor judgment and a dogged determination toward self-destruction, as if he is aging in a bad way -- more quickly and more dramatically than Inigo is maturing in a good way. I felt sorry for Alatriste for the first time, and worried about his ability to emerge from his self-inflicted troubles. Alas, it was his blind testosterone-driven antics which nearly proved his undoing in this story. He is hardly a hero to admire, and, to be fair, never has been. But here we see his character and moral purpose considerably softened and weakened - in serious decline. At times, he seems to have lost his "backbone."

Worst story feature: the continuing presence of Gualterio Malatesta, the Italian bad guy ever intent on killing Alatriste and who -- once again -- escapes miraculously (alas, why not kill him off - please) at the end of the story, a literary trick that is both tiresome and predictable. He is not even a very good villain. We know Malatesta is there to continue on to the next book, but ... really this reader is quite finished with him.

There also continues the problem of narration. Who is the voice of the story? Inigo is most of the time, yes, but at other times it is quite confusing. And now, the Captain's mental thoughts are translated for the reader into a kind of an aside quotation. It is not important for the reader to know the thoughts of Alatriste when he is in danger, and such things seem to betray his clear characterization as a man of few words. There are times when a mysterious voice, who cannot be Inigo (who was physically elsewhere), describes scenes and actions for the reader in first person. See my review of "The King's Gold" for more on this.

All in all, it's a good story, but an average output of the esteemed Arturo Perez-Reverte. For my money, "Captain Alatriste" and "The Sun Over Breda" were far better in this Alatriste adventure series. And, of course of all Perez-Reverte's works, I like best "The Seville Communion" and "Queen of the South" as well as some of his other earlier books. I'll give this one a 3, though if there were "in-between" categories, I'd upgrade it to 3.5, if for no other reason than it is written by one of my favorite authors.

super sword and escape historical
In the seventh century Captain Diego Alariste, his loyal protégé Inigo Balboa Aguirre and their friend author Francisco de Quevedo are in Madrid, a city known for its duality. On the one hand there are numerous wonderful theaters and exquisite palaces while on the other hand there are duels seemingly over nothing affronts.

Diego is setting up a tryst with the lovely but married actress Maria de Costa only to learn so is King Philip IV amongst other salivating suitors. The mercenary blades-man walks a line thinner than his sword as the monarch is his only source of revenue since the Hundred Years War ended too soon for him. As he ignores threats to his life and his purse, Inigo pursues Angelica de Alquezar, who maneuvers the young man to do her bidding. However, Diego and Inigo soon find themselves caught in a brilliant scheme to assassinate the king; whether successful or not means the gallows for the mentor and his apprentice; all because they both thought with their wrong blade.

The latest CAPTAIN ALARISTE saga is filled with the usual terrific daring do, great sword play (in and out of the boudoir), and over the top of the Pyrenees escapes and escapades as the hero and his now ready for prime time apprentice land in one problem after another, because each was led by their respective wrong heard. The story line is fast-paced and filled with action; a trademark of the entire saga as historical Spain comes alive in this tale and previous translations like THE KING'S GOLD and THE SUN OVER BREDA.

Harriet Klausner

Adventure Story and History Lesson
It is 1626 and after adventures in Flanders and Sevilla, Diego Alatriste and his young companion Inigo Balboa are once again walking the streets of Madrid. They have returned to their precarious lives as unemployed soldiers and blades for hire. Although their fortunes may be in temporary decline, they are nevertheless privileged to be living in a city experiencing a "Golden Age" of literature and theater. While it may be a priveleged time for the writers, poets and dramatists, this is still Spain and there will always be a need for a clever man with a quick blade and refined sense of honor.

"The Cavalier in the Yellow Dublet" is the fifth book in Arturo Perez Reverte's Captain Alatriste series. These stories are set in Spain's Golden Age, a time in which Spain suffered a steep decline in its economic and political fortunes while at the same time experiencing a period of great artistic and literary achievement. In each of previous novels, Perez Reverte reveals different aspects of the Age. Through Captain Alatriste's adventures, readers have had the opportunity to see up close the battlefields of Flanders, the torture chambers of the Dominican Inquisitors and and the hidden quarters of the Sevillan underworld. In this novel, Perez Reverte takes his readers to the intersection of court intrigue and popular theater. As readers, we get to see deadly plots swirling around the King while at the same time being able to rub elbows with the likes of playwrite Lope de Vega and poet Francisco de Quevedo.

For those of us who grew up loving the adventures of D'Artagnan, Sir Percy Blakeney, Scaramouche and Dr. Peter Blood, we are fortunate to have Arturo Perez Reverte producing such well written adventure stories. There are four more Diego Alatriste novels planned for the series. With any luck at this time next year, we will have the opportunity to explore the world of Neopolitan corsairs. I can't wait.