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More copies of this ISBN:This title in other formats:Other titles in the Captain Alatriste series:Purity of Blood: Book Two of the Adventures of Captain Alatristeby Arturo Perez-Reverte
Staff Pick
This swashbuckler, the follow-up to Captain Alatriste, brings even more gripping thrills and harrowing escapes in the time of the Spanish Inquisition... all with a literary flavor that won't make you ashamed to be seen reading it in coffee shops and on the bus. Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments: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 attempt 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. Review:"Those looking for seriously entertaining thrills will welcome Prez-Reverte's second 17th-century Spanish swashbuckler featuring the exploits of stoic, honorable Capt. Diego Alatriste (after 2005's Captain Alatriste). A father and two brothers accompany Alatriste on a mission to rescue their sister from the convent in which she has been imprisoned. Things go wrong when an old enemy of the captain ensures that Alatriste's ward, 13-year-old Inigo Balboa, falls into the hands of the Inquisition. With the aid of the great Spanish poet Francisco de Quevedo, all is made right. Rich in historical detail and sardonic observations, the narrative begins leisurely. The pace picks up, but the action is never so breathless as to sweep the reader along, as with Captain Alatriste. Still, this will matter little to fans, who are sure to look forward to further installments in the series." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) Review:"Captain Diego Alatriste y Tenorio seems somehow familiar. You know the type: world-weary, cynical, quietly lethal — the type of fellow who, 'while others strut about clanking their swords against the furniture and boasting in loud voices, sits quietly in a corner of the gaming house, unblinking, taking in every detail, not opening his mouth, until suddenly he gets up and without changing expression... Washington Post Book Review (read the entire Washington Post review) Review:"Filled with fabulous historical detail....Purity of Blood is absolutely riveting from beginning to end. (Grade: A)" Entertainment Weekly Review:"[A] completely absorbing novel that, like the first one in the series, absolutely defines swashbuckling....This novel is written in the mold of Dumas' musketeer novels and excitingly upholds the tradition." Booklist Review:"Though thrilling in places, the Alatriste stories are not meant to be raced through....Pérez-Reverte has obligingly already written the next three books, so all we have to do is persuade Putnam to release them as quickly as possible." Detroit Free Press Review:"As Alatriste battles Italian arch-nemesis Gualterio Malatesta, Pérez-Reverte provides characteristically stirring play-by-play." Christian Science Monitor Review:"On the whole, once it extricates itself from a backlog of long names and previous plot developments, Purity of Blood hits the high note of Captain Alatriste and sustains the series' uncommon verve." Janet Maslin, The New York Times Review:"It's great fun in the tradition of historical swashbucklers such as Three Musketeers or The Scarlet Pimpernel, and yet it's not all sword fights and breakneck horseback rides." Boston Globe Review:"Pérez-Reverte is a master at evoking the particular color of the times, with brothels, taverns, torero arenas and dark alleyways as essential props." Los Angeles Times About the AuthorArturo Perez-Reverte lives near Madrid. Originally a war journalist, he now writes fiction full-time. His novels have been published in fifty countries. In 2002, he was elected to the Spanish Royal Academy. What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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