3.5 starsI have to admit to having been disappointed by the eponymous first book in Arturo Pérez-Reverte’s ‘Captain Alatriste’ series of swashbuckling romances. It may have been due to unfair, or incorrect, expectations, but I remember being fairly nonplussed by my reaction. I love me a good swas...
Typically I love the writing and style of Arturo Perez-Reverte, but this novel started a bit slooowww—not my favorite novel of his. Still the writing is beautiful despite the exhaustive beginning.Coy is a typical sailor who is living lost on the land. He is going stir-crazy and wanders aimlessly ...
يقول ماركيز عن هذه الرواية : لم استطع النوم حتى أنهيتها مرتين .. كانت صدمتي الأولى حين قرأت إنمساخ كافكا قبل عشر سنوات وهذه الرواية هي صدمتي الثانية ماذا أقول عن بيدرو بارامو أو عن خوان رولفو وروايته الوحيدة التي تمثل واحدة من أروع ما كتب في أدب الواقعية السحريةهذا النص يشبه المشي على شظايا جارحة...
On page 140, the author appears to describe a vision for this book:"For two or three years I have flirted with the idea of writing a novel, imagined situations and places, like snapshots, or like those posters displayed on large billboards at the entrance to a movie theater. That these stills wer...
The story in this novel takes place in the 17th Century Spain during the reign of Philip IV, the golden age of Spanish power. The plot is based upon an actual historic occurrence in 1623 when the Prince of Wales (Charles Stuart) and George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, traveled incognito to ...
لطالما رغبت بالقراءة لفوينتس. فهو أحد الأعلام الأدبية اللاتينية و هو ممن تخفف من الواقعية السحرية معتمداً على لغته الشعرية كما هو الحال بالنسبة لبيندييتي و الفارو موتيس. و له الفضل بالمناسبة بالأضواء التي سلطت لاحقاً على القارة اللاتينية المجهولة أدبياً آنذاك. و لكن الياس فركوح أخفق مرة أخرى في إ...
2.5 starsWhat can I say? I find myself constantly underwhelmed by this series despite loving other books by Perez-Reverte. I guess I just want a really good historical swashbuckler with a bit of meat on it and despite having been generally underwhelmed by each book in the series so far I keep hop...
This was originally published on The Scrying OrbThis book is physically daunting. It’s big. Dense. Heavy. Flipping to a random page reveals a tightly woven blanket of text, tightly packed and in small type. The prose is occasionally impenetrable. It took me a month to finish. Its themes are no le...