The black sheep of the Alatriste novels, The Sun Over Breda sees author Arturo Pérez-Reverte abandon his usual Dumas-lite adventure tendencies in favour of a rather pedestrian war story. Captain Alatriste and our narrator Íñigo are bogged down in the mud of the siege of Breda, in a war against the Dutch, and unfortunately the narrative is bogged down too. There's no adventure developing, no plot, just a succession of (occasionally interesting) battle scenes.

It's well-written (there's a good scene in the aftermath of the main battle, as the young and introspective Íñigo explores his after-battle emotions) and as a war tale/historical novel it's sort of good. The problem is it's not so good you can recommend it on that basis alone, and it falls far short of slaking the adventure thirst that readers of the series will be expecting. Captain Alatriste himself is a peripheral figure in the story, but no one else steps up to fill his shoes. ( )

El sol de Breda
Arturo Pérez-Reverte
Publicado: 1998 | 161 páginas
Novela Aventuras Bélico Histórico
Serie: Las aventuras del capitán Alatriste #3 /sx0O0KR0o_G4

«Al lento batir de los tambores, las primeras filas de españoles movíanse hacia adelante, y Diego Alatriste avanzaba con ellas, codo a codo con sus camaradas, ordenados y soberbios como si desfilaran ante el propio rey. Los mismos hombres amotinados días antes por sus pagas iban ahora dientes prietos, mostachos enhiestos y cerradas barbas, andrajos cubiertos por cuero engrasado y armas relucientes, fijos los ojos en el enemigo, impávidos y terribles, dejando tras de sí la humareda de sus cuerdas de arcabuz encendidas»… Flandes, 1625. Alistado como mochilero del capitán Alatriste en los tercios viejos que asedian Breda, Íñigo Balboa es testigo excepcional de la rendición de la ciudad, cuyos pormenores narrará diez años más tarde para un cuadro famoso de su amigo Diego Velázquez. Siguiendo a su amo por el paisaje pintado al fondo de ese cuadro, al otro lado del bosque de lanzas, veremos a Íñigo empuñar por primera vez la espada y el arcabuz, peleando por su vida y la de sus amigos. Estocadas, asaltos, batallas, desafíos, encamisadas, saqueos y motines de la infantería española, jalonarán su camino a través de un mundo devastado por el invierno y por la guerra.

Limpieza de sangre
Arturo Pérez-Reverte
Publicado: 1997 | 163 páginas
Novela Aventuras Histórico
Serie: Las aventuras del capitán Alatriste #2

A punto de incorporarse a su antiguo tercio en Flandes, Diego Alatriste se ve envuelto por mediación de su amigo don Francisco de Quevedo en otra peligrosa aventura. Una mujer ha aparecido estrangulada en una silla de manos frente a la iglesia de San Ginés, con una bolsa de dinero y una nota manuscrita: Para misas por su alma. El enigma se complica con los sucesos misteriosos que ocurren tras las paredes de un convento, cuando Alatriste es contratado para rescatar de allí a una joven novicia. En el azaroso y fascinante Madrid de Felipe IV, entre lances, tabernas, garitos, intrigas y estocadas, la aventura pondrá en juego la vida de los amigos del capitán, haciendo surgir del pasado los fantasmas de viejos enemigos: el pérfido secretario real Luis de Alquézar, el inquisidor fray Emilio Bocanegra y el siniestro espadachín italiano Gualterio Malatesta.

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Captain Diego Alatriste is in the miserable damp fog of the Netherlands fighting the "Hollanders" and trying to break the siege of Breda. This book, like the other Alatriste novels, is narrated by his Basque mochilero/sidekick Iñigo Balboa. Iñigo is starting to feel like more of a man as he tastes his first real combat. This book is more about honor and battle glory etc. than the other two, which were more about personal exploits. As usual, the somewhat heavy-handed writing style of Pérez-Reverte only adds to the atmosphere, charm, and derring-do of the book. One example of this is the opening paragraph, "...The canals of these Dutch are damp on autumn mornings. Somewhere above the curtain of fog that veiled the dike, a blurred sun shone palely on the silhouettes moving along the road in the direction of the city.....That sun was a cold, Calvinist, invisible star unworthy of the name, its dirty gray light falling on...." Other turns of phrase that I appreciated were "you would have thought the devil was vomiting heretics" to describe advancing soldiers coming out of nowhere and Alatriste's taunt "You would never want people to call you the baby butcher." Another favorite descriptive passage in the book is this image of Alatriste himself, "Diego Alatriste seemed to be somewhere fay beyond all that. He had thrown off his hsat, and tangled, dirty hair fell over his forehead and ears. His legs were planted firmly apart as if nailed to hte ground, and all his energy and wrath were concentrated in his eyes, which gleamed red and dangerous in his smoke-blackened face." ( )