Pirates of the Levant

June 28, 2010
In his spirited sixth outing, Pérez-Reverte's 17th-century sword-for-hire, Captain Diego Alatriste, enlists as a mercenary on the Spanish slave galley Mulata, cutting a bloody swath through the corsairs of the Mediterranean. Overshadowing battles at sea and raids on land is the escalating conflict between Alatriste and Íñigo Balboa, the captain's former page, now 17 and desiring to make his own way in the world. Though lacking the intrigue of previous installments, this episodic book moves smoothly from duel to duel and climaxes with a savage sea battle. With swords a-slashing and muskets a-blazing, Pérez-Reverte once again effortlessly channels Rafael Sabatini in this witty and—alas—final novel in a marvelous series.

For this thinking person's swashbuckler full of poetry and rich prose, there's no better narrator than Michael Kramer. In dark, rugged tones hinting of Moorish vessels, flashing swords, and plunder, Kramer delivers the florid phrases that tell the tale of soldier of fortune Diego Alatriste. In Alatriste's sixth adventure, he is aboard the Spanish galley MULATA and is dedicated to making mincemeat of the REAL pirates in order to keep the Mediterranean's commercial lanes open for Spain. Kramer's somber narration gives way to spirited exchanges between Alatriste and his foster son, ê–igo, then goes back to solemn accounts of a sailor's brutal life in the early seventeenth century. Perez-Reverte's novel is historically accurate--unflinching in its detail of bloody battle sequences and squalid living conditions. Kramer makes listening compelling. S.J.H. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine