[Book Review] Purity of Blood

Hey, I gotta have some source of procrastination from studying, eh?

Purity of Blood, by Arturo Pérez-Reverte

As a sequel, it meets the same enjoyment level as the predecessor, Captain Alatriste. Set again in a faltering Spain of 1632, torn between war and a young, careless king, our narrator Iñigo again brings us through a story of intrigue, adventure, and betrayal. Captain Alatriste has taken 13-year old Iñigo on as a dependent, in consideration of the young boy’s father, a fellow - if dead - veteran of the wars in Flanders. The captain is a distant fellow, following some unspecified, rather un-anchored sense of honor. This rather nebulous sense of honor often results in actions we approve, while not being chosen for any reason we would. Alatriste is also a sword-for-hire, giving him a separate professional guideline for honor.

The “purity” of a person’s blood - the absence of any Jewish or Moorish (ie., Muslim) ancestors - is of great interest to the Church during this peak of the Spanish Inquisition. A father and his sons seek to free his daughter from confinement in a corrupt convent, equally seeking to hide the fact that they’re Jewish. Directed to Alatriste, a plan is concocted to rescue the daughter. To Iñigo's delight, he has a role in this. It becomes a role chosen for him by other powers, seeking to make of him a tool for vengeance against his mentor.

Most intriguing is the narration in the first person from the young Iñigo. His audience, “Your Mercies”, are hearing the story from him as an adult. (You know he’s going to survive, even if everyone else dies.) I find utterly fascinating the ability to hold the story balanced between the past and future. The occasional references to the future help paint the reader’s perception of the current story. E.g., his self-admitted unhealthy infatuation with a young girl: he mentions a particular interaction between them in the future, leanding a bit different perspective on their behaviour now. The challenge, as always in such a situation, is keeing the reader on the edge of her seat wondering if he’s going to live, despite knowing that he will. Very, very well done.

This is one of those strange assessments: I find the author’s style, and especially his turn-of-phrase delightful. Except, the story was written in Spanish. How much of my enjoyment is from the author and how much from the translator? Regardless of the source, it is delightful. This ends with a note that there will be another two or three volumes of the story. I bought it in hardback, but that’s ’cause it was for $3.

One of his other novels, The Club Dumas, was equally pleasant to read, perhaps more readily accessible, being set in the modern day.

Elizabeth’s rating: go buy it.

Book rating system:
1 - go buy it in hardback, ’cause you’ll read it repeatedly
2 - sure, go buy it, you'll definitely read it more than once
3 - borrow it from a friend/library
4 - if it's lying around your friend's summer cottage, and you're bored, might as well read it.
5 - they do take books in the recycling bin, don't they?