The Sun Over Breda [Paperback]

Then imitate the action of the tiger;

Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood

Disguise fair nature with hard favour'd rage;

Then lend the eye a terrible aspect,

Henry V, Act III, Scene 1

When I picked up Arturo Perez-Reverte's "The Sun Over Breda" I was expecting something of a swashbuckler. By the time I'd finished the book I'd realized that I'd read something else entirely. Despite the fact that "The Sun Over Breda" was not the book I thought it would be, I'm happy to have read it.

"The Sun Over Breda" is the third in Perez-Reverte's series of adventures featuring Captain Diego Alatriste. The first two Alatriste novels ("Captain Alatriste" and "Purity of Blood") were exciting fast-paced yarns set in early 17th-century Spain (mostly Madrid). The books are narrated in the form of historical memoirs penned by Inigo Balboa (a young man entrusted to Alatriste's care) in a fashion similar to the memoirs penned by Dr. Watson looking back at Sherlock Holmes' old cases. The narrative structure works remarkably well (for me) for two reasons. First, I prefer stories written in the third-person. Second, as a series of historical novels Perez-Reverte presents Spain at a time when it was the world's great superpower. The Spanish empire was one in which the sun never set. But it was at this time that the Empire had begun to rot from within. In the first two stories Perez-Reverte does an excellent job using Balboa's reflections as a way of highlighting corruption and venality in the offices of Church (the Inquisition), the Palace and an ossified top-heavy social structure. In the first two Alatriste novels Spain's rotting social/political structure played a noticeable but still secondary role to the adventures of Captain Alatriste. "The Sun Over Breda", however, finds the action playing a secondary role to Balboa's wistful reflections. The change is a bit jolting, but rewarding.

"The Sun Over Breda" is set in the Netherlands in 1624-1625. The provinces of the Netherlands had been engaged in a decades-long war with the Spanish Empire seeking independence from Spanish rule since 1568. As the story opens, Alatriste and Balboa are in the Netherlands ready to fight for Spain. The story takes us through a number of battles, small and large. This was a day when hand-to-hand combat was the rule, not the exception and there is no shortage of brutality and the good fairer natures of Alatriste and Balboa are well-disguised by hard-favoured rage. Perez-Reverte paints a picture of war as war, not as some comic book vision of war.

There is also boredom, hunger, and deprivation. Scenes of Spanish soldiers plundering for food are interspersed with scenes of mutinies as Spanish soldiers demand months of back pay before marching into battle. The Spanish soldiers including Alatriste are shown as nothing more than fodder for preening officers who even set up a private battle between 5 hand-picked soldiers from each side to satisfy some sense of honor. The story culminates in a months-long siege, and ultimate surrender of the Netherlands-held city of Breda. "The Sun Over Breda" ends with a curiously interesting discussion about the great painter Diego Velasquez's paining "The Surrender of Breda". There is a fascinating (if fictional) discussion as to why and how Captain Alatriste was excised from this work of art.

Fans of the character of Captain Alatriste should know in advance that he doesn't really play what I would call a critical role in "The Sun Over Breda". He is certainly the subject of Balboa's `memoirs' but, on reflection, I think the story really tells us more about Balboa and his maturation (he is 14-years old at the time of the Siege of Breda) under the crucible of war than about Alatriste. Alatriste is almost, but not quite, a secondary character. Perez-Reverte shows us a Spain at the height of its military might while also investing a great deal of time (and fine writing) showing us the imperial rot from within that would soon topple an empire. It is also quite clear that despite all the pledges of honor and reputation made by those who sit far from battle it is the common foot soldier for whom honor and integrity have some real meaning. It is a fascinating piece of reading, even if it does not qualify for `swashbuckler' status.

I've found that rating this book is a difficult task. If you are interested primarily in another Alatriste page-turner I'd give "The Sun Over Breda" three-stars and suggest waiting for the paperback edition (or a trip to the library). If you are interested in a well-written story that examines the lives of men in combat and the societal forces that conspire to take dire, dangerous circumstances and make them worse, I'd give it four-stars and a hearty recommendation. L. Fleisig

I've not read any other books in this series developed by author Arturo Perez-Reverte. The theme of his previous two books has been Captain Diego Alatriste, a real soldier of 17th century Spain. In The Sun Over Breda, the story is told from the perspective of a 14 year old "page," or soldier's assistant.

This is a book that focuses on detail... the garments worn, the weapons used, the curses uttered, the food eaten, and the people involved. It reminds me of the Master and Commander series of books by Patrick O'Brian, rich in detail and salt spray. However, it drifts from that work because, frankly, the story is not engaging. Battle, win, battle, win, siege, hold, duel, win, et cetera. The detail IS the strength of this book. It just misses the grab-your-attention threshold for an engaging yarn.

As far as the detail, the slashes, cuts, and jabs, as well as the injuries, are vividly described:

"I was showered with a spray of pikeman's blood as he fell atop me, invoking the Madre de Deus in Portuguese. I slipped from beneath him, freed myself from his lance, which was caught between my legs, only to find myself jostled in the ebb and flow of the battle, immersed in smells of rough, grimy clothing, sweat, powder, and blood" (p. 141).

This novel should be attractive to the reader who requires historical accuracy and is interested in pre-modern European warfare.

I was rather disappointed with this one, having read the first two of the series and being a fan of Perez-Reverte for his brilliant The Fencing Master which I rate one of my all time favorites.

The first two of the Alatriste series (of which this is the third) were periodically compelling and generally thoughtful tales combining the panache of swashbuckling derring-do with a world weary realism and the ethos of 17th century Spain on the cusp of collapse. You can feel the rot within working its way out.

This one, picking up in the midst of a Spanish campaign against the rebellious Dutch (a rebellion which ultimately took Holland out of the Spanish orbit and presaged the crumbling of Spain's imperial state) takes us out of the streets of Madrid and Toledo, the settings of the earlier books, and plops us down on the battlefield in the midst of war. The experiences of Captain Alatriste's young ward, Inigo Balboa, are faithfully recounted by that same young man in this adventure as they were in the first two. But here, Inigo barely give us a story at all.

The events are largely disjointed and plotless as Captain Alatriste (never really a "captain" except, perhaps, in spirit and capability!) participates as a simple soldier, led by his "betters," in a number of engagements. Balboa gets himself into a scrape and Alatriste gets him out. Alatriste gets offered an opportunity to undertake a duel for the honor of Spain and demurs, and the Spanish press their siege of Breda while despoiling the country as only an army can. Not much happens though we get to see a few battles up close from the point of view of young Inigo.

Truthfully, I had trouble finishing this one. The first two in the series have their share of narrative soft spots, of course, and I found Perez-Reverte's penchant for separating sentences in a conversation by lengthy digressions that sometimes go for pages (something he did to varying degrees in all three books) particularly annoying. Nor have I always been a fan of his inclusion of large amounts of poetry in the composition of these tales, though they are apparently there to add to the ambience and the sense that the book is being written by a seventeenth century man. And they do that well enough.

Still, the first two in the series, despite their dry spots worked. This one just didn't. I am not sure I'll read those that follow despite my enthusiasm for the author.

SWM
author of The King of Vinland's Saga

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