Arturo Pérez-Reverte

[kcs_hiker]

Can anybody recommend this author? He sounds pretty good from the reviews. I read the first couple of chapters of The Dumas Club yesterday evening while waiting for my family at Borders yesterday... and was intrigued.

 

[Toby Frost]

Yes, the Dumas Club isn't bad at all. Without giving much away, the main plot is far better than the subplot, which disappoints. I always like books with a strong setting, and the background of ruthless book-dealers and forgers is very interesting. Particularly reccomended for the downright creepy medieval illustrations and the detective-work that accompanies them.

Much better, I'm told, than the film.

 

[Nesacat]

Can definitely recommend his books. have read all of them that are in English to date and available in Malaysia. Love them all. Club Dumas was the first one I read and it got me hooked enough to seek out the rest of his books. I am glad I did.

The ones I have read are:
Captain Alatriste
Purity of Blood
The Fencing Master
The Flanders Panel
The Club Dumas
The Seville Communion
The Queen of the South

 

[tyr]

I have read The Fencing Master only. Actually, I bought this book because I like the cover (yes, I still judge the book by the cover... shameful).

The story was good and fluid, especially with the main attraction in the exotic setting (I never read any historical fiction with setting at 19th century Spain). And the fighting scenes are good.

But as detective/mystery book, IMHO, the puzzle in The Fencing Master was easy.

Nesacat,
please kindly advise, from the 7 books that you had read, which book has:
1. the best mystery?
2. gripping fighting scenes?
Thanks in advance

I admit, I am shallow when searching the pleasure from reading a fiction.

 

[Nesacat]

The best mystery for me is The Club Dumas but if it's fighting you want then go for the Captain Alatriste books.

 

[tyr]

Nesacat, Thank you so much. I try to remember those 2 books when I hunt books.

 

[kcs_hiker]

thanks Nesacat

I've ordered The Flanders Panel and Captain Alatriste and will pick up Club Dumas tonight.

 

[kcs_hiker]

ok I've been reading The Flanders Panel by Arturo Perez-Reverte (and enjoying it very much)

and I was poking around the other day looking for the painting that the book is premised on

and I found it, as described, but didn't save it for some reason

but now I can't find it again

The title of the painting is The Chess Game and its supposedly painted by Peiter Van Huys (who I know to be fictional); I'm not sure if the title of the painting is accurate or not, but I do know that I found a picture of a print that was exactly as described in the book

any ideas?

 

[tyr]

kcs_hiker, please correct me if I'm wrong, do you mean the pic as below?

PartidaXadrezVanHuys.jpg (image)

 

[kcs_hiker]

thank you for finding that

and it DOES seem to be the picture described in the book

the chess position, the characters, the titles over the characters, all are the same

but

it's not the one I found

and it differs in several important ways

1) Perez-Reverte describes the floor in the painting as being checkered as a chessboard; obviously in this picture you cannot see the floor
2) P-R also describes a mirror in which the characters and the board are reflected; again no mirror is visible in this picture

as I am a bit of a chess fan, I'm really loving this book. The mystery of the actual painting has me intrigued and is adding to my enjoyment and I would be immensely gratified if Perez-Reverte intended this when he was writing the story.

Thank you again for finding this picture, Tyr. Do you happen to have the site address at which you found it?

 

[kcs_hiker]

in fact here is a small version, used on the cover of an early edition of The Flanders Panel

​

 

[tyr]

I found the pics by using Google, using search images, with key words "Van Huys":
"Van Huys" - Google Image Search

There are several findings. For example, I found a blogspot which I found both pics:Poeira Residual: A Partida de Xadrez

Well, enjoy the P-R books. I myself cannot find another P-R books yet. The bookstores that imported P-R is nearly broke now. I have difficulty to visit the last remaining bookstore, because the location is far from my home.