Attempt at portraying Spain as the Spaniards would have seen it during that era is the purpose behind the creation of "Alatriste" by Arturo Pérez-Reverte.
After a fifteen-year hiatus, renowned Spanish author Arturo Pérez-Reverte has returned to the world of Captain Alatriste with the publication of "Mission in Paris" in 2025. This eighth installment in the series finds Diego Alatriste y Tenorio in Paris in the year 1628, a city under siege by French forces under the command of Cardinal Richelieu.
Thirty years have passed since the first book about Captain Alatriste was published, and over this time, the character has evolved significantly. In "Mission in Paris," Alatriste is portrayed as a person capable of both ugliness, hate, and resentment, as well as beauty, love, generosity, ambition, and altruism. He carries more scars and regrets than in previous installments, a reflection of the character's growth and the tumultuous times in which he lives.
Pérez-Reverte comments that pandemics, catastrophes, tensions, conflicts, wars, and personal experience have all influenced the character of Alatriste in the novel. He believes that humans are capable of both the best and the worst, and this oscillation between good and bad is reflected in the novel's portrayal of Alatriste.
The novel also focuses on the characters Iñigo Balboa, Francisco de Quevedo, Sebastián Copons, and Captain Alatriste, who are commissioned by the Count-Duke of Olivares for an enigmatic mission. Pérez-Reverte had to maintain the temporal continuity of Alatriste while also reflecting the changes in his own perspective over the past fifteen years.
Since 2011, Pérez-Reverte has published almost twenty works, including the novels 'The Drum's Skin' and five other books that stormed the bookstores. He warns that everything has already happened, but we don't remember because we don't read, and he gives examples of Gaza in the 21st century and La Rochelle in the 17th century to illustrate this point.
Pérez-Reverte had faced pressure from some readers to continue the story of Captain Alatriste, and it was his faithful companion and the character of Alatriste himself that kept tapping him on the shoulder, which led him to return to writing about Alatriste. War, he states, is a business for many, and this theme is explored throughout the series.
There is no specific information available about a character named Arturo Pérez-Reverte in the series "Die Abenteuer des Kapitän Alatriste" from 2025. The series mentioned, "Mit Dolch und Degen," is based on the works of Arturo Pérez-Reverte, but details about a character representing him in a "Mission in Paris" are not provided in the search results.
Pérez-Reverte's goal with Alatriste is to make Spaniards and readers accept Spain, the good and the bad, to understand that we are what we are because we were what we were. With "Mission in Paris," he continues to explore this theme, providing a gripping and thought-provoking addition to the series.
